Four-year-olds succeeded in making comparisons between sets of objects when comparison questions called for comparing set with set or subset with subset. However, when comparison questions called for comparing set with subset, the children failed to complete such tasks successfully. (Author/DB)

Outlines three constructs of text difficulty: text-based (objective), performance-based (behavioral), and a combination of the two (subjective). (HOD)

Cliff's Index "c" derived from an item dominance matrix is utilized in a clustering approach, termed extracting Reliable Guttman Orders (ERGO), to isolate Guttman-type item hierarchies. A comparison of factor analysis to the ERGO is made on social distance data involving multiple ethnic groups. (Author/BW)

Investigated five-year-olds' abilities to determine the reference of anaphoric pronouns. Children had difficulty when a sentence contained more than one pronoun, especially when assigning the reference of a pronoun requiring an inference. The children's difficulties stemmed from forgetting premise information and from having problems in carrying…

The problem-solving performance of elderly individuals was facilitated by manipulating the demands of problem-solving tasks. The fact that elderly individuals can use more efficient strategies under certain circumstances suggests that the elderly have such strategies in their repertoires. (Author)

The preferred coding processes of 11-year-old children were investigated, as well as the effect of these preferences on recall of verbal material which varied by complexity of imagery, metaphor, and acoustic and semantic features. The hypothesized relationship between coding and personality was studied (f=fiche number). (MH)

High levels of cognitive complexity seem to be most functional in the rejection of alternatives. Those alternatives that the client continues to consider as potential occupational choices may be simply judged as good jobs. (Author)

In seven experiments, college or high school students studied texts containing either adjunct application or adjunct factual questions. Students were then tested for their ability to apply the presented concepts. Results suggested that the type of adjunct question had little influence on students' later ability to apply presented concepts.…

Sixty-one children were asked to construct a man, using six different methods. Data indicate that ability to identify body parts, eye-hand coordination, or use of particular materials made no significant differences in success, which seemed more related to the understanding that shapes may have symbolic meaning. (Author/SJL)

Applied to the recognition of words in noise, the theory of the perceptual identification of complex stimuli provides a quantitative account of the proportions in which correct and erroneous responses of different frequencies will occur. (Author)

Investigated interactions between stress level of syllables and articulatory difficulty as influences on children's early words. Subjects were 32 two-year olds asked to imitate nonsense words and syllables that varied in articulatory difficulty. Found that both factors had significant effects on aspects of children's imitations. (MOK)

Examines the role of sound in reading Japanese Script and evaluates arguments for semantic versus phonological identification to determine the relative importance of phonological processes in reading "kanji" and "kana." Implications for the teaching of kanji to learners of Japanese as a second language are explored. (Author/JL)

Studies applying the matching law of R. Herrnstein (1961) to college students' choice (n=55 and 31) to complete difficult problems suggest that interspersing problems requiring less time to complete into an assignment may increase rates of reinforcement that can alter students' choice behavior and improve their perceptions of assignments. (SLD)

Studied the impact of changes in item difficulty on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) estimates over time through a Monte Carlo study that simulated the responses of 1990 NAEP mathematics respondents to 1990 and 1996 NAEP mathematics items. Results support the idea that these changes have not affected the NAEP trend line.…

Loglinear latent class models are used to detect differential item functioning (DIF). Likelihood ratio tests for assessing the presence of various types of DIF are described, and these methods are illustrated through the analysis of a "real world" data set. (TJH)