One longitudinal and one cross-sectional study evaluated the interactive effects of endogenous and exogenous influences on infants' attention allocation by assessing the role of target familiarity on distraction latency during object exploration. Findings indicated that 9- and 10-month-olds, but not 6.5-month- olds, exhibited longer latencies as…

A study involving 18 adult signers with deafness and 26 hearing adults found that working memory for American Sign Language is sensitive to irrelevant signed input (and other structured visual input) in a manner similar to the effects of irrelevant auditory input on working memory for speech. (Contains references.) (CR)

Discusses the adverse effects of computer anxiety on student performance and reports an application of a change management process to a class on computers in business that attempted to reduce computer anxiety and improve learning and performance through a pedagogical intervention. Considers implications of results that showed lower anxiety but not…

This study of 121 young deaf children identified 3 distinct groups: children with losses of 70-89 decibels developed some intelligible speech, children with losses of 90-104 decibels exhibited considerable variability, and children with losses above 105 decibels developed little intelligible speech. The unaided hearing threshold level was the best…

This study investigated the practice effect in speechreading. Two groups of 10 hearing and sighted adults practiced either the same sentence list each day or practiced on different lists each day for 5 days. While both groups showed noteworthy improvements in speechreading, no significant differences between groups were found. (Author/PB)

Linguistic performance of 7 children (mean age=68 months) with spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and average intelligence was evaluated. Subjects dealt with the semantic-pragmatic requirements of linguistically posed problems in an age-appropriate manner. Performance declined as task demands increased but no more than performance of nondisabled…

A literature review both affirms and denies a relationship between creativity and public school achievement. A study involving 116 students from grades 6, 8, and 10 found that high levels of creative ability may contribute to a pattern of underachievement by interfering with convergent thinking within the time constraints of a regular classroom…

Describes experiments that compared a new method for automatically analyzing semantic structures in text by statistical means with the standard vector space model. Findings indicate that combining both methods improved performance over either alone. The effects of other experimental variables on retrieval performance (term weighting, suffix…

Discusses the necessity of relating needs assessment and needs analysis in performance management. Topics discussed include measurable objectives; the identification and selection of needs; performance improvement; the Organizational Elements Model (OEM), which helps to identify means and ends; and training requirements analysis. (eight…

Describes strategies for improving performance appraisal systems and examines common features of appraisal systems in large companies. Highlights include rating scales; ranking; forced distributions; tying performance appraisal to strategic business goals; frequency of reviews; development plans versus evaluation only; and group review meetings.…

Reports three studies examining the relationship between people's public speaking anxiety and their construals of the public speaking experience. Finds that anxiety is related to both beliefs and concerns that play a major role in the preparation of speeches. (SR)

Discusses leadership behavior of managers and presents a model for leadership choice that dichotomizes bureaucratic and non-bureaucratic leadership behaviors. The power of managers is described in terms of both position status and personal influence, and the relationship between the manager's role and the needs of employees is discussed. (LRW)

When 40 organically mentally retarded, 33 familial retarded, and 35 nonretarded school-age children were compared on 2 tasks of intentional memory, with mental age being covaried, the nonretarded children performed best, followed by the familial group. The 3 groups did not differ on a task of incidental learning. (Author/JDD)

A study of 80 children, aged 7, 10, 13, and 16, found that gender was not an important variable in speech breathing, but age was. The youngest group exhibited such things as larger lung, rib cage, and abdominal volume initiations and terminations for breath groups and fewer syllables per breath group. (Author/JDD)

Students (N=120) with learning disabilities in grades 6-9 were assessed on comprehension of silently read materials under conditions of adjunct questioning, oral recitation questioning methods, and middle/end and end-only question placement. Results indicated a significant effect of method and a significant interaction between level and focus of…