Defines the ballad as the link between the written and the sung. Explains that ballad meter is made of quatrains that alternate between four-stress and three-stress lines, and contain an "abcb" or "abab" rhyme scheme. Notes that ballads are mnemonic devices and tell stories. Discusses modern balladeers and describes ballad writing assignments. (PM)

"Sine-wave speech" sentences contain only four frequency-modulated sine waves, lacking many acoustic cues present in natural speech. Adults with (n=19) and without (n=14) dyslexia were asked to reproduce orally sine-wave utterances in successive trials. Results suggest comprehension of sine-wave sentences is impaired in some adults with…

Six core profiles were identified on four fluid reasoning to comprehension knowledge constructs previously found to be both theoretically and empirically linked to children's reading acquisition: auditory processing, crystallized ability, processing speed, and short-term memory. Cluster analysis was used to develop this taxonomy and the…

Suggests that while postmodern criticism has enjoyed a certain amount of currency, the cost of this success has come in the form of detachment. Argues that a reconfiguration of the relations between nature and culture suggests that the posthuman provides us with a fresh perspective from which to examine rhetoric. Identifies some of the problems…

Details an intervention study which investigated whether children with Down syndrome (DS) would benefit from an "analytic" approach to reading instruction, which encompassed explicit training in phonological awareness. Concludes that DS children benefited from this type of instruction, even though their auditory-verbal memory is poor.…

Thirty-five learning-disabled readers (mean age 10) and 43 controls were compared on a sentence span task and on recall of everyday features, consequential events, and misleading information. Results indicated that subjects were deficient on working memory and naturalistic measures, but their naturalistic memory deficits did not appear to relate…

A reminding-based generalization view of category learning was studied in 4 experiments involving a total of 247 college students. Experiments demonstrated that categorization by reminding can affect what is learned about the category and later categorization performance. Implications of the results for category learning are discussed. (SLD)

Investigates the interactive development of short-term memory, phonological processing and reading. Reports that phonological skills promote the acquisition of letter knowledge and that these two abilities, together with visual short term memory, lead the development of reading. (MG)

An associative theory of memory is proposed to serve as a counterexample to claims that dissociations among episodic, semantic, and procedural memory tasks necessitate separate memory systems. The theory is based on task analyses of matching (recognition and familiarity judgments), retrieval (cued recall), and production (free association). (TJH)

A study examined 197 college students' impressions of memory skills and personality of older adults and the relation of these impressions to clothing cleanliness and condition. It found that clothing cleanliness and coordination affected attitudes and also interacted with the gender of the older person to affect those impressions. (JOW)

Assessed preschoolers' strategic knowledge concerning the relative effectiveness of increasing memory performance by marking, touching, looking, and ignoring. Ignoring was judged the least effective behavior by children of three-five years. A preference for looking, touching, and marking was found for five-year-olds in both experiments and for…

Contrasts sequential and relational processing manipulations of passages with manipulations which focus on individual lexical items and the propositions in which they are embedded. Finds recall to be superior when readers use sequential and relational processing during performance of individual item-specific lexical processing. (RS)

Addresses issues concerning the extension of self-efficacy theory to memory functioning. Issues include perceived memory capabilities, memory self-appraisal, personal control over memory functioning, preservation of a favorable sense of memory self-efficacy, and strategies for generalizing the impact of training in memory skills. (RJC)

Examined concepts of mental activities involved in acts of knowing in 54 children of 8-10 years and adults. Ten-year-olds and adults judged memory involvement to be the most important relation among mental activities. Eight-year-olds judged comprehension and attention according to the involvement of visual or verbal information. (RJC)

A total 72 children of 3 1/2, 5 1/2, and 7 1/2 years were asked questions about their behaviors and internal states, and of a best friend and an acquaintance. Results indicated even young children have concepts of themselves and other persons that are not restricted to specific points in time and may form basis for later dispositional conceptions.…