Examined the effectiveness of rehearsal training and strategy awareness to train groups of mildly retarded and normal children in using mature information processing techniques. Recall scores on a training task were influenced by rehearsal training, but neither the rehearsal and strategy conditions nor their combination influenced recognition of…

Investigated seven eight-year-old children's memory for aurally presented sentences. Used a recognition-memory task to probe constructive memory processes in two groups differentiated by reading comprehension. Results indicated the tendency to construct meanings was greater in children who scored higher on reading comprehension. (Author)

Describes development, rationale, and potential uses of a scale designed for use in conjunction with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Suggests this scale may provide information on a variety of aspects of memory function in individuals with whom the scale is utilized. (Author)

Compared verbal and visual encoding using the picture superiority effect. One experiment found an interaction between age and type of material. In other experiments, the picture superiority effect was found in both age groups with no interaction. Performing a semantic-orienting task had no effect on recall. (Author/RC)

Discusses some of the problems encountered in listening to and understanding a second language, and some means to overcome these problems. Addresses particularly three areas: (1) the difficulty in remembering messages contained in extended speech, (2) the impact of speed and slurring on comprehension, and (3) the student's lexical knowledge. (MES)

Spatial span (Corsi's block tapping) and verbal span (Wechsler Digits Forward) were measured in 1113 children (ages 4-10) from urban and rural districts of Italy. The urban group performed significantly better on both tests. Sex differences, favoring boys, were found only on the spatial span test. (Author/SJL)

Reviews recent progress in modeling human cognition, in particular the use of computers in generating models. Topics covered include the information processing approach to cognition, problem solving, semantic memory, pattern induction, and learning and cognitive development. A 164-item reference list is attached. (JL)

Sixty 9-year-old Highland Mayan children whose schooling varied from kindergarten level to third grade were given tests of scene recognition, scene reconstruction, sentence recognition, and story recall. Results demonstrate that in this sample the relationship between schooling and memory test performance is not simply due to family background…

A new model is proposed for explaining children's performance on Pascual-Leone's test of M-space. The new model is used to generate theoretical performance curves for children at four different age levels and seven different levels of stimulus complexity, and it is a viable alternative. Differences between the models are reviewed. (Author/RD)

In four experiments, evidence was found for a complex psychological representation of musical pitch. The perception of music depends not only on psychoacoustic properties of the tones, but also on processes that relate the tones to one another through contact with a well-defined and complex psychological representation of musical pitch. (Author/RD)

Attempts to validate the basic constructs of a theory of cognitive switching developed from human performance literature and signaled stopping research. Presents data which display behavioral traces of the ways people organize television news into their information-processing system. (JMF)

Discusses the scope of information science, problems involved, and the areas of research needed for development. In particular, the processes occurring in thinking, memory, and knowledge are considered as they arise in the production and receipt of information. (Author/RAA)

Three groups of boys, aged 6, 9, and 12 years, performed a positioning task with retention intervals of 10 and 30 seconds and visual-plus-kinesthetic or kinesthetic-only cues. Developmental differences were evidenced between the six-year-olds and older boys but not between the two older groups. (Author/SJL)

The study investigated the effects of modality preference, mode of instruction, and verbal feedback on immediate and delayed recall of new words in 72 elementary age learning disabled students. (Author/PHR)

It is paradoxical that analog tasks are used in learning and memory studies of aging when older groups are less responsive or may terminate participation when faced with what they believe are meaningless stimuli or trivial tasks. Research with meaningful prose materials is recommended. (Author/BEF)