Examines the uprooting of Japanese Americans during World War II as portrayed in children's/young adult literature. Discovers the triumph of the spirit of the survivors and replaces suppressed images with empowering ones. Considers stories and narratives in literature as a resource through which readers might shape their understanding of the…

Presents a theoretical model that attempts to account for the early stages of language acquisition in terms of interaction between biological constraints and input characteristics. Notes that the model uses the implications of stochastic representations of the sensory input in a volatile and limited memory. Argues that phonological structure is a…

The verbal encoding ability of 24 students (ages 14-20) with learning disabilities (LD) was compared to that of 24 non-learning-disabled subjects. LD subjects did not show a release from proactive interference, suggesting that such students are less likely to encode the phonetic features of words or use a phonetic code in short-term memory.…

This introductory paper covers basic concepts and terminology relevant to the application of research on relational learning to mental retardation. The paper discusses conditional discrimination; conditional stimulus relations and stimulus equivalence; generalized stimulus relations; impact of mediational processes on emergent behavior; relational…

The sustained attention of 16 mildly retarded and 16 nonretarded adults was assessed during 2 60-minute vigilance tests differing in memory demand. Performance of retarded subjects declined more rapidly in later stages than did that of the nonretarded subjects. Implications for the study of memory load are discussed. (SLD)

Comparison of 48 cerebral palsied individuals (aged 10-18), either with impaired speech or normal speech, found speech-impaired subjects were able to discriminate phoneme contrasts adequately in a word judgment task but performed less well on a phoneme discrimination "same-different" task possibly resulting from a weak memory for novel…

Thirty learning-disabled and 30 nonhandicapped intermediate grade children were assessed on memory performance for stimulus words, which were presented with congruent and noncongruent rhyming words and semantically congruent and noncongruent sentence frames. Both groups performed significantly better on words encoded using deep level congruent…

Presents two studies of thoughts in relation to viewing of expository television programs. Shows a close relationship between comprehension and thoughts, and demonstrates that expository television can engage viewers in deep cognitive activities. Finds different reception profiles among viewers, correlating closely with topic-relevant previous…

Offers suggestions concerning the nature of memories as captured in oral interviews by analyzing interviews with former employees of the Studebaker Corporation automobile plant in South Bend, Indiana. Stresses not only what people remember, but also how they go about the creation of their memories and how their memories give meaning to their…

Evaluates memory performance differences after mnemonic training in 48 adults of 17-19 years and 45 adults of 60-78 years. Young adults recalled more than old adults and had higher self-efficacy scores. Training with feedback improved recall performance in both age groups. (RJC)

Explored age-related memory differences for performed action events of varying familiarity in 50 adults aged 18-31 and 50 adults aged 55-84. Type of encoding and item familiarity influenced immediate and delayed free recall in both age groups. (RJC)

It is argued that human memory is adaptively designed and that much can be learned by understanding its adaptiveness. The information-retrieval problem is framed, and optimal memory behavior is derived. Applying this framework to the classic free-recall paradigm is discussed. (SLD)

Investigates the impact of varying levels of time compression on comprehensive, interpretive, and short-term listening. Finds that comprehensive listening performance deteriorates significantly as speech compression levels increase, while interpretive and short-term listening performance remain stable until a high degree of time compression is…

Describes a two-part research project examining conversation memory organization packets (MOPs) at both cognitive and behavioral levels. Explores the nature of the informal initial conversation MOP, and examines whether discourse structures correspond to cognitive structures. Finds evidence that scenes in the conversation MOP are topic-centered.…

Explores a method of combining convention and intention by representing conversation structure with conversation MOPs (schematic structures that store conversation rules as generalized episodes associated with goals the episodes achieved). Discusses how conversation MOPs process the opening portion of a dialogue in an interactive advice-giving…