Research supported by a Summer Faculty fellowship from the University of Delaware.

Examines whether young children and adults are able to interpret sarcastic utterances and whether placements of contextual information before or after the utterance differentially affect interpretation. Results obtained from first and third graders and from college students indicated that different placements of contextual information do affect…

This study examined 40 deaf and 20 hearing adolescent students' free recall of visually presented words varied systematically with respect of signability (i.e., words that could be expressed by a single sign) and visual imagery. Results underline the importance of sign language in the memory and recall of deaf persons. (Author/PN)

Reviews research on viewers' understanding and retention of television news broadcasts; discusses the cognitive processes of memory and comprehension; and develops two models, one based on episodical memory and the other on semantic networks. Guidelines are offered for research based on both of these models. More than 40 sources are cited. (EAO)

Current beliefs about how children draw emphasize the importance of drawing from memory, rather than from observation. However, an experiment with children aged seven to nine showed that observation drawings included greater detail and complexity. More research on observation drawing is recommended. (IS)

Effects of learning names for random nonsense shapes prior to a probe-type serial-recall task were investigated in disabled readers. No differences among reading groups on recall strength of primary recall were found, suggesting similar verbal skills. (Author)

Results from the data analysis show that children learn mathematical concepts for clear cases, and that an analysis of attributes common to examples of a given concept is not a prerequisite to concept formation. The protocol findings provide information as to why this may be happening. (Author/PN)

Parents of 41 children who had been given an individually-administered intelligence test were contacted 19 months after testing. Parents of average IQ children were less accurate in their memory of test results. Children with above average IQ experienced extremely low frequencies of sibling rivalry, conceit or pressure. (Author/HLM)

Investigated the most popular synonym for each word in a pair. Subjects (N=100) in two groups produced the noun they felt was closest in meaning to each of 279 nouns. Tables are provided showing the preferred synonym and number of subjects using it and comparisons to a previous experiment. (Author/JAC)

A microcomputer was used successfully to replicate Sternberg's 1966 study of retrieval from short-term memory and Sperling's 1960 study on sensory or iconic memory. Computers with a capacity for measuring reaction time are useful in the laboratory for introductory psychology courses. (SR)

Asked older individuals (N=24) questions regarding which of their cognitive abilities have changed with age. Subjects' reports about memory corresponded with previous research, i.e., memory decreases with increasing age. For problem-solving abilities, subjects' reports did not correspond with research, i.e., abilities increased with age. Factors…

Tenth-grade students (n=144) received training on one of three processing methods: coding-mapping (simultaneous), coding only, or decision tree (sequential). The induced simultaneous processing strategy worked optimally under rule learning, while the sequential strategy was difficult to induce and/or not optimal for rule-learning operations.…