In the tragic aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami off the coast of Thailand, a group of nomads known as the Moken village sea gypsies were featured in an investigative report for their high rate of survival along with the animal population (Simon, 2005). In seeking to discover why this particular group of people survived when so many others had…

The development of speech perception during the 1st year reflects increasing attunement to native language features, but the mechanisms underlying this development are not completely understood. One previous study linked reductions in nonnative speech discrimination to performance on nonlinguistic tasks, whereas other studies have shown…

There is a strong emphasis on sensory perception and "hands-on" learning in the outdoor environmental education of children. In addition, normative concerns infuse children's environmental curricula, and in particular, the notion that environmental education is not a passive undertaking; when one appreciates the essential value of the…

The recognition of facial immaturity and emotional expression by children with autism, language disorders, mental retardation, and non-disabled controls was studied in two experiments. Children identified immaturity and expression in upright and inverted faces. The autism group identified fewer immature faces and expressions than control (Exp. 1 &…

Smooth pursuit eye movements are performed in order to prevent retinal image blur of a moving object. Rhesus monkeys are able to perform smooth pursuit eye movements quite similar as humans, even if the pursuit target does not consist in a simple moving dot. Therefore, the study of the neuronal responses as well as the consequences of…

This study aimed to test the assumption drawn from weak central coherence theory that a central cognitive mechanism is responsible for integrating information at both conceptual and perceptual levels. A visual semantic memory task and a face recognition task measuring use of holistic information were administered to 15 children with autism and 16…

Recent work has shown that Whorf effects of language on color discrimination are stronger in the right visual field than in the left. Here we show that this phenomenon is not limited to color: The perception of animal figures (cats and dogs) was more strongly affected by linguistic categories for stimuli presented to the right visual field than…

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disabilities, compulsivity, hyperphagia and increased risks of life-threatening obesity. Food preferences in people with PWS are well documented, but research has yet to focus on other properties of food in PWS, including composition and suitability for…

The remarkable successes of the physical sciences have been built on highly general quantitative laws, which serve as the basis for understanding an enormous variety of specific physical systems. How far is it possible to construct universal principles in the cognitive sciences, in terms of which specific aspects of perception, memory, or decision…

This study investigated the relationship between intramodal and intermodal information processing and performance on traditional age appropriate tests of spatial and perceptual-motor abilities. The ability of 65 normal kindergarten, first grade and second grade children to match to either a tactile or a visual standard was assessed with a modified…

The study investigated whether low frequency air and bone thresholds elicited at high intensity levels from deaf children with a sensory-neural diagnosis reflect valid auditory sensitivity or are mediated through cutaneous-tactile receptors. Subjects were five totally deaf (mean age 17.0) yielding vibrotactile thresholds but with no air and bone…

Designed for instruction of emotionally handicapped children and youth, these seven articles present concepts and activities relative to sensory awareness and outdoor education. The first article presents definitions, concepts, detailed methodology, and over 50 activities designed to create awareness of man's five senses. Utilizing the art of…

An evaluation of research in the area of perceptual training suggests procedures for teachers to follow until more definitive information is obtained. First, educators should build their programs on broadly-based but accurate classifications of perceptual skills. They should also be aware of the theoretical assumptions which influence perceptual…

This qualitative study explored how informal community networks (i.e., faith based organizations, community cultural centers and service agencies) provided information to culturally and linguistically diverse families. The goals of this study were, first, to gain a better understanding of the methods the informal community networks used to…

The overall aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between the roles of assessment in pedagogy, the interactions between curriculum assessment and pedagogy, and the study of pupils' progression in learning. It is argued that well-grounded evidence of pupils' progressions in learning is crucial to the work of teachers, so that a method…