Two studies investigated three- and five-month-old infants' ability to discriminate and recognize different motions of rigid objects. Also explored was the nature of stimulus information which makes such discrimination and recognition possible. The results are discussed in terms of disruptions in the optic array. (Author/DST)

Attempted to determine whether a specific stepfamily curriculum would affect the stepfamily's awareness of preschool children. Although no changes were found in attitudes in either control or experimental groups, a significant increase was found in the experimental group's awareness. (Author/KS)

Tested three explanations for the differential impact of verbal and nonverbal cues on perceptions of counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness: cue availability, vividness, and salience-vividness. Results suggest cue availability is not a compelling explanation for the power of nonverbal communications, vividness accounts for…

Examined the relationship between parental behavior as reported by parents, children's perceptions of parental behavior, and the effects of each on various aspects of children's self-evaluations. Results found little correspondence between parents' reports of their behavior and children's perceptions of this behavior. Findings support the symbolic…

Fifty-five first- and second-grade learning-disabled (LD) children were subdivided into six perceptual and linguistic subtypes using hierarchical cluster analysis techniques. Three distinctive patterns of learning disabilities were found, representing a specific language disability (27%) and two variations of mixed perceptual and linguistic…

Describes a model of professional intervention for community workers. The various roles of the community worker are also examined. These include the role of researcher, social policy analyst, enabler, social planner, program developer, organizer, rehabilitator, coordinator, educator, and mediator. Differences between community work theory and…

Conducted a three-generation study of women's attitudes toward gender-appropriate roles and filial responsibility. United States gender-role attitudes were more egalitarian than those of the Japanese. In both countries, all three generations agreed that care of the elderly is a family responsibility, but attitudes toward filial responsibility were…

Preschool children were presented with short passages in either a story or a communication context. In the first experiment, recall according to importance level was ascertained; in the second, metacognitive awareness of importance level was evaluated. Six-year-olds demonstrated some metacognitive awareness of importance level. Developmental…

Studies of stereo vision guide research on how animals see and how computers might accomplish this human activity. Discusses a sequence of algorithms to first extract information from visual images and then to calculate the depths of objects in the three-dimensional world, concentrating on stereopsis (stereo vision). (JN)

Three conceptual frameworks for examining the cognitive response to film are reviewed. It is suggested that a phenomenological rather than atomistic conception of the film-viewer interaction will be most useful for the generation of further studies in this area. (Author/RM)

Identifies the obstacles faced by principals in terms of teachers, students, principal role, principal characteristics, board-level administration, and the community. Also examines the relation between obstacles and levels of principal effectiveness. (RDN)

Kindergarteners and first and fourth graders watched an educational television program containing three types of humor. Information acquisition and funniness were assessed. Compared with distortion-free humor, irony resulted in overestimates of properties of novel objects introduced in the program. Age did not diminish perceptual distortion.…

The author discusses levels of psychomotor skill acquisition: perceiving, motivating, imitating, performing, adapting, and innovating. How these skills interact and how they affect the learner's ability to learn are examined. (CT)

Tests the existence of a "U"-relationship between stimulus complexity and time estimation and suggests this relationship can be better explained by considering the personality variables of extroversion and introversion and their interaction with stimulus complexity. Results confirmed the existence of a quadratic relationship between…

In this longitudinal study, infants' visual guidance of hand orientation was investigated by presenting a rod either horizontally or vertically to see if the orientation of the reaching hand was adjusted toward the orientation of the rod before contacting it. Subjects were l8 infants seen monthly between 18 and 34 weeks of age. (RH)