Notational adaptation in children.

Three experiments examined whether and how children adapt their notations (use of external symbol systems) to the communicative needs of addresses of different ages. In Exp 1, 26 8–9 yr olds, 28 10–11 yr olds, and 11 adults made 2 notations about a solution to a simple board puzzle, one for a peer and the other for a 6-yr-old. Exp 2, with 28 8–9 yr olds, 23 10–11 yr olds, and 30 adults, focused on oral adaptations in the same context. In Exp 3, 28 8–9 yr-olds, 21 10–11 yr olds, and 30 adults were asked to choose ready-made notations for different addresses. Children's notations at both age groups were overall informative and adequate and improved with age. Children's notation's however, were not as sophisticated as verbal instructions, possible due to the Ss' more extensive experience with oral communication. Children's notational adaptation also developed with age. Some 8–9 yr olds and many 10–11 yr olds made systematic changes in their notations and verbal instructions for addresses of different ages. Most Ss of both age groups were aware of the difference in communicative competence between the younger addressee and the peer. They also shared with adults certain assumptions regarding the needs of the younger addresses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning a new bimanual coordination pattern: Reciprocal influences of intrinsic and to-be-learned patterns.

Examined the following questions: (1) How do previously learned coordination patterns affect new learning (Exp 1)? and (2) How does new learning affect the performance of intrinsic coordination patterns (Exp 2)? In Exp 1, 12 20–24 yr olds practiced either a 45° or a 135° relative phase pattern for 4 days; in Exp 2, 7 21–24 yr olds practiced a 90° relative phase pattern over 6 days. Retention tests were conducted 4 wks after the last practice session in both experiments. Performance on both the in-phase (0°) and anti-phase (180°) patterns was also measured on each day. Results reveal that reciprocal effects between the intrinsic patterns and the new pattern were only temporary, and did not affect learning in any permanent way. Learning a new pattern was not differentially affected by its relation to an intrinsic pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the ability to cope with situations of high arousal in a precision sport.

Conducted 3 field experiments in which skilled miniature golf players were studied in 3 types of activities (training, minor competitions, and large competitions). Ss for Exp I were 5 22–32 yr olds and 5 47–58 yr olds; 14 Ss in Exp II were aged 7–24 yrs, 15–28 yrs, or 19–45 yrs; Ss for Exp III were 5 48–59 yr olds and 6 23–35 yr olds. Performance (i.e., number of shots) and arousal (heart rate and subjective ratings of anxiety) measures were registered in all types of activities. Findings show that the level of performance of older adult players deteriorated in the large competitions, whereas groups of younger adult players, junior players, and youth players performed at the same level in all 3 events, although all of the groups exhibited a similar increase in arousal from training and minor competitions to large competitions. It is suggested that older players may have a deficit in the ability to compensate for the negative effects of nonoptimal levels of arousal because of impairments in a variety of cognitive abilities that are critical to successful performance. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in memory-driven selective attention.

Investigated the ability of young and elderly adults to use memory-driven selective attention in 2 visual-search experiments. In Exp I, 16 18–22 yr olds and 16 60–74 yr olds were Ss in a yes–no search paradigm. Stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA) was varied from 200 to 1,000 msec. In Exp II, 18 18–24 yr olds and 18 60–73 yr olds were presented 1 of 2 target letters as a cue, using the same SOA ranges. Results in both experiments show that both age groups exhibited faster RTs to a visual display on trials when advance information (a cue) correctly predicted the particular target letter that would most likely be present in the display. Variations in the SOA between the cue and the display demonstrated that both age groups were capable of developing this selective preparation for a particular target letter within 200 msec. Results indicate that age differences in performance were determined primarily by quantitative changes in the speed of information processing rather than by qualitative changes in attention. In both experiments, the 2 age groups differed in the type of relationship between speed and accuracy that they adopted, suggesting a possible age difference in performance strategy. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in forgetting sentences.

Carried out age comparisons of performance-based measures of forgetting. In Exp 1, 18–21 yr olds and 55–64 yr olds (n?=?24) forgot at an equal rate when compared at 30 sec and 3, 6, and 24 hrs after acquisition. In Exp 2, 17–21 yr olds and 65–74 yr olds (n?=?24) were compared at the same 4 retention intervals. Initial learning was equated for the 2 groups. There was evidence for an age difference in forgetting rate in cued recall when a minimal learning level was required. In Exp 3, 440 men and women (aged 17–74 yrs) were assigned to a retention interval from 10 min to 7 hrs. Age was related to 4 performance-based measures of forgetting rate. Although the age differences were small, they imply 2 decremental processes: one before 10 min, possibly a result of incomplete consolidation, and a later one that is continuously and cumulatively operative thereafter. Evidence relating initial level to forgetting rate is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual cues and release from proactive inhibition in young and old people.

Three experiments examined whether elderly people perform similarly to Korsakoff amnesics on tests of release from proactive inhibition (PI). In Exp I, with 20 18–36 yr old undergraduates, 20 64–77 yr old university alumni, 20 employed 21–43 yr olds, and 21 institutionalized but healthy 71–92 yr olds, only the latter Ss failed to release from PI, like Korsakoff amnesics, whereas all the other groups of Ss showed the normal release from PI. Exp II, with 12 institutionalized 64–90 yr olds and 12 25–47 yr old controls, showed that release from PI could be induced in institutionalized elderly, as in Korsakoff amnesics, by salient environmental cues that coincided with the category shift. Exp III, with 13 67–89 yr old institutionalized Ss and 12 22–42 yr old controls, demonstrated that even in the absence of a category shift, salient environmental cues could lead to smaller, but noticeable, release from PI in institutionalized elderly, but not in young controls. The similarity in performance between the institutionalized elderly and Korsakoff amnesics suggested that it results from a common neurological deficit. (French abstract) (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of adult age on primary and secondary memory search.

Conducted 2 experiments with 25 19–29 yr olds, 26 62–85 yr olds, 30 18–32 yr olds, and 30 61–81 yr olds to compare young and elderly adults on the ability to search lists of words stored in primary memory (PM) and in secondary memory (SM). Exp I indicated that age differences in search performance were greatest under SM conditions. Older Ss, unlike the younger ones, appeared biased toward responding that probe items were not members of the memory sets stored in SM. As a result of this apparent bias, older Ss committed a large number of errors on trials in which the probe was a member of the memorized list (i.e., positive probe trials) yet few errors on the trials in which the probe was not a member of the list ( i.e., negative probe trials). The responses of older Ss to negative probe trials were more rapid than were those to positive probe trials. In Exp II, this pattern of responding was examined. It is concluded that age differences were involved in the ability to encode memory sets and transfer them from PM to SM as well as in the ability to retrieve information from SM prior to conducting a memory search. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Saccadic eye movements of children and adults to double-step stimuli.

Investigated the programming and reprogramming of oculomotor responses to double-step and single-step targets in Exp I with 5 college students, 5 5–6 yr olds, and 7 8–10 yr olds. Independent variables were intertarget interval (50, 100, 150, and 200 msec) and target location. The number of trials on which a saccade was made to both 1st and 2nd targets increased with age and intertarget interval, but the 2 factors did not interact. On trials where responses were made only to the 2nd target, children responded slower than adults but showed generally similar patterns of response latencies. In Exp II, a warning signal was presented 0, 100, or 300 msec prior to the 1st target. For 18 college students, the 100- and 300-msec warning intervals reduced the latency of single-step responses and the 1st saccade of double-step responses, whereas only the 300-msec warning interval was similarly effective with 15 children. All Ss exhibited amplitude transition functions, indicating that the modifiability of saccadic programming is basically similar for adults and children. A comparison of simultaneous programming characteristics suggested possible age differences. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual search for features and conjunctions in development.

Visual search performance was examined in 24 7–8 yr olds, 22 9–10 yr olds, 15 11–12 yr olds, and in 10 young adults (aged 23–30 yrs). Color and orientation feature searches and a conjunction search were conducted. Reaction time (RT) showed expected improvements in processing speed with age. Comparisons of RTs on target-present and target-absent trials were consistent with parallel search on the 2 feature conditions and with serial search in the conjunction condition. The RT results indicate that searches for feature arid conjunctions were treated similarly for children and adults. However, the youngest children missed more targets at the largest array sizes, most strikingly in conjunction search. Based on an analysis of speed/accuracy trade-offs, we suggest that low target-distractor discriminability leads to an undersampling of array elements, and is responsible for the high number of misses in the youngest children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The young child's understanding of communication.

Conducted 2 experiments with 110 5-8 yr olds to investigate the extent to which the young child understands that messages can be inadequate to determine whether there is a developmental trend in such understanding. Each child played the role of both speaker and listener in a communication game with the E. Failures in communication were made to occur, and the child was asked to judge whose fault these were and why. In Exp I, a significant age-related trend was found: almost all 5.5-6 yr olds located the fault with the listener; the 6.5-7 yr olds most frequently blamed the E (who was a speaker for half of the trials); blaming the speaker alone was most common in the 7.5-8 group. Results suggest that the older children, but not the youngest, understood that communication failure can be occasioned by an inadequate message. The existence of children who always blamed the E and the failure to find any who always blamed themselves were confirmed in Exp II with different materials. These findings cast doubt upon the accuracy of Piaget's (1959) account of the breakdown of egocentrism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in selective attention among prereaders: A key to mirror-image confusions.

Exp I investigated the position that mirror-image confusions reflect an inability to attend to low-salient cues. 84 3–5 yr olds were given 3 problems: mirror-image matching, shape-detail matching, and consistent left–right ordering on a picture-naming task. With nonlearners, performance was reassessed following explicit instructions. This rendered Ss divisible into levels: spontaneous, instructed learners, and nonlearners. As predicted, most 3-yr-olds fell into identical categories across all low-salient problems, either instructed learners or nonlearners. The 4–5 yr olds were spontaneous or instructed learners but did not exhibit concordance across all problems. It is suggested that for these Ss, level differences reflected differences between nonreaders already attending to reading cues and those not yet attending. Exp II, with the 4–5 yr olds from Exp I, identified the nonreaders, who were given a letter-series and letter-writing task. Significant-levels agreement occurred among the prereading tasks involving attention to individual shape details. The ordering problem showed level concordance only with tasks involving left–right scanning. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of children's understanding of ambivalence and causal theories of emotions.

Investigated a 4-stage developmental sequence in children's understanding of ambivalence. At the highest level of this sequence, children understand that contradictory feelings can coexist at the same time toward the same target in terms of a framework in which it is recognized that the 2 feelings influence one another. 20 4–5 yr olds, 20 7–8 yr olds, and 20 10–11 yr olds were presented with 2 tape-recorded stories in which the protagonist could be construed as feeling happy and sad or anger and love. Raters scored the Ss' responses to a structured interview about the stories in terms of the proposed sequence. Separate parts of the protocols were assessed independently with respect to a proposed sequence in children's causal theories of emotions. According to this sequence, children's understanding of feelings develops from an externally based theory in which feelings are wedded to events to an internally based theory in which feelings largely depend on memories, thoughts, and attitudes. Results support both hypothesized developmental progressions and show significant relationships between the 2 domains of Ss' understanding of emotions. Findings suggest that internal states' mediation of emotional responses may be an important component in understanding ambivalence and that the motivation to integrate conflicting feelings may play a role in promoting the external to internal shift in children's causal theories of emotions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic memory in 16- and 20-month-old children: Specifics are generalized but not forgotten.

Three experiments tested (1) whether 1–2 yr olds generalize their knowledge of events to new instantiations and (2) 1 possible mechanism by which generalization is accomplished. In Exp 1, 12 16- and 12 20-mo-old children enacted 6 event sequences. One week later Ss were tested for delayed recall. At delayed testing the props used to enact half of the events were replaced by novel, functionally equivalent props. Ss in both age groups used the new props to enact the events, thereby demonstrating spontaneous generalization. Exps 2 and 3 tested whether generalization was accomplished through forgetting of the specific details of the original event. At Session 1, 24 16- (Exps 2 and 3) and 16 20-mo-olds (Exp 2) enacted 4 events. After a 1-wk delay, Ss selected props used to enact the events at Session 1. Among the objects from which they selected were functionally equivalent props of the sort used to assess generalization in Exp 1. Ss in both age groups performed reliably on the recognition-memory task. Results show that 16- and 20-mo-old children have at their disposal the capacity to productively generalize their knowledge of events to form specific, episodic event memories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task construction and persistence as means for self-assessment of abilities.

In Exp I, 80 18–22 yr old Israelis performed 2 tasks and received feedback designed to manipulate independently the uncertainty regarding their standing on 2 abilities. Ss were then allowed to construct new tasks by determining the number of items from these ability domains. As predicted, the number of items chosen from each ability domain was directly related to Ss' uncertainty in that ability, so that the self-constructed tasks were predominantly composed of problems assessing the ability of which Ss were least certain. In Exp II, 80 17–28 yr olds worked as much as they wished on a task varying in diagnostic value and received either success or failure trial-by-trial feedback. It was expected that persistence would decrease with task diagnosticity. Results support this prediction and demonstrate that Ss were equally persistent when succeeding and failing. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's attributions regarding the situational determinants of emotion in self and others.

22 4–5 yr olds and 22 7–8 yr olds, equally divided by sex, were interviewed regarding the contexts they considered elicited each of 5 emotional states (happy, sad, angry, afraid, and surprised) in self, other children, and adults. Responses were coded into a priori categories and were compared with rankings made by 40 22–36 yr olds of the same categories as explanations for adults' and for children's emotions. Results confirm that explanations for emotional states were nonrandom, even for preschoolers, and were distributed in significantly different and meaningful ways across the emotions investigated. Several age- and gender-related hypotheses were confirmed: Interpersonal and achievement explanations for emotions both increased with age; fantasy contexts for fear decreased with age; and girls used more interpersonal explanations for emotion than did boys. Expected increases with age in cognitive differentiation of such affect knowledge were marginally confirmed, with older children using a greater number of categories to explain emotions than did younger children. Contrary to expectations, there were no age or gender effects as a function of target person, nor was there greater differentiation of categories used to explain own vs others' affect. Social and cognitive factors relevant to children's and adults' affect construals are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age and the selectivity of visual information processing.

Two experiments assessed age differences in the selectivity of visual information processing. Selectivity was measured by the amount of interference caused by nontarget letters when Ss detected a target letter in a visual display. In both experiments, young and elderly groups participated in search and nonsearch conditions; in the search condition, targets appeared anywhere in the display, whereas in the nonsearch condition targets were confined to the center position of the display. In Exp I, 20 19–27 yr olds and 20 65–90 yr olds were assigned to either condition for 2 sessions of testing. In Exp II, 16 young (mean age 19.8 yrs) and 16 elderly (mean age 71.8 yrs) Ss participated in both conditions. In both experiments, nontargets produced larger interference effects for old compared to young Ss in the search condition but not in the nonsearch condition. The obtained pattern of age effects could not be explained by age-related reductions in parafoveal acuity. Findings indicate that the magnitude of divided-attention deficit increases with age, whereas focused-attention deficits are unaffected by aging. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How good is the evidence for a production deficiency among learning disabled students?

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 77(6) of Journal of Educational Psychology (see record 2008-10974-001). Figures 1 and 2 (p. 557 and 559, respectively) are reversed. The captions are correct, but Figure 1 should be above the caption for Figure 2 and Figure 2 should be above the caption for Figure 1.] Investigated the spontaneous use of mnemonic strategies by learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children and adolescents to examine whether LD Ss can be distinguished from their non-LD peers on the basis of strategy use and recall. In Exp I, 105 LD and 105 non-LD 9–15 yr olds were administered a picture study/recall task, in which the strategies of interest were categorical organization during study and clustering during recall. In Exp II, 140 LD and 140 non-LD 11–17 yr olds were administered a paired-associate recall task, in which the strategy of interest was elaboration. In both studies, LD Ss earned lower mean recall scores than did the non-LD Ss. As a group, LD Ss did not differ from non-LD Ss in the use of categorical organization during study but showed less categorical clustering at recall. Fewer LD Ss used elaboration. Despite these differences, recall and strategy use were not useful predictors of classification as LD or non-LD and were only weak to moderate correlates of academic achievement. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge of storybooks as a predictor of young children's vocabulary.

Shared book reading provides a rich source of linguistic stimulation for young children. The authors examined whether variations in knowledge of storybooks (assumed to index factors such as frequency of shared reading) were related to vocabulary scores for 3–6 yr olds. In Exp 1, parents' knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in children's receptive vocabulary scores after controlling for children's analytic intelligence, parents' exposure to adult reading material, and parents' education. In Exp 2, children's knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in their receptive and expressive vocabulary scores after controlling for parents' exposure to print and socioeconomic status level. Children's knowledge of storybooks indexed cognitive factors as well as exposure. The findings obtained in the 2 experiments suggest that storybook experiences during the preschool years may be an important influence on the development of children's language skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive bias and depression in psychiatrically disturbed children and adolescents.

Developed a cognitive bias questionnaire for children (CBQC) to examine the relation between cognitive distortion and depression in 39 psychiatrically disturbed 8–16 yr olds. Results indicate that the Depressed–Distorted scale from the CBQC was significantly correlated with Ss' psychiatric and self-reported ratings of depression and could significantly discriminate affective from nonaffective disorders. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the pain response inventory for children.

The Pain Response Inventory (PRI) was developed as a multidimensional instrument to assess children's coping responses to recurrent pain. The PRI assesses 3 broad coping factors—Active, Passive, and Accommodative—each with subscales representing specific strategies for coping with pain. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to derive and cross-validate the factor structure of the PRI in 3 different samples of children and adolescents: 688 9–16 yr olds in general population, 120 8–18 yr old abdominal pain patients who also completed followup interviews 2-wks and 6 mo after initial interview, and 224 11–23 yr old former abdominal pain and well patients. The subscales were found to be internally consistent and reasonably stable. Validity of the subscales was assessed by examining the relations of particular coping strategies to various outcome indicators, including functional disability, somatization symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that different types of health outcome were predicted by different patterns of PRI coping strategies, thus supporting the utility of a multidimensional approach to the assessment of coping responses to pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)