Preschoolers' viewing of instructional television.

Investigated the structural relations among viewing behaviors, viewing conditions, background characteristics, and intellectual ability and 107 34–71 mo olds' learning from instructional TV. Ss viewed tapes designed to teach seriation concepts in groups of four, in dyads, or individually. Ss also completed various subtests from tests of intellectual ability (e.g., the Verbal Fluency subtest of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities); Ss' parents completed a family background questionnaire. Instructional outcomes were not affected by treatment condition, so data were pooled for subsequent analyses. A principal components analysis with oblique rotation was used to reduce the number of variables for subsequent testing of a hypothetical model using path analysis. School aptitude made the strongest contribution to learning from the tapes; viewing behavior, parental education, and family constellation also directly contributed to learning. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Viewing bilingual multicultural educational television: An empirical analysis of children's behaviors during television viewing.

Presents a methodology for reliably observing and recording children's behaviors during television viewing. 385 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-grade Mexican-American, Puerto Rica, Cuban-American, and Anglo-American children viewed 2 Carrascolendas pilot programs, and their visual attention, facial expressions of mirth, verbal and nonverbal imitations, and program- and nonprogram-related verbalizations were measured. The relationships of these behaviors to each other, to perceptual-cognitive ability, to language used in the home, and to family socioeconomic and educational status; the stability of the behaviors over time and across programs; and the effects and interactions of ethnic group membership, grade level, and sex on behavior were examined. Findings of ethnic differences may be related to either (a) differential understanding of portions of the programs due to the language spoken, or (b) differential appeal of the material, (c) culturally determined differences in the degree, frequency, and pattern in which the behaviors studied are produced in each of the ethnic groups, or (d) cultural differences in the observers. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations of television viewing and reading: Findings from a 4-year longitudinal study.

This longitudinal study explored the long-term effects of television viewing on the development of children's reading competencies. Among 2 cohorts of German children (N? = 165, N? = 167), measures of television viewing were collected over 4 years, and tests of reading speed and reading comprehension were administered annually. As a main result, TV genre (educational vs. entertainment programs) produced different effects. Whereas educational program viewing was positively correlated with reading achievement, relations between entertainment program viewing and reading performance were generally negative. Children who were classified as heavy viewers (average viewing time per day = 117 min) showed lower progress in reading over time as compared to medium and light viewers (average viewing times per day 69 and 35 min, respectively). Partial support was found only for 1 of the 3 tested causal mechanisms, namely television-induced reduction in leisure-time book reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transparent layer constancy.

Perceived transparency was studied as a constancy problem. In the episcotister (E-) model of scission, luminances are partitioned into layer and background components; four luminances determine values of two layer parameters that specify constancy of a transparent layer on different backgrounds. The E-model was tested in an experiment in which 12 Ss matched 24 pairs of four-luminance patterns by adjusting two luminances of the comparison pattern. Both the standard and the comparison were perceived as a transparent layer on a checkerboard. The E-model predicts matches when layer values are identical in the two patterns. One parameter was constant, constraining the adjustment along the second dimension. Obtained values corresponded well with E-predictions. Alternative models based on local luminance or average contrast ratios accounted for less variability. Results indicate that transparency models should utilize luminance, not reflectance, as the independent variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epidemic obesity in the United States: are fast foods and television viewing contributing?

Chlorpromazine and prochlorperazine have previously been shown to enhance the susceptibility of Burkholderia cepacia to aminoglycosides. To screen other non-antibiotic drugs containing similar amine (-N-CH3) groups, we examined a range of such agents that are in current clinical use for the treatment of non-infectious diseases, in combination with antibiotics that are ineffective against B. cepacia. At a concentration of 0.2 mM, theobromine, theophylline, trifluoperazine, fluophenazine and coumarin-152 significantly reduced (by four-fold) the MICs of gentamicin and ceftazidime. Theobromine and theophylline also reduced the MICs of amikacin and azithromycin.     

Shape constancy and polar perspective.

The distortion of polar perspective depends on the depth of the tridimensional shape and on the observation distance. In 4 experiments with 57 undergraduates as Ss, it was found that a compensation process that takes depth and observation distance into account, rather than a memory of the object's shape, corrects for such distortions. Compensation was demonstrated in experiments in which deceptive information on depth and on observation distance was provided. The result was distortions of the perceived shapes that would be expected if compensation were based on the deceptive information. It is noted that the demonstration that a compensation process operates when perceptual corrections for the distortions of polar perspective takes place does not preclude familiarity from also operating in bringing about such corrections. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender constancy and the "cost" of sex-typed behavior: A test of the conflict hypothesis.

95 children between 5- and 10-yrs-old watched televised boys and girls who differentially endorsed toys of varying attractiveness. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that behavioral expression of gender norms that arouse conflict would be delayed relative to norms that are conflict-free. Predictions were supported for boys. Gender-constant boys spent more time playing with an uninteresting sex-typed toy than did preconstant boys. When the sex-typed toy was relatively interesting, preconstant boys played with it as much as gender constant boys. Toy play among girls was related to toy attractiveness and the girl's agreement with televised stereotypes. Possible reasons for observed sex differences and previous inconsistencies in the gender constancy literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science and television.

The "program that has only incidental visual support is certainly one of the most conspicuous and continuing failures of educational television." The major characteristic of the series "Focus on Behavior," a series of 10 30-minute films produced for National Educational Television under the auspices of APA "is the consistent presentation of experimental psychology by showing people doing things rather than by telling what has been done, giving conclusions, and then illustrating these through supporting visual demonstrations or examples." The "series represents a major step forward in the presentation of science." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Size constancy in psychopathology.

Size-constancy judgments were made by 21 schizophrenics, 17 psychotically depressed, 16 hysterical character disordered patients, and 35 normal controls. Judgments were obtained for a neutral stimulus, a circle of light, under 4 experimental conditions which varied the number of distance cues available to S. The psychotic patients were more constant in all experimental conditions; all groups exhibited increasing constancy with increasing distance cues. Anchor effects were less for the controls and most marked in the schizophrenics and hysterical character disorders when distance cues were minimal. Results are interpreted as a function of an integrative defect in perception relating to psychosis rather than specific to schizophrenia. It is hypothesized that the psychotics are more sensitive to the information available whether or not such information leads to veridical perception. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychological investigation of a group of demographic, personality, and behavioral variables as they relate to viewing educational television.

42 frequent and 72 nonviewers were interviewed by 6 trained interviewers using a questionnaire composed of fixed-alternatives, general open-end, and projective questions. They did not differ with respect to occupation, income, sex, race, or personality factors. Time spent in viewing reaches its peak after 50. "Our findings indicate that frequent viewers discuss and act upon ideas and information gained from educational television programs." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2KC25E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shape constancy in schizophrenic patients.

Shape constancy in visual perception of schizophrenic patients was studied. 40 chronic schizophrenic, 40 acute schizophrenic, 40 nonschizophrenic mental patients, and 40 normal controls were used as Ss. Ss matched the shape of a standard object (circle) inclined at an angle. 2 angles of inclination, 30° and 60°, were used. It was found that shape constancy was lower in schizophrenic patients than in controls when the stimulus object was inclined 60° from the horizontal plane. When the angle of inclination was 30° there was no difference between the groups. The chronic schizophrenic patients displayed greater response variability than the other groups. The relation of these findings to the theory of assimilation of percepts to the perceptual schemata in schizophrenic patients was discussed. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender schema, gender constancy, and gender-role knowledge: The roles of cognitive factors in preschoolers' gender-role stereotype attributions.

Investigated the influence of several cognitive components of children's gender-role development on their attributions of gender-role stereotypes to a particular sex. A total of 83 children (44 boys and 39 girls) completed a 2-part interview that assessed degree of gender schematization, gender-role knowledge, flexibility, and stage of gender constancy. Children also completed tasks assessing attributions of gender-role stereotypes to male and female figures. Results indicated that children's gender schematization and other cognitive gender schema factors were significantly associated with children's accuracy in attributing gender-role stereotypes to both males and females. In contrast, stage of gender constancy per se was not significantly correlated with any of children's gender-role stereotype attributions. The patterns of results offer further evidence of the importance of gender schemata in early gender-role development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Size constancy of adolescent schizophrenics.

In a size-constancy task 10 schizophrenic and 10 normal adolescent males judged variable triangles as smaller, same size, or larger than a standard. The schizophrenics' judgments were further from constancy, and differed qualitatively. They made more (a) same-size judgments, (b) changes of judgments, (c) overestimation of the size of the standard, and (d) improvement with practice. The relative constancy of the same-size judgments of most Ss suggested the effects of personality variables. A significant correlation was found between constancy performance and the Sc score on the MMPI for the experimental group. The direction of error, underconstancy or overconstancy, was determined by the space arrangement of the variable and the standard. Both groups responded similarly to the experimental conditions of distance, series order, and space arrangement. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Presentation method and learning-time constancy in serial learning.

Investigations of paired-associate, serial-anticipation, and free-recall learning have shown that the effective variable is total learning time, independent of presentation order or rate. In this light serial recall was studied as a function of 6 presentation methods and 2 presentation rates. 192 8th graders practiced word lists for 10 min. Rate did not influence recall. No differences in recall resulted from the 5 methods that presented words singly, but the whole-list presentation produced superior recall scores. Learning strategies used by Ss were discussed. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public policy and children's television.

TV occupies a large part of children's time from an early age. Among its many functions, education, social learning (prosocial as well as antisocial), and selling products are well documented by research evidence. Commercial programming for children in the US consists primarily of cartoons and entertainment shows; educational and informative programs are supplied by public broadcasting and, to some degree, by a few cable channels emphasizing the child audience. The structural organization and revenue sources for children's television have a direct effect on program and commercial content. Two principal goals for public policy in this domain are proposed: (1) to promote programming that serves the diverse needs of children for education, entertainment, aesthetic appreciation, and knowledge about the world, and (2) to protect children from TV content and advertising practices that exploit their special vulnerability. In recent years, the Federal Communications Commission has followed a philosophy of deregulation, based on the assumption that market forces would generate diverse programming and limit commercialization. The data, as applied to the programming marketplace for children, contradict that assumption. A requirement for a minimum amount of informational and education programming for children on every station is recommended, and strengthening public broadcasting is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shape constancy: Functional relationships and theoretical formulations.

In the 1st section empirical findings concerning shape constancy are reviewed under 10 headings: The Occurrence of Compromise, Conditions of Observation, Degree of Orientation, Observation Attitude, Familiarity and Representativeness. Differences Between Forms, Individual Differences and Individual Consistency, The Effects of the Background, Movement, Exposure Time and Intensity. The 2nd section deals with several theoretical accounts of shape constancy. The shape-slant invariance hypothesis is evaluated in the light of the experimental evidence and is judged to be equivocal. A line of investigation is proposed which might reconcile the experimental data with the requirements of this hypothesis. The final section of the paper considers the methodological precautions which need to be observed in experimentation on apparent shape and apparent slant. (54 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Size constancy in schizophrenia: A reanalysis.

Perceptual differences between normals and schizophrenics revealed by traditional size-constancy experiments are questionable because of S variability, procedural difficulties, and problems inherent in traditional psychophysical methods. A review of the literature reveals few consistent results. The present study compared normals, paranoid schizophrenics, and nonparanoid schizophrenics on a size-constancy task which allowed derivation of additional dependent variables from signal-detection and uncertainty analysis. No group differences were revealed using the size-constancy procedure, but signal-detection analysis indicated nonparanoid schizophrenics were significantly lower in perceptual sensitivity. Uncertainty analysis revealed additional response dispositions characteristic of the schizophrenic groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The peripheral viewing of dials.

Four Ss each read dials of four pointer designs at lateral displacements of 10° from 10° to 80°. Results were analyzed in terms of time and error scores. No significant differences were found among the pointer designs. "If reversal errors are ignored, the ability to discriminate pointer position when the dial is displaced as much as 40° from the fixation point is good. Even at 80°… readings are better than chance." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)