Development of referential communication skills: How familiarity with a listener affects a speaker's production of redundant messages.

Investigated the development of sensitivity to the needs of a listener in 20 1st graders and 20 4th graders. Of interest was whether Ss would vary their production of redundant messages (saying more than the minimal necessary to be informative) as a function of sharing common experiences with a listener. Ss were asked to give messages to a fictitious listener (represented by a drawing) who was supposed to be either a stranger or a friend. Results show that both 1st and 4th graders were more likely to give redundant messages to an unfamiliar listener than to one with whom they shared common experiences. Fourth graders, however, gave a different type of redundant message, one more sensitive to a listener's needs. Fourth graders included several differentiating features in their messages, whereas 1st graders included both differentiating and nondifferentiating features. It is concluded that there were developmental differences in the type of messages given but not in the production of redundancy. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Referential communication: Some factors influencing communication efficiency.

Examined differences in message variables and listener response measures as a function of pleasant vs unpleasant content in a referential communication task. The 5 basic components of the referential communication model are speaker, listener, task, message, and listener response. 192 female undergraduates formed 96 pairs (86 pairs were already acquainted), and Ss participated in written and communication sessions. The "speaker" described pleasant or unpleasant pictures that the "listener" identified from among 5 similar alternatives. Measures of message style, listener responses, and speaker and listener traits yielded 40 variables whose factor analysis supported the model. Pleasant content was associated with greater diversity, shorter words, less verbal output, and longer pauses. For pleasant tasks, listener accuracy was related to a message style that included high productivity, more precise words, numerous speech errors, and few pauses; unpleasant task accuracy was related to few errors and pauses. The association of listener traits with message indices suggests that speakers adapt their message to a particular listener. (French abstract) (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive style in two modalities: Vision and audition.

Administered the visual Matching Familiar Figures Sequential Presentation Task (MFF-SPT) and the Auditory Impulsivity Task (AIT), 2 match-to-sample tasks designed to measure cognitive style, to 81 4th graders. A moderate negative correlation was found between errors and latencies on the AIT, thus indicating that longer latency did not always result in better performance. A high negative correlation was found on the MFF-SPT. 55% of the Ss maintained their classification as reflective, impulsive, fast–accurate, or slow–inaccurate across the 2 modalities, providing evidence that the 2 tasks were measuring somewhat different abilities. Ss employed the same search strategy in both modalities. It is suggested that auditory cognitive style be investigated for relationships with reading ability. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How children learn to listen: The effects of modeling feedback styles on children's performance in referential communication.

48 kindergartners and 48 2nd graders participated as listeners in a referential communication task with an adult speaker. Ss were presented with sets of 4 pictures and asked to choose the referent on the basis of a speaker's message. The messages were either adequate or ambiguous, describing 2 of the 4 possible referents. Ss were instructed to ask questions if they needed more information. Prior to these trials, Ss were exposed to 1 of 3 modeling conditions in which they viewed an adult listener responding to ambiguous messages by asking either general questions, specific questions, or specific questions accompanied by an explanation of the underlying strategy. A 4th group received no modeling. Although each of the modeling groups was successful in increasing the frequency of the modeled question, older Ss benefited more from modeling than younger children. Age differences suggested that the effectiveness of modeling interacted with children's existing cognitive abilities. Auxiliary evidence pointed to the role of information processing in children's abilities to deal with ambiguous communications as listeners. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Checking it out: Cognitive style, context, and problem type in children's monitoring of text comprehension.

Three experiments investigated the effects of age, context, and reflection–impulsivity (as assessed by the Matching Familiar Figures Test) on children's monitoring of comprehensibility problems in extended passages. In Exp I with 20 kindergartners and 20 2nd graders, reflective listeners were generally more effective detectors of referentially ambiguous terms in brief texts than were their impulsive agemates. Presence of a perceptual context for the messages significantly facilitated Ss' ambiguity detection as well. Exp II replicated the perceptual-context effect for 20 1st graders but failed to find any effects of cognitive style. In Exp III, 72 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders heard stories with several types of coherence problems, including referential confusions or global text-organization problems (missing story themes or resolutions). Half the Ss anticipated retelling the stories, and half did not. No effects of this listener–purpose manipulation were observed. More reflective listeners again detected referential ambiguities more readily overall, but this cognitive style effect did not extend to other types of message problems. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Informed Strategies for Learning: A program to improve children's reading awareness and comprehension.

Examined the role of awareness about their own cognitive skills on the learning and development of 87 3rd graders and 83 5th graders. Half of the Ss were given an experimental curriculum—informed strategies for learning (ISL)—designed to increase Ss' awareness and use of effective reading strategies. The remainder of the Ss were used as controls. Results show that Ss who participated in ISL made larger gains than did controls on cloze and error detection tasks. No differences between groups were found on 2 standardized tests of reading comprehension. Findings demonstrate that metacognition can be promoted through direct instruction in classrooms and that increased awareness can lead to better use of reading strategies. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological refractory period: Evidence for age differences in attentional time-sharing.

Reports 2 psychological refractory period (PRP) experiments in which the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between Task 1 and 2 was 150, 250, 600, and 1,100 msec for both younger and older adults. H. Pashler's (1994) response-selection bottleneck theory predicts that SOA manipulations should not affect Task 1 performance, but that reaction time (RT) for Task 2 should increase as the SOA between the 2 tasks decreases (i.e., the classical PRP effect). In Exp 1, older adults showed a larger PRP effect, although Task 1 RT was affected by SOA, suggesting that Ss were grouping their responses on some trials. That is, Ss were holding their response for Task 1 until they had completed processing Task 2, and then they responded to both tasks almost simultaneously. However, a subset of Ss who showed no evidence of response grouping on Task 1 continued to show a larger PRP effect for older adults on Task 2. In Exp 2, older adults continued to show a larger PRP effect for Task 2, and Task 1 performance was unaffected by SOA. Findings provide evidence that older adults exhibit a decrement in time-sharing at the response-selection stage of processing. Results suggest that attentional time-sharing needs to be added to the list of topics examined in aging research on varieties of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rules as tools: Effective generalization of verbal self-regulative communication training by first-grade speakers.

Tested whether referential communication training of young speakers can be generalized to novel tasks. 19 1st graders were taught to use 2 general communication rules through a verbal self-regulation procedure. Three groups were tested: a practice control and 2 training groups. In the 1st training group, Ss were trained on 2 tasks. In the 2nd group, Ss received the same training but in only 1 context. Results show that both training groups performed better than the controls on both direct training posttests and novel generalization tasks, immediately as well as 2 wks later. However, there were no significant differences between the 2 training groups. It is concluded that verbal self-regulation training appears to be a promising means of obtaining generalizaion of speaking skills in young children, in support of findings by D. Meichenbaum and J. Goodman (see record 1971-23785-001). (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's referential communication: Components of plans for effective listening.

Investigated the effects of 2 plans on children's listener behavior in a referential communication setting. The design systematically varied the presence and absence of instructions about a plan to engage in comparison activities (comparison plan) and instructions about a plan to request more information if the speaker's message was ambiguous (action plan). 94 elementary school Ss played the role of listener. The speaker was an adult confederate who produced messages of varying informational adequacy. Results show that on an immediate test, Ss who received the action plan asked more questions when the messages were ambiguous and made more correct referent choices than other Ss. These effects persisted on a test administered 2 wks later and were observed both for nameable and abstract stimulus items. No significant effect of the comparison plan was observed. Results suggest that knowing when and how to request additional information is an important listener skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motives for helping behavior: Kibbutz and city children in kindergarten and school.

Studied the motives for helping expressed by 80 children 4–5? and 7–8? yrs of age. Half of each age group were from a kibbutz and half from a city. Half of each group were boys, half girls. Ss were presented with 3 pictures depicting 3 situations in which one child had an opportunity to help. They were asked whether the child in the picture would help and if so, what the child's motive would be for such an action. They were also asked questions regarding motives for helping behavior in general. Three hypotheses were stated: (1) Older Ss would express higher-level motives for helping than younger Ss. (2) Kibbutz Ss would express higher-level motives than city Ss. (3) Girls would express higher-level motives than boys. Only the 1st hypothesis was confirmed. No differences were found between kibbutz and city Ss or between boys and girls. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of rapid naming ability and language analysis skills to kindergarten and first-grade reading achievement.

34 kindergartners and 34 1st graders completed a series of measures including the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and the WRAT. Language analysis tasks (segmentation and rhyming) and rapid automatized naming tasks (objects, colors, and letters) were found to tap different components of linguistic processing in both kindergarten and 1st-grade Ss. In kindergarten, rapid naming of colors was significantly related to 5 of 6 reading measures, whereas rapid naming of objects, syllable segmentation, and rhyming were related to at least 3 of the 6. In the 1st grade, rapid naming of letters and phoneme segmentation were significantly related to all 3 measures of 1st-grade reading achievement. Ss who could analyze letter names (as indicated by speed on the letter naming task) were more likely to be among the better readers at the end of the 1st grade. (66 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The onset of representation and entry into Stage 6 of object permanence development.

Attempted to determine whether infants' performance in 2 search tasks was related to their entry into Stage 6 of object permanence development and thereby to test Piaget's claim that only Stage 6 infants possess the capacity for representation. Ss were 85 10-mo-olds. In these tasks, Ss found either the same toy as or a different toy than they had seen hidden (Task 1) or which their mother had told them to find (Task 2). Two dependent measures used in each task were the Ss' continuation of search and their smiling in reaction to finding a toy. In both longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, Ss in early Stage 6 (i.e., solving a single invisible displacement), but not in Stage 5, responded differentially on these measures. The early Stage 6 Ss continued to search more frequently in reaction to finding the toy in the different than same condition, while they smiled longer and earlier in the same than different condition. Results suggest that infants begin to demonstrate some representative capacity during early Stage 6 of object permanence development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When two wrongs make a right: Promoting cognitive change by social conflict.

89 1st graders and 25 2nd graders were given information about conservation tasks that conflicted with their prior nonconservation judgments. Ss in a social interaction situation had higher conservation posttest scores than Ss who were given conflicting information in role-playing, imitation, and control conditions. The spontaneous generation of conservation assertions that occurred in the social interaction condition was related to significantly higher posttest scores. Results suggest that even incorrect information that conflicts with a prior but equally erroneous belief can stimulate cognitive growth. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive certainty in children: Effects of concept, developmental level, and method of assessment.

Examined the certainty with which children make their judgments on concrete-operational tasks. Ss were 60 2nd graders and 36 5th graders; the tasks involved various forms of conservation and transitivity. Three methods of assessing certainty were included: a rating scale, a betting game, and a feedback phase in which the child responded to a disconfirmation of his answer. Ss who had given operational answers expressed strong certainty in their judgments on both the rating and betting measures. The certainty expressed during the feedback phase, as measured by challenges to the disconfirmation, was considerably less. Operational answers were accompanied by greater certainty than were nonoperational answers. Developmental changes in certainty among operational Ss were infrequent, as were interconcept differences in certainty. There was evidence, however, that conservation of number was the concept held with greatest certainty. Results are discussed in terms of J. Piaget's (1971) claim that concepts of conservation and transitivity are experienced as logically necessary truths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning and secondary reinforcement in 6–7-year-olds and 10–11-year-olds.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate the 1st author's cognitive theory of secondary reinforcement effects, which predicts that Ss of a preoperational age (i.e., younger than 7 yrs) should not necessarily learn responses followed by a stimulus object previously instrumental in obtaining a reward, while Ss of a postoperational age should do so. Using 24 1st and 24 5th graders in 2 learning tasks, the prediction was confirmed. Furthermore, verbal responses indicated that the logical operations that presumably influenced the behavior of the older children actually did occur. In Exp II, using 28 2nd and 15 6th graders, the training task was simplified in order to try to facilitate logical reasoning, but the behavior of the younger Ss was not affected. It is concluded that secondary reinforcement of a stimulus–response associative type has yet to be demonstrated, and that secondary reinforcement of a cognitive type is heavily dependent on reasoning ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical memory in poor and normal readers: Developmental differences in the use of category cues.

Examined whether differences between poor and normal reading children on lexical memory tasks may be attributed to semantic development, using 80 2nd and 6th graders. Ss were presented with 4 lists of taxonomic categories and were asked to recall items under (a) noncued and random conditions, with Ss instructed to recall as many items as possible and (b) cued and blocked conditions, with Ss told to recall items in a category. All Ss performed better with category cues. Group differences on category recall were more reliable at Grade 6, suggesting that facility in accessing taxonomic categories may differentiate poor and normal readers more reliably at older age levels. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of comprehension monitoring as a function of context.

Two studies with 59 Ss (preschoolers–4th graders) explored the effects of stimulus factors on children's ability to monitor comprehension of messages as listeners in a referential communication situation. Results of Exp I show that both complexity of the stimulus array and degree of message ambiguity affected performances. In line with previous findings, 4th graders but not younger Ss showed evidence of effective comprehension monitoring. Data from Exp II show that when conducive stimulus conditions were arranged, even 1st graders demonstrated considerable skill in comprehension monitoring. In addition to investigating comprehension monitoring per se, the studies also examined the role of comprehension monitoring in directing the overall comprehension process. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading, memory, and metacognition.

Investigated relations among reading skills, metareading (knowledge about reading), memory, and metamemory (knowledge about memory) as they relate to reading ability (good vs poor readers), operativity, and grade level. 40 2nd graders (aged 7.25–9.83 yrs) and 40 4th graders (aged 9.42–22.00 yrs) were interviewed to assess the reading–memory variables. Significant but low correlations were obtained between metareading and reading, metamemory and memory, metareading and metamemory, and reading and memory. Significant effects of operativity were revealed on all dependent measures. Operative Ss had higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks, read at higher levels, and remembered more items on the memory tasks than did nonoperative Ss. Effects of grade level were revealed on most dependent measures. Fourth-grade Ss received higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks and read at higher levels than did 2nd-grade Ss. An interaction between operativity and grade level revealed that operative 2nd-grade and both groups of 4th-grade Ss made fewer total reading errors than did nonoperative 2nd-grade Ss. The effects of operativity, experience, and metacognition on reading and memory skills are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral norms and social conventions: A cross-cultural comparison.

60 boys and 60 girls in the 1st and 4th grades in Israel were interviewed to examine the distinction between moral and conventional norms. Ss were equally divided between 3 groups: secular urban Jews, secular kibbutz Jews, and traditional Arab villagers. Ss were presented with 8 behaviors, all breaches of moral or conventional norms. Two of them dealt with norms strongly observed by the traditional but not by the other groups and 2 with norms central to the kibbutz. Ss were asked the extent to which the behavior was bad (or good) in a country where (a) it was prohibited and (b) it was permitted. They were also asked whether it should be forbidden by law, and why. City and kibbutz Ss did not differ in their judgments, even in regard to behaviors emphasized in the kibbutz. Compared with these groups, the traditional group judged all behaviors as bad even when permitted; they thought all should be prohibited by law and their justifications tended to be in normative terms. Results are interpreted in terms of 2 distinct orientations to social norms: one where the criteria for social judgment of behaviors and norms are consequences to others and law, and the other where social norms are considered to have absolute validity and constitute the dominant criterion for moral judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of information about future interaction and peer's motivation on peer reward allocations.

Most equity studies dealing with children have defined inputs solely in terms of relative task performance. Yet in naturally occurring circumstances, children are presented with information about accomplishments in a context of other equally salient information. The present study determined what information 192 1st and 3rd graders weighted most heavily when formulating allocation decision rules. Ss allocated rewards to themselves and 2 unfamiliar players following a tower-building task. One player always constructed a shorter tower than the participant and the other player. Altruistic, aggressive, or no motivation information was attributed to the short-tower player. Half of the Ss anticipated future interaction with the players. It was hypothesized that both 1st and 3rd graders would utilize information concerning a peer's motivation in allocating rewards and that the prospect of future interaction would influence the use of the motivation information. Results corroborate the 1st hypothesis and indicate that prospect of future interaction information masked the effects of a peer's motivation for 3rd graders. First graders used this information only when no motivation information was given. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)