Within the subfields of linguistics, traditional approaches tend to examine different phenomena in isolation. As Stoel-Gammon (this issue) correctly states, there is little interaction between the subfields. However, for a more comprehensive understanding of language acquisition in general and, more specifically, lexical and phonological…

We argue that 4 fundamental gestalt phenomena in perception apply to the control of motor action. First, a motor gestalt, like a perceptual gestalt, is holistic in the sense that it is processed as a single unit. This notion is consistent with reaction time results indicating that all gestures for a brief unit of action must be programmed prior to…

Spivey, Grosjean, and Knoblich (2005) reported smoothly curved reaching movements, via computer-mouse tracking, which suggested a continuously evolving flow of distributed lexical activation patterns into motor movement during a phonological competitor task. For example, when instructed to click the "candy," participants' mouse-cursor trajectories…

In this paper, we argue that music cognition involves the use of acoustic and auditory codes to evoke a variety of conscious experiences. The variety of domains that are encompassed by music is so diverse that it is unclear whether a single domain of structure or experience is defining. Music is best understood as a form of communication in which…

Developments within education, psychology and the neurosciences have shed a great deal of light on how we learn while, at the same time, confirming for us all that learning is a profoundly complex process and far from understood. Against this background, and in this position article, we consider the recent rise in interest in the concept of…

Reexamines the history of the apprehension, consumption, and production of reality by means of the aural in light of developments in virtual reality technology. Suggests that, by acknowledging and examining its roots in aural media, the connections of virtual reality to the discourse of authenticity are made clear. (SR)

K. Kavale responds to criticism of his earlier meta-analysis assessing the relationship between auditory perceptual skills and reading. R. Gersten and D. Carnine rejoin that the correlations Kavale found between auditory skills and reading achievement scores are of limited pragmatic use to the field. (CL)

Discusses a study comparing children's perception of temporal acoustic cues to that of adults. Subjects were asked to identify voiced or voiced CVC words with uniformly voiceless final obstruents but in which vowel duration was systematically varied. Results show that subject age and vowel duration of test stimuli affect identification processes.…

Notes that the ability to analyze the media is linked directly to the way that images are projected and to the channels through which they are received. Contends that a story heard affects a person differently than does a story seen. (FL)

This commentary on EC 232 373 and EC 232 374 suggests that a theory that depends on categorizing events as either stuttering or nonstuttering must fail. It evaluates the merit of the voluntary/involuntary distinction in loss of speech production control, defends research on the nature of stuttering, and proposes additional research and theory.…

Stating that the most pressing and puzzling scientific questions are questions about properties, not about change, the authors examine Piaget's and other theories of human development. Disputes the constructivist view that the initial cognitive state is one of emptiness, showing that from birth, humans react to certain stimuli in specific ways,…

The commentary to EC 232 373 and EC 232 374 discusses whether stuttering is really what the listener perceives, the stutterer senses, or the dictionary states. It concludes that stuttering can probably be defined in appropriate contexts as any or all of these three things. (JDD)

This paper examines the case for modality specificity as a criterion for improving the specificity of diagnosing central auditory processing disorders. Demonstrating the modality-specific nature of sensory processing deficits is seen as one way to rule out nonperceptual factors as explanations for observed dysfunction. (Author)

One of the major challenges facing South African higher education institutions is to deal with the learning preferences and styles of an increasing diverse student population. Although much research has been conducted on the identification of learning styles theories for classroom application, little attention has been devoted to the investigation…

Discusses definitions of learning disabilities and strategies for identifying and accommodating learning disabled adults during job training. (SK)