This response to a paper concerning age-related effects and their relationship to universal grammar (UG) in second language (L2) acquisition looks first at both the paper in question and research on UG and L2 acquisition in general. After these observations, discussion focuses on the following four topics in relation to the paper: (1) the notions…

Memory studies involving older adults have typically been conducted in laboratory settings and have usually employed experimental tasks. Most results support cognitive decline. Most naturalistic experimental studies relate to spatial memory and test younger respondents. When older respondents are tested, the old sometimes outperform and sometimes…

Most American families consist of three or more generations. This study analyzes intergenerational relationships over time. In the past these relationships have been characterized in terms of a generation gap. In regard to this gap, this study seeks to compare and contrast perceptions of generational relations among grandparents, parents, and…

Research has indicated that children learn material evaluated as positive more readily than negatively assessed material. This finding is termed a positive reinforcement value effect. The study extended the research in this area, focusing on the effects of intelligence, self-concept, and age on the affective learning styles of 55 children, (6-11…

A study was conducted to investigate age changes in children's noncompliant and resistant behaviors and their relation to parental control strategies during the toddler period. Specifically, the study explored possible changes in the form of children's oppositional behavior (or "negativism") and investigated how parental control…

To determine the effects of raising the legal drinking age on the drinking patterns of college students, especially those whose status changed from legal to illegal, a survey was designed and administered to college students before and after the legal drinking age was changed from 19 to 21. College students (N=799) completed surveys in April of…

A survey of 155 midwestern movie viewers was conducted to determine the factors of the selective exposure and appeal of horror films. Audience members leaving the theatre after viewing "Halloween II" were interviewed using a questionnaire that contained measures of specific reasons for liking horror films as well as measures of several…

The present study compares the attributions of young children 5 to 6.5 years of age with those of adult subjects 20 to 30 years of age, who were engaged in the same competitive situation. It was hypothesized that sex differences would occur in the sample of adults but not in the sample of children. Believing outcomes to be determined by either…

A forced-choice observer-based testing procedure was used to determine pure-tone hearing thresholds for 2- to 4-week-old infants. Stimuli were 500-ms tone bursts of 500, 1,000, or 4,000 Hz with 500-ms intervals between tone bursts. Stimuli were presented monaurally by means of an insert earphone. Each 15-s trial consisted of 5 tone bursts,…

A study examined the social status of the members of the social sets of preschool children. For 8 weeks, interactions of 3- and 4-year-olds were observed in 8 classrooms. Interaction scores were standardized, and members of each social set were identified as popular, average, or unpopular. Findings indicated that for 3- and 4-year-olds, 39% and…

Depression is a serious health problem and efforts are being made to educate laypeople in relevant ways about symptoms and the course of the disorder, availability of treatments, and related coping strategies. These programs have typically been initiated based more on assumptions regarding community knowledge of depression than on factual data.…

Despite the potential importance of delineating the development of alcohol use over the adolescent years, detailed investigations of incremental increases in alcohol use in adolescence are rare. Age- and gender-related differences in frequency, quantity, patterns, and consequences of alcohol use were examined among 1,260 male and 1,338 female…

This study examined the characteristics of the child's social network as it changes within the preschool period. Of particular interest is how the social network changes as the child moves from a more home-centered existence at 3 years to a more school-centered existence at 6 years of age. Also of concern is the effect of sex and socioeconomic…

Observations were made of the incidence of pointing behavior among infants differing in age when a radio-controlled truck entered the room in which mother and infant were seated. Infants' reactions over 5 to 6 minutes were recorded on videotape. Recordings were analyzed to establish the incidence of pointing, handedness of pointing, whether…

When presented with linguistic material, elderly adults are often unable to report as much material as are younger people. To ascertain whether elderly adults are as sensitive as young adults to the underlying structure of the to-be-remembered sentences, a study was conducted using the item recognition priming technique. In this technique, people…