Young children and adults looked at 400 pictures of common objects and were asked to name the object, indicate their familiarity with the object, and state how complex the object would be to draw. Normative data indicated that children and adults differed in the most frequent name assigned and the number of alternative names used. (BC)

A survey of 1,200 midwesterners received 643 replies identifying factors affecting tendency to read and use product owner's manuals: (1) product familiarity and lack of time negatively affected use; (2) having a question or problem increased use; and (3) perceived value of information (i.e., redundant or obvious information) deterred use. (SK)

In two studies, two year olds learned a novel word for a particular stuffed animal. When the animal was familiar, children interpreted the novel word as a proper noun. When the animal was unfamiliar, children frequently interpreted the novel word as a count noun referring to a kind of object. (BC)

Infants were familiarized haptically to an object and then presented with stimuli that were identical to or different in shape or texture from the first object. Infants demonstrated recognition of shape and texture when the stimuli were presented without delay; of shape when presented after a five-minute delay; and of texture when presented after…

Reviews some limiting properties of the process-dissociation model as it applies to the study of dual-process conceptions of memory. A second-generation model (conjoint recognition) is proposed to address these limitations and supply additional capabilities. Worked applications to data are provided. (Author/GCP)

Examines whether a lie's cognitive representation affects deceivers' ability to respond to probing. Shows that behavioral changes made in response to probing varied depending on whether the lie was a familiar lie or an unfamiliar lie but that none of these behaviors were related to judges' ratings of truthfulness. (SR)

Provides a model of the basis of the differentiation process consisting of item detectors that learn estimates of conditional probabilities of item features. The model is used to account for a number of findings in the recognition-memory literature including the differentiation effect. Simulations illustrate the model. (SLD)

A multidimensional scaling procedure is introduced that attempts to derive a spatial representation of stimuli unconfounded by the effect of subjects' degrees of familiarity with these stimuli. A Monte Carlo study investigating the extent to which the procedure recovers known parameters shows that the procedure succeeds in adjusting for…

The impact of four long-term knowledge variables on serial recall accuracy was investigated. Serial recall was tested for high and low frequency words and high and low phonotactic frequency nonwords in 2 groups: monolingual English speakers and French-English bilinguals. For both groups the recall advantage for words over nonwords reflected more…

The research reported in this paper is based on a survey carried out jointly by UNESCO and UNICEF with the collaboration of the Government of Mauritius. This survey involves 1800 fourth-grade pupils who were taken from 60 primary schools. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the home-related factors, which influence Numeracy performance at…

The authors address whether a hindsight bias exists for visual perception tasks. In 3 experiments, participants identified degraded celebrity faces as they resolved to full clarity (Phase 1). Following Phase 1, participants either recalled the level of blur present at the time of Phase 1 identification or predicted the level of blur at which a…

Little is known about the acoustic cues infants might use to selectively attend to one talker in the presence of background noise. This study examined the role of talker familiarity as a possible cue. Infants either heard their own mothers (maternal-voice condition) or a different infant's mother (novel-voice condition) repeating isolated words…

Semantic dementia (SD) is a progressive condition characterized by an insidious and gradual breakdown in semantic knowledge. Patients suffering from this condition gradually lose their knowledge of objects and their attributes, concepts, famous persons, and public events. In contrast, these patients maintain a striking preservation of…

Students with fine motor problems can benefit from occupational therapy. Yet not all students receive the services because of a lack of teacher awareness about the problems and the services. This study aims to evaluate a workshop designed to improve teacher awareness about fine motor problems and occupational therapy. The study involved three…

Safety and security are crucial parts of a functioning educational facility. Despite an apparent slowdown in security threats and particularly dramatic incidents of violence, thanks to heightened vigilance, student safety is still a fundamental concern, made more complex by our times, experts say. According to Kenneth S. Trump, president of the…