A surprising validation of expectation experienced during a recognition test induces the perception of discrepancy and a feeling of familiarity. The authors investigated whether that perception also affects memory performance when it is experienced in the original encounter with a stimulus. Target words were presented in a study phase, half in…

The relation between perceptual organization and categorization processes in 3- and 4-month-olds was explored. The question was whether an invariant part abstracted during category learning could interfere with Gestalt organizational processes. A 2003 study by Quinn and Schyns had reported that an initial category familiarization experience in…

The aim of this research was to improve understanding of the attitudes, experiences and dynamics of interaction of students working in online groups. This was achieved through a case study of postgraduate Information Studies students using the WebCT discussion board at City University in the academic year 2004-2005. Qualitative and quantitative…

This article reports on a sample of 26 middle-class Chinese immigrant parents' perspectives on their children's reading, writing, mathematics learning, and homework, and on the parents' involvement in and communication with mainstream American schools. Findings suggested both consistencies and discrepancies between their beliefs and practices.…

Much of what psychologists know about infant perception and cognition is based on habituation, but the process itself is still poorly understood. Here the authors offer a dynamic field model of infant visual habituation, which simulates the known features of habituation, including familiarity and novelty effects, stimulus intensity effects, and…

In this paper, the authors aim to (a) explore attitudes toward and preferences for living in the newly emerging place type of assisted living facilities in comparison to nursing homes, and (b) assess the possible impact of familiarity on those attitudes and preferences. Ninety-eight respondents (with a mean age of 62) were surveyed. Respondents…

The Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL) is an international comparative study conducted in 2003 to provide participating countries with information about the skills of their adult populations. ALL builds upon earlier national and international studies of adult literacy. Information from ALL addresses questions such as: (1) What is the…

The aim of this research is to evaluate the effects of background knowledge, topic familiarity and interest on reading skill. In writing this, our greatest aim is to present such a work that will be used by all language teachers, by students in the foreign language department and by all those whose prospect is to be language teacher as a handbook.…

We are researching actions that teachers can take to improve mathematics learning for all students. Structural elements of the lessons being trialled include making aspects of pedagogy explicit to seek to overcome differences in familiarity with schooling processes, and sequencing tasks with the potential to engage students. This article reports…

This report on the Getty Online Searching Project, which studied the end-user searching behavior of 27 humanities scholars over a 2-year period, focuses on previous familiarity with retrieved documents. Topics include document familiarity and relevance; document familiarity and information retrieval; measuring retrieval success; and document…

Using grounded theory, the learning processes used by nine physicians to diagnose Lyme Disease were investigated. Repetition and counterexperiences served to frame the problem along a continuum of familiarity. Results suggest ways to prepare case studies that include variety, repetition, and counterexperiences to teach diagnosis. (Contains 28…

One longitudinal and one cross-sectional study evaluated the interactive effects of endogenous and exogenous influences on infants' attention allocation by assessing the role of target familiarity on distraction latency during object exploration. Findings indicated that 9- and 10-month-olds, but not 6.5-month- olds, exhibited longer latencies as…

Elementary and secondary students (N=150) were given a forced-choice task of idiom understanding. Performance on tasks steadily improved with age, and idioms with higher familiarity and transparency were easier for students to understand. Results support the language experience model of figurative language development and the hypothesis that…

In an experiment, 13.5-month-old children were tested on 2- and 3-act sequences depicting familiar and novel events. Using elicited imitation, they reliably recalled the sequences in the correct temporal order. In a second experiment, 11.5 month olds accurately recalled 2-act sequences depicting familiar and novel events. (BC)

Previous research has been inconsistent in supporting any one model of idiom comprehension. This study found evidence of the effect of familiarity on reading times for sentences containing idioms, as well as new evidence that literalness affects reading times and that both familiarity and literalness exert interactive effects. (22 references)…