Televised classroom events as distractors for reading-disabled children.

Three experiments examined the influence of videotaped classroom events on the academic performance and study behavior of reading-disabled and normally reading children in grades 1 through 6. In experiments 1 and 2a an experimenter-controlled presentation of these distractors resulted in performance decrements, the magnitude of which was greater for higher difficulty tasks. The distractor effects were similar for the two groups in this condition. However, when the children themselves were allowed to control their degree of exposure to the same distractors in experiment 2b, the reading-disabled children were less likely to act to escape the distraction. Results are discussed in terms of children's metacognitive awareness of distraction, and implications for the classroom are considered.

Delay of reinforcement effects with reflective and impulsive children.

Reflective, impulsive, fast-accurate, and slow-inaccurate second grade boys and girls (N = 156) learned a discrimination task with one of three reinforcement delay conditions: No delay; 10 sec delay with an attentional aid filling the delay period; and 10 sec delay with an unfilled interval. The attentional aid was expected to lead to improved learning task performance (vis-à-vis delay without an aid), especially for impulsive children who would focus on the task more with an aid during the delay. The results indicated that all children learned less well with a delay of feedback, and the attentional aid was ineffective (possibly because it did not prevent competing responses from occurring). The children who did best on the test of Conceptual Tempo (the MFF), the fast-accurates, learned with the fewest errors, while the slow-inaccurate children made the most errors in learning. The results did not support the contention that impulsive children are poor attenders, but did indicate that some components of Conceptual Tempo are related to discrimination learning.

Children's perception of Munsell colors.

This study examined perception of Munsell notation color by seven third-graders and three college adults (both with normal color vision) and three children (from the same family) who were red-green color blind. The stimuli varied in terms of Munsell Hue (red, green, and purple), Munsell Value (brightness), and Munsell Chroma (saturation). Each S judged the dissimilarity of 325 color pairs (from 26 stimuli). The data were analyzed via individual difference multidimensional scaling that defined a common perceptual space for the group. The results indicated that the third-graders' color perception was like that of the adults. The color circle was reproduced, as were dimensions based on Munsell Value and Chroma. The color deficient children's data did not fit into that common space. Their perception was guided primarily by the brightness of the stimulus. In sum, the data indicated that, for the domain of Munsell colors, results obtained from adults concerning the dimensionality of the color space could be applied to young children (as long as they have normal color vision).

The concept of dimensions in developmental research.

In the present article, the terms attribute, concept, and category were deliberately used to demonstrate how such terms share a common meaning, at least at one level. This is precisely the level at which interpretive misunderstandings seem to abound. The misunderstandings are not limited to any group of theorists, but apply equally to many of us. Actually, the problem is not very different from that which exists for similarity. In an extensive analysis of the similarity construct, Gregson (1975) remarked that one reason for its popularity was that the lack of a precise definition could be "dangerously versatile." Versatility at the expense of precise definition does not improve either predictability or our understanding of complex developmental processes. That understanding is our goal, and if the suggestions we have made lead to more clearly defined research designs and more consistent results, our goals shall have been achieved.

Development of proportional response strategies.

An experimental task modeled after hypothesis-testing probes was devised to examine the hypotheses and strategies children (from grades K, 2, 4, and 6) used when making proportional judgments. Earlier studies of proportional reasoning have been limited by methodological inadequacies and by attempts to obtain a "static" measure of children's understanding of proportion concepts. The task used here was oriented toward determining the maximum level of performance a child was capable of without specific training. However, the children did not change or alter their hypotheses or strategies, even after negative feedback, probably because they did not actually receive a counter (square) of the designated color. Other results showed that choosing the set of elements with a greater proportion of, say, white squares in order to get a white square increased with age and increased when the stimulus squares were randomly displayed. In general, the hypotheses used by children at different grades conformed with a developmental sequence proposed by Piaget and Inhelder (even if the specific ages at which appropriate behaviors were observed did not so conform). Further attempts to describe how children acquire proportion concepts were discussed.