Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. Psychology)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-80) Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on June 8, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Laura E. Berk (chair), Karla Doepke, Stacey Jones Bock, Dawn McBride. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-175) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-107).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-46).

The digit span test has long been used in the study and evaluation of memory processes in children. The study of memory processes in bilingual children has received only limited attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influences of bilingual interference, English proficiency, and item familiarity on a task of short-term memory. One-hundred nineteen third grade subjects were assigned to one of four groups based on their language background and ethnicity. Subjects were administered the Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised in English as well as a test of general ability, the Coloured Progressive Matrices, and a reaction time measure, item identification. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple regression procedures. Results showed that Mexican-American bilingual subjects who were proficient in English performed comparably to monolingual Mexican-American subjects. These results were discussed in terms of their support for the dual storage and independence positions of bilingual memory. Results of the data analysis also revealed a small but significant direct causal link between English proficiency level and digit span. This finding was discussed in terms of its support for the use of digit span measures with bilingual Mexican-American children providing the students have been determined to be proficient in English on a standardized measure. A final finding of the present study concerned the absence of a role for item familiarity as an intervening variable between English proficiency level and digit span. Results showed a direct association between English proficiency level and reaction time, but no significant association between reaction time and digit span. Implications of the current findings were discussed in relation to relevant theory and prior research findings.

The search for evidence of cognitive abilities in young children that have been previously detected only in the performance of older children and adults has been a target of study by many cognitive developmental psychologists. Early competency views suggest that aspects of cognitive fundamentals are present very early in life and are in some aspects developmentally invariant. Often, the focus of research is on the delineation of the constraints which direct and restrict deployment of early intellectual abilities to illuminate the regularities and patterns in observed developmental change. The purpose of this research was to examine children's proficiency with mental rotation tasks that involved the reorientation of complex multi-component stimuli. Specifically, the existence of stimulus effect and determination of which stimulus components prove problematic under taxing performance conditions was investigated. Sixteen students, eight first graders and eight third graders, participated in a two-choice discrimination task. Each student was assessed individually on 360 test trials in eight 20-minute sessions. Three test conditions included (1) perception, (2) memory, and (3) rotation. Two multi-component stimuli were used in which the experimenter-defined components included (A) an external protrusion on the edge of a circle, and (B) an internal axis system within the interior of the circle. The two stimuli varied in the placement of the internal axes which was either orthogonally or obliquely orientated. Test items in the memory and the rotation conditions included stimuli orthogonally oriented (90°, 180°, 270°) obliquely oriented (45°, 135°, 225°, 315°). Error scores were analyzed in a four-way analysis of variance. A main effect for foil type was found significant with axis foils being more difficult than protrusion foils. Furthermore, a significant four-way interaction effect was detected indicating that as stimulus characteristics and task demands increased in difficulty, performance declined particularly for the younger age group.

Young children are limited in their usage of comparative adjectives and ordinal numbers, typical ways of describing ordinal relationships. However, research in a number of areas suggests the possibility of a precursor level of ordinal concept. To facilitate the search for precursor ordinal skills, ordinal ability was defined in ordinal measurement terms. Only "greater than - less than," asymmetric judgements were required. Additionally, linguistic demands were reduced by using family-role terms as size designators. Experimental manipulations included variations in scale size and in the complexity level of ordinal conceptualization. Solution strategies based on "good form" and on "pairwise comparison" were precluded by using pictures of randomly placed objects which could not be manipulated by the child. Ninety-six 3-6 year old children pointed to "Daddy," "Mommy," "Big boy/girl," "Little boy/girl," and "Baby" when shown sets of 3 to 5 circles or squares which differed only in size. Tasks were of three types: Identification, mapping labels onto a single set of objects; Coordination, mapping labels onto two identical sets of objects in which corresponding "family members" are the same size; and Transposition, mapping labels onto two separate sets in which corresponding family members are of different sizes. Data were analyzed in an Age (3), by Scale Size (3), by Complexity Level (3), by Shape (2) mixed design ANOVA, and significant main effects were obtained for all variables. Tasks became more difficult with increases in scale size, and in complexity level. Square objects were slightly more difficult than circular, and older children were more proficient than younger ones. Post hoc tests generally supported the obtained main effects. Finer grained analysis using Latent Trait procedures supported the global ANOVA results, and supported the hypothesis that the end points of a scale are easier than the central positions. Response patterns indicated that errors were size-related, and suggested transitional levels of performance. The present study demonstrates that children as young as three can demonstrate a precursor ordinal concept when the task is framed in familiar terms and is placed in a context which is meaningful for them.

The purpose of this study was to determine if deaf adolescents who scored as Reactive on the Test of Engagement Style would score significantly lower on the Stanford Achievement subtests of Reading, Math Concepts, Math Computations, Math Applications, and Language than would deaf adolescents who scored as Active on the same test. The Test of Engagement Style is a locus of control construct which utilizes a non-verbal, open-ended format. Subject responses are recorded as either Active or Reactive. The subjects of this study were 111 deaf adolescents who attended the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind in Tucson. Cross-tabulation of data between sexes was utilized as was hypothesis testing procedures utilizing one-way analysis of variance with males and females combined in Active and Reactive dimensions for the following variables: IQ, onset of hearing loss, degree of hearing loss (in decibels), age, and the five Stanford Achievement subtests. Split-half procedures were utilized to test for significant correlation in item analysis of the Test of Engagement Style. The TES showed significant internal consistency with an alpha of .74 at the .05 level of significance. The following results were found: (1) There was no significant difference between males and females on TES scores. (2) There was significant difference on mean scores in the subtests of Reading, Math Computations, Math Applications, and Language between Active and Reactive students. (3) There was no significant difference between Active and Reactive subjects on onset of deafness, degree of hearing loss, age, and the Math Concepts subtest. (4) There was significant difference in IQ scores between Active and Reactive subjects. This study suggests that the Test of Engagement Style is useful for making comparisons between Stanford Achievement Test scores and locus of control perceptions.

Spatial ability has been studied primarily through two perspectives: the developmental and the information processing orientations. This research combines these approaches. Mental rotation (the ability to mentally rotate objects) was examined by focusing on the developmentalists' concern for age of acquisition of this ability and the information theorists' attention to stimulus factors influencing this competency. Sixty students, twenty each in kindergarten, third, and fifth grade, participated in the study; there were equal numbers of males and females for every grade. Each student was shown 240 slides featuring two line drawings, a standard stimulus on the left, a trial stimulus on the right. For each slide, the subject indicated whether the stimuli were alike or different by pressing an appropriate button. The standard stimulus was always upright; the trial stimulus was upright or was rotated to 45, 90, 135, or 180 degrees. The four standard stimuli used each consisted of a circle. They differed, however, by possessing or lacking a cone atop the circle and by having an orthogonal or oblique internal axis. Each standard stimulus was paired with a trial stimulus which was a: (1) match, (2) reflection, or (3) internal mismatch (orthogonal axis paired with an oblique axis and vice-versa) of the standard stimulus. When the subjects indicated their judgment, their choice and their response time were recorded, providing both competency and process data. A series of analyses were performed, the outcome of one directing the course of the next. Two analyses of variance were made on competency data (for zero and for the rotated positions) and one on process data. The research yielded several significant findings, the most important of which was an interaction between the nature of the to-be-rotated stimulus and the degree of the rotation. This interaction indicated that short reaction times occurred when the internal axis of the test item was orthogonal; long reaction times occurred when the axis was oblique. These results were discussed with regard to developmental and information processing views of mental rotation.

This is a study of the nature and extent of third grade Papago Indian children's use of personal experiences in their writing. It examines the reflection of their experiences as individuals with unique personalities and interests, their experiences as Papago Indians, their experiences as third grade school children, influenced by the curricular content of their conventional school experiences and such multi-media as books, newspapers, television and film, and finally, their experiences as young children with the ability to fantasize. The study examines the extent to which these children introduce personal experience into both assigned and unassigned writing, considering such variables as their control over the assignment, their knowledge of the content of the assignment. The study also investigates how developmental maturity and gender factors influence the reflection of real life experiences in the children's writing. The seventeen subjects, seven boys and ten girls, are Papago Indian students, either eight or nine years old, enrolled in a public elementary school on the reservation, and all members of the same third grade class. The main data base contains at least eight compositions from each subject for a total of two hundred and thirty-seven writing samples. It also includes retrospective interviews conducted by the researcher at the end of the school year with each subject providing evidence about how they developed their ideas for each piece they wrote, and the extent to which the people, places and events in their written compositions represent real-life experiences. The findings demonstrate that children do introduce personal experience into their writing, clearly revealing the many facets of their experiences such as the ethnic, the religious and the environmental. The extent to which the children's personal experience is reflected in their writing is not affected by the degree of control they exercise over the selection of the writing topic; rather, it is influenced by the function for which the children are writing and by the content of the topic they are writing about. The study raises questions about the relationship between developmental maturity and the ability to fantasize and reveals striking differences between male and female writers in the extent to which they utilize their real life experiences in their writing.