Young children's flexible use of semantic cues to word meanings: converging evidence of individual and age differences

A new test of children’s flexible use of semantic cues for word learning extended previous results. In Experiment 1, three- to five-year-olds (N=51) completed two tests of interpreting several novel words for the same stimulus arrays. Within-sentence phrasal cues implied different stimulus referent properties. Children’s cue-using flexibility in the new Flexible Induction of Meanings [Words for Animates] test (FIM-An) was strongly correlated with an established test (Flexible Induction of Meanings [Words for Objects] ; Deak, 2000). Individual children showed between-test consistency in using cues to flexibly assign words to different referent properties. There were large individual differences, as well as limited age differences, in the distribution of flexible and inflexible response patterns. The comprehensibility of specific cues, and perceptual salience of specific properties, explained much of the variance. Proportions of flexible and inflexible patterns shifted with age. Experiment 2 replicated these results in N=36 three- and four-year-olds, using a modified FIM-An with more distinctive cues

Young children's flexible use of semantic cues to word meanings: converging evidence of individual and age differences

A new test of children’s flexible use of semantic cues for word learning extended previous results. In Experiment 1, three- to five-year-olds (N=51) completed two tests of interpreting several novel words for the same stimulus arrays. Within-sentence phrasal cues implied different stimulus referent properties. Children’s cue-using flexibility in the new Flexible Induction of Meanings [Words for Animates] test (FIM-An) was strongly correlated with an established test (Flexible Induction of Meanings [Words for Objects] ; Deak, 2000). Individual children showed between-test consistency in using cues to flexibly assign words to different referent properties. There were large individual differences, as well as limited age differences, in the distribution of flexible and inflexible response patterns. The comprehensibility of specific cues, and perceptual salience of specific properties, explained much of the variance. Proportions of flexible and inflexible patterns shifted with age. Experiment 2 replicated these results in N=36 three- and four-year-olds, using a modified FIM-An with more distinctive cues

Is perseveration caused by inhibition failure? Evidence from preschool children�s inferences about word meanings

Four studies examined the relation between childrenÕs cognitive inhibition and flexibility in a lexical inference task. ChildrenÕs linguistic flexibility was assessed by the Flexible Induction of Meaning (FIM) test (De?ak, 2000a), which requires that children shift inferences about the meanings of several words for novel objects. In Study 1, 54 3-year-olds either were trained be- tween blocks of problems, for a delay of 3 min, or received no training or delay. Training de- lays did not influence perseveration. In Study 2 (N1⁄472 3- and 4-year-oldsÕ) novel word problems were grouped either to increase the frequency of cue switches (i.e., reduce response ‘‘set’’) or minimize the interval between problems about the same objects. Again, no effect was found. In Study 3, 48 3- and 4-year-olds completed 6 preliminary trials; in a high interference group these trials generated a response set to be inhibited upon the first switch to a new cue context. This group did not perseverate more than a control group. There was no association between FIM perseveration and a Stroop-like test of verbal inhibition though both were mar- ginally related to receptive vocabulary. In study 4 (48 3- and 4-year-olds), FIM was again un- related to Stroop performance, but was related to the ability to tell whether a situation or problem is indeterminate. Thus, flexibility across semantic inferences is not influenced by tim- ing, order, and number of pre-switch problems and is not predicted by individual differences in a test of verbal inhibition. However previously reported age and individual differences in flex- ible induction of word meanings are robust and related to vocabulary and logical ability

Functional similarities in spatial representations between real and virtual environments

The two experiments in this paper demonstrate similarities in what people know about the spatial layout of objects in familiar places whether their knowledge resulted from exploring the physical environment on foot or exploring a virtual rendering of it with a tethered head-mounted display. In both experiments subjects were asked to study the locations of eight targets in the physical or virtual environment, then close their eyes, walk (or imagine walking) to a new point of observation, and then turn and face some of the remembered objects. In Experiment 1 the results of the statistical analysis were functionally similar after learning by exploring the virtual environment and physical environment: The new points of observation were simple rotations of the point where they were learned. Like exploring the physical environment, the latencies and errors of the turning judgments after learning the virtual environment were significantly worse after the imagined movements than the physical movements; and the measures were worse for larger degrees of physical or imagined rotation in both conditions. In Experiment 2 the new points of observation differed by simple rotations in one condition versus simple translations in the other condition and again the results were functionally similar after learning the physical versus the virtual environment: In both learning conditions, the errors and latencies in the physical and virtual environments were worse after rotations than translation and varied as a function of the disparity of the direction when learning and the direction when responding

Effect of density on the growth of the spat of the clam, Paphia malabarica in the hatchery

The Central Marine Fisheris Research Institute has achieved a breakthrough in 1988 in the spawning and spat production of the venerid clam, Paphia maiabarica (Chemnitz) at the Shellfish Hatchery Laboratory, Tuticorin. Since then the hatchery technology is being upgraded for the mass production of the spat of this species. As a pan of this progamme, an experiment was conducted during February-March 1994 to determine the optimum stocking density of the spat in the rearing tanks in the hatchery, as such information is useful to optimise production

Not Available

Not AvailableThe Central Marine Fisheris Research Institute has achieved a breakthrough in 1988 in the spawning and spat production of the venerid clam, Paphia maiabarica (Chemnitz) at the Shellfish Hatchery Laboratory, Tuticorin. Since then the hatchery technology is being upgraded for the mass production of the spat of this species. As a pan of this progamme, an experiment was conducted during February-March 1994 to determine the optimum stocking density of the spat in the rearing tanks in the hatchery, as such information is useful to optimise production.Not Availabl