Preschool children's attention to environmental messages about groups: social categorization and the origins of intergroup bias

This study was designed to examine the effects of adults' labeling and use of social groups on preschool children's intergroup attitudes. Children (N=87, aged 3-5) attending day care were given measures of classification skill and self-esteem and assigned to membership in a novel ("red" or "blue") social group. In experimental classrooms, teachers used the color groups to label children and organize the classroom. In control classrooms, teachers ignored the color groups. After 3 weeks, children completed multiple measures of intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that children in both types of classrooms developed ingroup-biased attitudes. As expected, children in experimental classrooms showed greater ingroup bias on some measures than children in control classrooms.     

Benefits of computer-presented speed training for poor readers

The effects of computer-presented automatization exercises in a group of 14 poor readers were assessed in comparison to a matched control group of 14 poor readers that received computer-presented exercises aimed at the use of context for word identification and comprehension. Training took place three sessions a week for 15 minutes per session and lasted about two months in each group. Results showed that the automatization or “speed” group progressed more than the context group in word and text reading efficiency, and the effect transferred to more complex word types than the CVC word type that was presented in the exercises. Both groups progressed to the same extent in accuracy, but the speed group made more progress in speed. No effects were found for reading comprehension. The findings make clear that computer-supported automatization exercises can be effective in reducing reading problems of poor readers in a short period of time. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Time spent viewing captions on television programs

The eye movements of 23 deaf subjects, ages 14 to 61 years, were recorded 30 times per second while the subjects watched four 2.5-minute captioned television programs. The eye movement data were analyzed to determine the percentage of time each subject actually looked at the captions on the screen. It was found that subjects gazed at the captions 84% of the time, at the video picture 14% of the time, and off the video 2% of the time. Age, sex, and educational level appeared to have little influence on time spent viewing captions. When caption speed increased from the slowest speed (100 words per minute, or wpm) to the fastest speed (180 wpm), mean percentage of time spent gazing at captions increased only from 82% to 86%. A distinctive characteristic of the data was the considerable variation from subject to subject and also within subjects (from video to video) in regard to percentage of time spent gazing at captions.     

Eye movement patterns of captioned television viewers

Eye movement of six subjects was recorded as they watched video segments with and without captions. It was found that the addition of captions to a video resulted in major changes in eye movement patterns, with the viewing process becoming primarily a reading process. Further, although people viewing a specific video segment are likely to have similar eye movement patterns, there are also distinct individual differences present in these patterns. For example, someone accustomed to speechreading may spend more time looking at an actor's lips, while someone with poor English skills may spend more time reading the captions. Finally, there is some preliminary evidence to suggest that higher captioning speed results in more time spent reading captions on a video segment.