Ironsmith M
Child Dev. 1980 Sep;51(3):899-901.
First graders and undergraduates were shown a study set of pictures depicting one animal (actor) performing some action on another animal (object). Prior to viewing the pictures for a 1-sec exposure, subjects heard a verbal description of the pictures. 2 groups heard interactive descriptions, formulated as either passive or active sentences. 2 groups heard conjunctive descriptions, formulated as either passive or active sentences. 2 groups heard conjunctive descriptions, with the actor first and object second or vice versa. A forced-choice recognition test was then given in which the actors and objects were presented separately and paired with distractor animals. Both children and adults recognized significantly more actors than objects. Adults' response latencies were also significantly shorter when the target was an actor than when it was an object, while the reverse was true for children. Contrary to expectation, verbal descriptions did not alter which components of pictures were encoded. Rather, actors were the most salient feature of the pictures and were most likely to be recognized for both children and adults.
一年级学生和大学生观看了一组研究图片，图片描绘了一只动物（施动者）对另一只动物（受动者）做出某种动作。在观看图片进行1秒曝光之前，受试者听到了对图片的口头描述。两组受试者听到的是交互式描述，表述为被动句或主动句。两组受试者听到的是连接性描述，表述为被动句或主动句。两组受试者听到的是连接性描述，施动者在前受动者在后，或者反之。然后进行了一项强制选择识别测试，其中施动者和受动者分别呈现，并与干扰动物配对。儿童和成人识别出的施动者都明显多于受动者。当目标是施动者时，成年人的反应潜伏期也明显短于目标是受动者时，而儿童的情况则相反。与预期相反，口头描述并没有改变图片中哪些成分被编码。相反，施动者是图片中最突出的特征，儿童和成人都最有可能识别出施动者。
