Age changes in nonverbal decoding as a function of increasing amounts of information

doi:10.1016/0022-0965(78)90007-3

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Volume 26, Issue 2, October 1978, Pages 280-287

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(78)90007-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

A test of nonverbal decoding skill (the PONS test) was administered to 632 subjects of eight different age levels, ranging from third graders to adults (Ages 8–33 years). Females were more accurate than males, older subjects were more accurate than younger ones, and all samples tended to decode more successfully when more information was available. Three different analyses showed that the increase in accuracy with increasing amounts of information was more pronounced for the older than for the younger groups. This differential effectiveness in the utilization of available information was discussed in terms of processing capacity, effort, and strategies for sampling a diversity of cues.

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^☆: Preparation of this paper was supported by the Milton Fund of Harvard University and by the National Science Foundation. During the conduct of this research, the first author was supported by a National Science Foundation fellowship.

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Age changes in nonverbal decoding as a function of increasing amounts of information☆

Abstract

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Acta Psychologica

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

A new method of measuring reactions to facial expression of emotion

Psychological Bulletin

The ability to identify the emotional meaning of vocal expressions at successive age levels

An experimental study of the growth of social perception

Journal of Educational Psychology

Age changes in the ability to encode social cues

Developmental Psychology

Gender effects in decoding nonverbal cues

Psychological Bulletin

The profile of nonverbal sensitivity