The time needed to compare two symbols increases as the cognitive distance between them on the relevant dimension increases (symbolic distance effect). Furthermore, when subjects are told to choose either the larger or the smaller of two stimuli, the response time is shorter if the instruction is congruent with the overall size of the stimuli (semantic congruity effect). Three experiments were conducted to determine the locus of these effects in terms of a sequence of processing stages. The developmental aspects of these effects were also evaluated, as the subjects were from kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade, and college. By varying the visual quality of the stimulus in each experiment, it was determined that the distance effect resides in a comparison stage, whereas the congruity effect is an encoding phenomenon. Both distance and congruity effects were present at all grade levels, but they decreased in magnitude as grade increased. The results were interpreted relative to recent models of comparative judgments.When a subject is presented with two digits and asked to compare them, the speed and accuracy of the comparison is determined, in part, by the numerical difference between the digits (symbolic distance effect) and the relationship between the experimenter's instructions and the size of the digits (semantic congruity effect). The symbolic distance effect was first demonstrated by Moyer and Landauer (1967). They asked subjects to indicate which of two digits was larger and found that the time needed to respond was an inverse function of the difference between the numbers. This effect has been replicated consistently with adults (e.g., Banks,

Examined relapse rates in those individuals who have experienced an episode of unipolar depression as a function of the number of previous episodes, gender, age at onset of the episode (less than 40 vs. greater than 40), time since a previous episode, and depression level at time of interview. From of 6,742 participants, 2,046 were interviewed; of these, 1,130 had at least one, 513 reported a second and 173 reported a third episode. The probability for relapse was positively related to number of previous episodes, being female, depression level at time of interview, but not to age at onset (less than 40 vs. greater than 40). Women were also more likely to have more severe episodes. Participants with elevated depression symptoms reported a greater number of previous episodes. Following the first episode, there was a decline in hazard rate for men but not women; following the second episode, there was no change in vulnerability for men; for women, the results were ambiguous.

The purpose of this study was to describe the onset age distribution for first episodes of unipolar depression for men and women. From a total of 6,742 participants ranging in age from 18 to 88 years, 2,046 were selected for a diagnostic interview on the basis of elevated scores on a self-report depression inventory and were diagnosed as per the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and Research Diagnostic Criteria procedures. Of those interviewed, 1,012 were diagnosed as having suffered from a previous episode of depression. The Life Table method was used to describe the risks associated with different ages for developing an initial episode of depression. The results indicate that the hazard rates are very low through age 14 years, increase during adolescence (15-19 years) and young adulthood (20-24 years), peak between 45 and 55 years, and then decrease with increasing age, becoming zero at 80 years or older. The hazard rates for men and women differed, with women between the ages of 9 and 69 years having higher hazard rates than men between the same ages. The average age at onset for first episodes of depression for men and women did not differ.The age at which disorders have their initial onset is important epidemiological information. The potential importance of age at onset is recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980), which devotes a section to this aspect for each disorder even though in most instances relatively few empirical data are available for estimating the age of first onset distributions for the various disorders.Many theoretical and practical issues can be addressed if the age at onset distribution for a disorder is known. Such knowledge would have important public policy and planning implications for directing services toward the vulnerable age groups. In addition, there is evidence that the age at first onset for a disorder can have etiological implications. For example, with affective disorders there appears to be a stronger genetic component in those individuals who develop the disorder earlier in life relative to those who develop the disorder later in life (Gershon,

The extent to which children's visual memories were modified by subsequent verbal information was examined. In 2 experiments, 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children and college students were asked questions after being shown slides. Some questions described events that appeared in the slides and other questions described events not depicted. In experiment 1 correct recall of the visual events was facilitated by congruent verbal information and impaired by incongruent verbal information. When subjects demonstrated good memory for the original visual events, the effects of the verbal information increased with age. In experiment 2, the effects of verbal information on visual recognition performance were evaluated. Correct recognition of study slides and false recognition of distractor slides increased when the questions presented information depicted in the appropriate slides. Again, the influence of verbal information increased with age only when subjects demonstrated correct recognition of control slides. These results illustrate the increasing interdependence of the verbal and visual systems with age.

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