Do young children recognize faces differently than older children and adults? Previous research (Carey & Diamond, 1977) has suggested that, before the age of 8, children recognize a face by its individual features; after the age of 8, they switch to a whole-face (holistic) recognition strategy. The part-whole paradigm provides a suitable test for the encoding switch hypothesis. In this paradigm, memory for a face part is probed when the part is presented in isolation and in the whole face. The difference in performance between the two test conditions serves as an index of holistic processing. Results from such studies reveal that even 6-year-olds remember parts from upright faces better when tested in the whole-face context than in isolation. When faces are inverted, the holistic processes of young children and older children are disrupted. These results indicate that counter to the encoding switch hypothesis, children recognize faces holistically by 6 years of age.

The purpose of this study was to examine parents' perceptions of the health and health-related quality of life in a series of children and adolescents with cleft and other craniofacial anomalies. The subjects for this prospective study were a consecutive series of 54 children and adolescents presenting to an outpatient craniofacial anomalies surgery clinic, ages 5 to 18 years (mean, 8.9 +/- 4.2 years), 50 percent with cleft lip and/or palate, 9 percent synostotic (two coronal, two bicoronal, and one sagittal), 17 percent syndromic (two Apert, one Crouzon, one Noonan, two Goldenhar, two Smith-Lemli-Opitz, and one brachio-oto-renal), and 24 percent with other diagnoses. Subjects were divided into two groups, those with primary cleft lip and/or palate and those with other craniofacial anomalies. Health and health-related quality of life were assessed with the Child Health Questionnaire version PF28, a reliable and valid 28-Likert-item questionnaire completed by parents and yielding physical and psychosocial status scale scores. Physical and psychosocial scale scores largely fell within normal limits for the subset of children with cleft lip and/or palate. There were significant group differences in parents' ratings of global health status, with greater health concerns noted in the non-cleft lip and/or palate group. There were no significant associations between either age or sex and physical or psychosocial health. Physical health, behavior, and psychological status were highly correlated. Using a health status and quality-of-life assessment instrument, findings indicate perceived health differences between groups with and without primary cleft lip and/or palate. In contrast to normative data with the Child Health Questionnaire, findings suggest that there is a significant association between perceived physical health and psychosocial adjustment in the population of children with craniofacial anomalies. The significant perceived health needs of the non-cleft lip and/or palate group and the association between physical health and psychological adjustment highlight the importance of the interdisciplinary nature of craniofacial teams.

California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version (CVLT-C) indices have been shown to be sensitive to the neurocognitive effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The effects of TBI on the learning process were examined with a growth curve analysis of CVLT-C raw scores across the 5 learning trials. The sample with history of TBI comprised 86 children, ages 6-16 years, at a mean of 10.0 (SD=19.5) months postinjury; 37.2% had severe injury, 27.9% moderate, and 34.9% mild. The best-fit model for verbal learning was with a quadratic function. Greater TBI severity was associated with lower rate of acquisition and more gradual deceleration in the rate of acquisition. Intelligence test index scores, previously shown to be sensitive to severity of TBI, were positively correlated with rate of acquisition. Results provide evidence that the CVLT-C learning slope is not a simple linear function and further support for specific effects of TBI on verbal learning.