Ss worked division problems for 20 min. in the presence of 98 db.-108 db. of noise while Ss of comparable mean ability in arithmetic worked the problems under conditions of room noise. Under each condition 1 group of Ss worked "easy" problems and another group worked "difficult" problems. Intense noise produced no effect on mean number of problems correctly solved. Variability of performance was significantly greater with easy problems under intense noise conditions than under room-noise conditions, although there was no difference with difficult problems. There was no evidence of a decrement in performance within the 20-min. session attributable to noise level.

These experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension level, digit span, and short-term memory for Morse code-like temporal patterns. Consistent with previous research on children, Experiment 1 demonstrated that college students performed better when the first pattern was auditory than when it was visual or tactual. Experiments 2 and 3 found no relationship for either college or fifth-grade students between digit span and accuracy in comparing patterns of tones presented a few seconds apart. However, both tasks discriminated between children with normal and poor reading comprehension scores on a standardized test. It appears that these two tasks index fundamental processes that underlie reading comprehension. Digit span seems to assess an individual's ability to rapidly develop meaningful codes in memory for incoming verbal stimuli. The auditory pattern comparison procedure appears to measure ability to maintain information in short-term memory.Differences in short-term memory capabilities have been shown to distinguish reading-disabled children from normal readers of the same age (e.g., Elkins & Suitman, 1981). However, Torgesen and Houck (1980) have pointed out that the specific deficiencies in learning-disabled children are not well understood. Birch and Belmont (1964) asserted that the difficulties of retarded readers derive from their inability to form connections between visually and auditorially coded information in short-term memory. Clearly, reading instruction concentrates on the translation of visually presented materials into sounds and vice versa. However, Rubinstein and Gruenberg (1971) pointed out that the experimental task employed by Belmont (1964, 1965

Effects of noise frequencies on both performance on a complex psychomotor task and annoyance were investigated for men (n = 30) and women (n = 30). Each subject performed a complex psychomotor task for 50 min. in the presence of low frequency noise, high frequency noise, or ambient noise. Women and men learned the task at different rates. Little effect of noise was shown. Annoyance ratings were subsequently obtained from each subject for noise of various frequencies by the method of magnitude estimation. High frequency noises were more annoying than low frequency noises regardless of sex and immediate prior exposure to noise. Sex differences in annoyance did not occur. Not direct relationship between learning to perform a complex task while exposed to noise and annoyance by that noise was demonstrated.

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