Alteration in sleep function of the elderly is associated with the aging process. Subjective sleep surveys of the elderly commonly reveal a general dissatisfaction with the quantity and quality of sleep. The widespread utilization of sedative-hypnotic drugs in order to alleviate the sleeping complaints of the elderly probably rests on some untested assumptions made by physicians. Music has elicited some strong responses from subjects with Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type (SDAT), when other means of communication has failed. Music of a serene nature has been shown to lessen anxiety and allow individuals to relax. This study investigates music as an adjunct or alternative to sedative-hypnotic drugs in inducing sleep in “healthy” elderly subjects and patients with SDAT A behavioral assessment chart of sleeping behavior was designed and utilized by nurses on the midnight shift. Combined analysis of variance for the number of hours asleep for all four groups yielded a significant relationship between the numbers of hours asleep and music. A paired comparison between control and experimental SDAT disclosed a significant relationship between the use of music and the number of hours of productive sleep. A paired comparison of the number of hours asleep between control and experimental “healthy” elderly revealed no significant relationship.

The durations and variability of changing events were analyzed for 20 min. each of 13 children's television programs. These programs included selections from both publically and privately produced shows. Significantly different patterns of attentional demands were found between the programs. Public television programming is characterized by longer and more variable durations of sustained attentional events, while private television programming is best described as having fast-paced shorter events. The implications of this finding for difficulties in learning by school-age children to attend for longer periods are discussed.

Following exposure to experimenter-provided examples of space creatures, people tend to conform to the features contained in the examples when creating their own novel space creatures. In three experiments, we manipulated factors known to affect source-monitoring accuracy to determine how these manipulations would influence conformity to experimenter-provided examples. In Experiment 1 we altered people's cognitive agenda by means of the instructions given before the drawing task. In Experiment 2 we examined how time pressure would affect the level of conformity, and in Experiment 3 we manipulated the availability of the creatures during the drawing task by making them available to half the participants. Conformity decreased when extended source-monitoring processes were engaged and increased when these processes were disrupted. The results from the three experiments were consistent with the principles of the source-monitoring framework.

This study investigates the patterns of sustained attentional demands of events in Kindergarten through Grade 5. The durations and variability of sustained attention for events occurring in 12 elementary classrooms were observed. The data show a progression of sustained attentional demands across the grades; however, a substantial increase in students' sustained attention is required between Kindergarten and Grade 1. The implications of these findings on curriculum development are discussed.