Research findings suggest the existence of three types of primitive regulation in the behavior of 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-year old children in memory tasks. When children are presented with a game of hide-and-seek to be played with a small stuffed animal, regulatory behavior appears to be related to children's use of stimulus information, precursors of…

Children's memory for stories was examined as a function of subjects' understanding of causal reasoning ability in stories. Results supported a developmental view in which recall performance was a complex interaction between characteristics of the learner and characteristics of the story. (Author/PCB)

Responding to recent advances in developmental and cognitive science research on knowledge acquisition, this report presents a theoretical framework for analyzing cognitive development as a process of learning. The first section summarizes three developmental characteristics recognized in both the Piagetian and the quantita experimental tradition:…

The study of differences between 12 subjects with learning disabilities and 12 without, across 3 grade levels (intermediate, junior high, and senior high) and 2 story grammar tasks, found no developmental differences between disabled and nondisabled groups but did find significant differences in the amount and type of information recalled. (DB)

Using five metamemory question types and the Counting Span Test (CST), this research investigated the effects of metamemory task demands, and the relationship of the amount of information one can hold in working memory to metamemory question performance. One hundred twenty kindergarten, first, third, and fifth grade children served as subjects.…

Extends and replicates the 1948 Soviet study by Istomina that examined the age at which children use deliberate strategies to aid recall and the effect that task context has on remembering. Subjects were 3- to 7-year-old children. Istomina's results were not replicated in this study. (HOD)

Reports two experiments showing a possible developmental shift from memory organization based on associative criteria to an organization based on categorical criteria. Children in first, fourth, and seventh grades were given a sort/recall task with items that could be organized into groups of categorical or associative pairs. (Author/CB)

Three studies explore the development of discrimination and memory for symmetry in preschoolers four to six years of age. Issues addressed include the young child's ability to discriminate and reproduce symmetry, and the effects of pattern orientation and complexity on the young child's symmetry discrimination and reproduction. Results indicate…

In recent research, two qualitatively different classes of mental operations have been identified. The performance of one type of cognitive task requires attention, in the sense of mental effort, for its execution, while the second type can be performed automatically, independent of attentional control. Further research has shown that automatic…

Tests seven- , 10- , and 13-year-olds for developmental differences in processes and strategies involved in geometric matrix solution and the relationship between strategy differences and item complexity. (AS)

Examines reasons why second and fourth grade students use cues relatively ineffectively to retrieve episodic information. Four experiments tested the hypothesis that retrieval cue effectiveness varies with the extent to which cue information describes event information in memory. Results showed that problems of discriminability and…

Reviews the neural modeling principles of learning, perception, cognition, and motor control, discusses their applications to sensory-motor problem solving, and explores possible relationships between that pattern of problem solving and aspects of higher order formal operational problem solving. Cites implications for science education. (ML)

A dominant theme in cognitive psychology is that prior knowledge in long-term memory has a strong influence on an individual's cognitive processing. Citing numerous memory studies with children, knowledge base effects are presented as part of a broader picture of memory development. Using the sort/recall procedure (asking subjects to group sets of…

Examined is the predictive value of the cognitive variables of developmental level, mental capacity, cognitive style, short-term storage space, and numerical inductive reasoning for student achievement in college science. Included is a strategy for the development of materials which would allow students to develop problem-solving skills. (KR)