Embodied cognition--the idea that mental states and processes should be understood in relation to one's bodily constitution and interactions with the world--remains a controversial topic within cognitive science. Recently, however, increasing interest in predictive processing theories among proponents and critics of embodiment alike has raised…

Motivation is a key factor for child development, but very few studies have examined child and family predictors of both child task and perceived motivation. Thus, the three aims of this 6-month longitudinal study in preschoolers with global developmental delays (GDD) were to explore: 1) differences between task and perceived motivation in…

Listening comprehension involves the ability to understand and extract meaning from spoken sentences, stories, and instruction. This skill is vital for young children and has long-term effects on school achievement, employability, income, and participation in society. There is a lack of measures of young children's listening comprehension skills.…

Outliers are typically regarded as data anomalies that should be discarded. However, dynamic or "innovative" outliers can be appropriately utilized to capture unusual but substantively meaningful shifts in a system's dynamics. We extend De Jong and Penzer's 1998 approach for representing outliers in single-subject state-space models to a…

Describes two experiments that assessed young children's understanding of the characteristic uncertainty in the physical nature of random phenomena as well as the unpredictability of outcomes. (HOD)

A growing body of evidence indicates that for some children, early incidences of challenging behaviors are predictors of later difficulties. These incidences of challenging behaviors may predict mental health issues, social adjustment issues and/or increased challenging behaviors that will impede school success and impact transition to adult life…

A factor analysis was conducted on Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) item scores of low-income black and white urban mothers of infants 13 to 30 months of age to determine the extent to which the existing subscales were evident in this factor analysis.

Investigated neuropsychological and cognitive basis of achievement and determined the stability of this relation. Addressed the power of the McCarthy Scales and portions of the Reitan-Indiana Test Battery for predicting academic achievement in kindergarten, and first grade; stability over a 2-year period; the ability of tests administered in…

Assesses ability of infant tests to predict language and cognitive development and to detect infants at risk for developmental problems. The Bayley Mental Development Index was particularly capable of detecting infants at risk for developmental delay. The Caldwell Inventory of Home Stimulation identified home environment as a key factor in…

Raven's Progressive Matrices test items were analyzed for M demand (Pascual-Leone's developmental construct). Data on second- and third-grade subjects were analyzed for extent of absolute agreement of Raven and Figural Intersection Test (FIT) scores. Raw scores on the Raven could be deduced on the basis of FIT performance. (Author/RD)

Addresses the utility of a noninvasive measure of cardiac vagal tone in predicting developmental outcome among infants at risk for cognitive disabilities. Results suggest that measurement of cardiac vagal tone may provide an important means for assessing risk in birth-stressed populations. (Author/RH)

Correlations among motor, visual, auditory, and language subscales of a primary device, Yellow Brick Road, with subsequent academic achievement on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills were moderate (.35 to .81). Comparisons of third-grade boys and girls on the screening device yielded little difference. Implications for educational screening…

To investigate reasoning capacities involved in learning to read, a Test of Multiple Seriation (from Piaget) was developed. Problems of a test used by Lunzer and Dolan are discussed. Results showed that word recognition and reading comprehension at age nine correlate significantly with multiple seriation, independent of IQ. (Editor/SJL)

Evaluated the PREG conceptual model of human question asking. Found the model was sufficient as it accounted for nearly all of the questions produced by students, and was discriminating in that it could identify the conditions in which particular classes of questions are or are not generated. (Author/SD)

Proposes three types of supplementary problems to develop students' skill in interpretation of graphically represented data. Eleven examples are presented and solved for the following types of problems: comparison of one quantity to another, comparison of two quantities that each depend on a common parameter, and reasonable data prediction. (MDH)