This study investigated the effects of bilingualism on set-shifting and working memory in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Bilinguals with ASD were predicted to display a specific bilingual advantage in set-shifting, but not working memory, relative to monolinguals with ASD. Forty 6- to 9-year-old children participated (20 ASD, 20…

Advanced theory-of-mind (AToM) development was investigated in three separate studies involving 82, 466, and 402 elementary school children (8-, 9-, and 10-year-olds). Rasch and factor analyses assessed whether common conceptual development underlies higher-order false-belief understanding, social understanding, emotion recognition, and…

Building on longitudinal findings of linkages between aspects of teachers' language during instruction and children's use of mnemonic strategies, this investigation was designed to examine experimentally the impact of instruction on memory development. First and second graders ("N" = 54, "M"[subscript age] = 7 years)…

In an attempt to examine the generalizability of the Kendler S-R mediational model of reversal-shift behavior, 60 third-grade children were classified as either verbal mediators or nonmediators on the basis of their performance on an optional-shift discrimination problem. The children's performances were then evaluated on three tasks. (Author/CS)

The relative strength of mastery motivation and need for approval was tested in subjects, ages 4 and 10. Mastery motivation was of major importance to the older children, particularly the boys. Contrary to prediction, approval was not of major importance to the young children. Need for approval was important for girls, but not boys. (Author/CS)

Assesses the degree of difficulty parents attribute to specific socialization tasks; explores the relation between parents' perceived difficulty and children's perceived and actual competence in these two domains; and determines whether the ease or difficulty of these child rearing tasks, as perceived by parents, varies as a function of the…

Conceptual analysis of two perspective-taking tasks identified a number of subtasks calling for equivalent operations of social reasoning within tasks of different content. Subtasks hypothetically formed a logical and developmental sequence of abilities required for decentering. The developmental significance of the hierarchy was tested among 121…

An investigation to account for age changes in the accuracy with which children match auditory to visual series. (Author)