In this study, the development of comprehension of essential and nonessential aspects of counting is examined in children ranging from 5 to 8 years of age. Essential aspects, such as logical rules, and nonessential aspects, including conventional rules, were studied. To address this, we created a computer program in which children watched counting…

Learning about letters is an important foundation for literacy development. Should children be taught to label letters by conventional names, such as /bi/ for "b", or by sounds, such as /b[inverted e]/? We queried parents and teachers, finding that those in the United States stress letter names with young children, whereas those in…

Investigated the relative effects of developmental level and domain-specific knowledge on 4- to 9-year-olds' ability to identify and make similarity decisions about objects based on haptic or tactile information. Found that older children explored models more exhaustively, found more differentiating features, and made fewer errors than younger…

Analysis of the frequency and nature of error and post-error responses in serial choice reaction times of 84 children between 5 and 12 years essentially replicate findings in adults. (Author/MP)

This study compared 3- and 5-year-olds' reports of a true or false play interaction following repeated interviews. Findings indicated age-related improvements in performance. Three-year-olds questioned repeatedly about a false event made more errors in response to specific questions than their age-mates questioned about false details of a true…

We explored how relational complexity and featural distraction, as varied in scene analogy problems, affect children's analogical reasoning performance. Results with 3- and 4-year-olds, 6- and 7-year-olds, 9- to 11-year-olds, and 13- and 14-year-olds indicate that when children can identify the critical structural relations in a scene analogy…

A sample of 107 subjects including kindergarteners, fifth graders, high school sophomores, parents of kindergarteners, and master artists were presented with a 108-item color perception test to investigate surface color perception at these age levels. A set of surface color perception rules was generated. (GO)

A modified viewer rotation procedure was used to contrast two possible explanations of spatial egocentrism in spatial perspective tasks. Subjects were 60 children in first, third, and fifth grades. (MP)

Two experiments examined relation between age-related changes in retention and age-related changes in the misinformation effect. Found large age-related retention differences when participants were interviewed immediately and after 1 day, but after 6 weeks, differences were minimal. Exposure to misleading information increased commission errors.…

Examined whether a detailed analysis of age-related changes in error patterns could reveal the mechanisms underpinning development in short-term memory. Tested developmental changes among 7- to 11-year-olds in their serial recall of lists of 6 letters, finding developmental differences in the patterns of errors. (JPB)

A developmental reversal in accuracy was obtained for third and sixth graders and adults who judged class membership of patterns presented in a same-different task. Reversal accuracy appeared to result from an increase with age in orientation-free judgments. This hypothesis was confirmed in the subsequent two experiments. (GO)