The field of cognitive training (CT) has been researched for over a century. However, there is still a debate regarding its ability to produce cognitive improvement, especially in working memory (WM) indices. This meta-analysis examined whether there is an advantage in training gains by comparing the results of two specific WM training approaches,…

This article provides a selective overview of recent event-related brain potential (ERP) studies in L2 morpho-syntax, demonstrating that the ERP evidence supporting the critical period hypothesis (CPH) may be less compelling than previously thought. The article starts with a general introduction to ERP methodology and language-related ERP profiles…

Relatively little attention has been paid thus far in memory research to the effects of measurement instruments intended to assess memory processes on the constructs being measured. The current article investigates the influence of employing the popular remember/know (R/K) measurement procedure on memory performance itself. This measurement…

In recent years, there has been a surge in the quantity of media content that glorifies risk-taking behavior, such as risky driving, extreme sports, or binge drinking. The authors conducted a meta-analysis involving more than 80,000 participants and 105 independent effect sizes to examine whether exposure to such media depictions increased their…

To assess young children's understanding of false belief, investigators often show them a familiar container, then demonstrate that it holds an object different from the one the children expected. The children are then asked what they originally thought the container held, and what another container will hold. Three-year-old children typically…

Exploring issues of content and construct validity, this paper reviews how empathy in young children has been defined and measured. Discussion first focuses on empathy viewed as an affective awareness and response to the feelings of another person. The review reports research using the Affective Situation Test, naturalistic studies of affective…

Traces the developmental history of information processing in elementary school children as measured by a numerals-keys choice response paradigm. Also attempts to correct some of the more obvious methodological problems observed in previous students of this type. (Author/MP)

Choice and use of problem-solving strategies were monitored during a picture comparison task for 90 kindergarten, second and fourth grade boys and girls. (SB)

Explored the effects of sorting methods upon the content of children's constructs. Results indicated that dyadic sorting and free response methods of construct elicitation differentially affect the types of constructs produced. (Author/BL)

The mediational abilities of 40 preschool, 40 first grade, and 40 elderly subjects were assessed using the Kindler's three stage transfer paradigm, with both familiar and novel stimuli serving as potential mediators. (MS)

Discussed are results of studies of the cognitive development of 2- and 3-year-old children which suggest that the mind makes gains in the ability to think as gains in language development are made. "Thinking" in this context refers to the judgments children made as they selected objects and maneuvered them into one arrangement or…

Two experiments on divided attention and adult aging are reported that take into account age differences in single-task performance and that measure divided attention independently of resource allocation strategies. No significant age difference in divided attention ability independent of single-task performance level was found in either…

Two experiments suggest that the empirical finding of age differences in automatic frequency processing depends on the extent to which subjects can or do strategically process task materials in a differential fashion. This interpretation is considered compatible with a modified conception of automatic encoding which views such encoding processes…

Two studies that avoided methodological problems associated with inconclusive previous reports found that 6-year-olds had less reliable feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments but greater FOK accuracy than did 10- or 18-year-olds. Moreover, 18- and 70-year- olds had equally reliable FOK judgments and equivalent FOK accuracy. (RH)

The way cognitive, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) can aid in further understanding of memory span change in children is discussed. ERPs are time-dependent changes in electrical activity of the brain (as recorded by scalp electrodes) following the presentation of a physical stimulus through auditory, visual, or somatosensory modalities. The…