Comparison of the mental status of 30 subjects with Down's Syndrome mosaicism and 30 matched subjects with trisomy 21 Down's Syndrome found that the mean intelligent quotient of the mosaic Down's Syndrome group was significantly higher and that this group showed better verbal abilities and more normal visual-perceptual skills. (Author/DB)

Maintains that one future direction for cognitive development research involves a closer integration with knowledge about the developing brain. Presents a framework for analyzing and interpreting postnatal functional brain development. Discusses three contributing hypotheses, within which a variety of phenomena associated with the neural basis of…

The study investigated the recognition of standardized facial expressions of emotion (anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise) at a perceptual level (experiment 1) and at a semantic level (experiments 2 and 3) in children with autism (N= 20) and normally developing children (N= 20). Results revealed that children with autism were as…

This study examined whether 16-month-old walking infants take the material composition of a handrail into account when assessing its effectiveness as a tool to augment balance. Infants were encouraged to cross from one platform to another via bridges of various widths (10, 20, 40cm) with either a wobbly (foam or latex) or a wooden handrail…

Serial order is fundamental to perception, cognition and behavioral action. Three experiments investigated infants' perception, learning and discrimination of serial order. Four- and 8-month-old infants were habituated to three sequentially moving objects making visible and audible impacts and then were tested on separate test trials for their…

FIFTEEN RESEARCH STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT ARE SURVEYED. PARTICULAR EMPHASIS IS GIVEN TO FELDMAN WHO RECOMMENDS A "CODE-FIRST" PROGRAM FOR BEGINNING READING. THE TERM "CODE" REFERS TO THE LETTER SYMBOLS REPRESENTING THE CHARACTERISTIC SPEECH SOUNDS OF ENGLISH. SOME OF THE PROBLEMS IN PERCEPTION AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR…

Describes a study designed to compare color-name with shape-name learning by three-year-old children in an experimentally controlled format. Results show that children learned color-label associates significantly more slowly than matched shape-label associates, and they committed more errors with colors than with shapes during learning. Provides a…

Discusses how Adolph's research is relevant to four themes that are foundational to contemporary research on the development of perception and action: (1) reciprocity between perception and action; (2) prospective control of behavior; (3) variation and selection in the development of new behaviors; and (4) contributions of age and experience.…

The conceptual categories that children have developed in their second year were studied in five experiments using object manipulation tasks. Subjects included 152 children from 18 to 31 months of age. These very young children had formed global conceptions of many domains of objects. (SLD)

In contrast to the three-stage theory of attitude development proposed by Goodman (1964), Dr. Phyllis A. Katz, director of the Institute for Research on Social Problems, suggests that eight overlapping but separable steps occur in the acquisition of racial beliefs. The major points in Katz's schema are: (1) early observation of racial cues; (2)…

Argues that the media, messages and the electronic world should find a place in the primary curriculum as a significant area in their own right. The school's objective should be to develop the concept of literacy so that children come to "read," understand and evaluate media and messages of different kinds. (Editor/RK)

Examines the development of children's ability to differentiate among informational, instructional, and persuasive television messages. Found high comprehension of narrative content even by the youngest children, but correct perception of message intent occurred primarily among older children. (PD)

Discusses the meaning behind children's art and what teachers can look for when analyzing art. (RK)