The development of executive function (EF) has been linked to various life outcomes, motivating intense research on the topic. While much of this research has focused on more thoroughly understanding age-related changes of the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms involved, recent theoretical and empirical works have stressed how the immediate…

Unlike adults, young children think that many weird and unlikely events are impossible. Existing theories have argued that this developmental shift is driven primarily by age-related changes in knowledge as well as an increasing ability to reflect on one's modal intuitions. However, this intuition + reflection model fails to explain…

Creative thinking is a process through which individuals generate ideas that are simultaneously novel and meaningful within a given social context. Historically, psychologists have closely studied the general creative capacity of young learners, as well as the domain-specific creativity of experts. However, the developmental trajectory from…

The purpose of this position paper is to raise awareness of intriguing interdisciplinary intersections among physical activity, motor learning/development, creativity, and cognition. A major intersection is the potential of physical activity that involves the effortful learning of novel and/or complex movement actions to elicit cognitive…

We propose a simple computational model that describes potential mechanisms underlying the organization and development of the lexical-semantic system in 18-month-old infants. We focus on two independent aspects: (i) on potential mechanisms underlying the development of taxonomic and associative priming, and (ii) on potential mechanisms underlying…

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…

Early experiences in STEM education can contribute to positive cognitive development in young children. When students have the opportunities to play, inquire, follow their interests/curiosities, develop STEM identities, be creative, and operate within concrete/contextualized STEM explorations, they will experience expansive cognitive growth.…

How do researchers of cognitive development work to make sure that our field evolves so that our contribution to humanity is emancipatory? We can take inspiration from researchers near and far. Inspiration may be found in other areas of psychological research (social, cultural, etc.) and other social sciences (public health, sociology, etc.).…

Part Five of Spinoza's "Ethics" includes a notoriously challenging set of propositions about human perfection. Part of the difficulty in interpreting these elements of the work arises from neglecting important philosophical background for the relevant propositions, namely, medieval Jewish rationalism and Maimonides in particular. Spinoza…

This article develops the ideas of perfection and education in Spinoza and Maimonides. Both thinkers identify human perfection with intellectual knowledge and a transformation in affect. They accordingly envision education in terms of enhancing cognition and shaping the desire to know. The first steps are a critical evaluation of imagination and…

With democracy in mind, promoting students' cognitive, personal, and social development can inform and shape the mathematics curriculum and classroom practice with the goal of their becoming more capable, self-reflective, and socially aware human beings. Toward that realization, their mathematics experience could include: heuristics, as it…

Since Wing "Communications of the ACM," 49, 33-35, (2006) popularized computational thinking (CT) as a skill for every student, it has gained significant traction as an approach to bring computer science tools and practices into K-12 classrooms. At the same time, teachers often see the relevance of CT as a tool to introduce problem…

This paper attempts to address challenges identified by Michael Young and those arising from his writings on 'powerful knowledge' to gain a deeper insight into the relationship between everyday horizontal knowledge and disciplinary vertical knowledge as well as how we can approach it in a way that benefits pedagogy. The attempt includes the move…

The study of children's prospective memory has gained new momentum over the past 20 years and is now an active area of research in cognitive development. Yet, this resurgence has been accompanied by significant challenges that offer important lessons and insights for other areas of developmental science. In this article, I provide an overview and…

Counterfactual reasoning is the ability to reason about how the world might have been if past events or states had been different. It is helpful for making sense of past experiences to create future blueprints. Languages like English apply subjunctive forms to directly mark counterfactual premises. In contrast, Chinese does not apply subjunctive…