On belief-desire reasoning tasks, children first pass tasks involving true belief before those involving false belief, and tasks involving positive desire before those involving negative desire. The current study examined belief-desire reasoning in participants old enough to pass all such tasks. Eighty-three 6- to 11-year-olds and 20 adult…

Examined evidence for transitions in first and second graders' analogical reasoning, over a six-month period. Found strong evidence for bimodality in test performance frequency distributions and weaker evidence for inaccessibility in frequency distributions. Transitional subjects showed a temporary increase of inconsistent solution behavior and…

Two experiments used a formal model of developmental discontinuity derived from catastrophe theory to test whether the transition from Rule I to Rule II on the balance scale task proceeds discontinuously from ages 6 to 10, focusing on five catastrophe flags. Found that bimodality, inaccessible region, hysteresis, and sudden jump were clearly…

This book reviews the contemporary state of knowledge on developmental transitions between 5 and 7 years. Contributions are: (1) "Interpreting Developmental Transitions" (Arnold Sameroff; Marshall Haith); (2) "The Child's Entry into the 'Age of Reason'" (Sheldon White); (3) "Is There a Neural Basis for Cognitive…

Expanded from its previous edition to include ages 13 and 14, this book provides teachers and parents with a quick reference on important childhood developmental issues, explaining what children should be learning and doing in the classroom at each developmental stage. The book begins by discussing how developmental issues can affect…