Examples are given illustrating a facet of early learning involving insights into abstract thinking. Several learning theories examined fail to account for this phenomenon. (MP)

Parents of 24 developmentally delayed infants provided their children with sequential experiences intended to foster the development of the object construct. (Author/SBH)

Reports a study involving 35 learning-disabled boys attending full-time remedial schools and 35 matched normal achievers to investigate whether learning-disabled children differ from normal achievers in terms of logical thought and whether they exhibit decalages in their acquisition of Piagetian concepts. (BD/BR)

Early acquisition of right and left as absolute concepts does not seem to be related to early mastery of right and left as relative concepts among the Hausa. (Author)

Conceptual system as a cognitive-developmental variable in personality has been assumed to relate to different cognitions of self and others and of interpersonal relations at each developmental stage. The assumed relationship between conceptual system and some personality variables was studied in a group of students. (Editor)

The study examined the rate and order of conservation in 24 deaf children, ages 8.2 to 12.9 years using standard Piagetian instructions and procedures in sign language. Even the older children failed to demonstrate control over the conservation concept suggesting the presence of a cognitive difference in deaf children. (DB)

The acquisition of spatial terms in the language development of young children is examined. Two primary theories of word meaning and concept acquisition are reviewed, followed by a summary of current developmental research on spatial terms and factors influencing acquisition. Finally, guidelines for the assessment and teaching of spatial terms are…

Examines the development of metaphor by using structure-mapping theory to make distinctions among kinds of metaphors. Proposes that children can understand metaphors based on shared object attributes before those based on shared relational structure. Results indicate a developmental shift toward focus on relational structure in metaphor…

Examines the conceptual basis of preschoolers' judgments regarding cross-gender behavior, taking into consideration the type of sex-role regularity and whether it is male or female sex-role stereotype. (HOD)

Explores children's understanding of a variety of interpersonal events, focusing mainly on the question of whether, and in what way, their conceptions of these events were heterogeneous or undifferentiated. (HOD)

A cognitive social learning model for stress moderation was tested using 531 junior high school students. Higher levels of stress were found for younger students, White students, females, and those with upsetting life events. Locus of control, Type A personality, and knowledge of stress did not appear to moderate levels. (Author/MT)

Examines development of event memory by determining how personally experienced events with two types of structure were reported by kindergartners and adults. Events in making and playing with clay were organized causally and temporally. Results show that adults and children used a goal-based hierarchical structure to remember events, although use…

Describes three experiments that examined how children (4- to 11-year-olds) use their knowledge of the attributes of living things to infer whether particular objects are alive. (HOD)

The interview-about-instances technique was used to investigate the conceptual frameworks that 17 Form Four Southeast Asian students held about forces acting on an object at rest or in motion. Results show a number of alternate frameworks which are similar to those found in research conducted in western countries. (Author/JN)

The ability of preschool children to comprehend comparative sentences was studied in order to test previous findings and to test for a developmental shift. Subjects were 50 children aged 3 to 5 1/2 years. Data was analyzed in terms of functional versus relational responses as well as changes in relational responses. (MS)