Examined gaze aversion in 5- and 8-year-olds when answering verbal reasoning and arithmetic questions of varying difficulty. Found that older children increase gaze aversion from the face of the adult questioner in response to both verbal and arithmetic difficult questions. Young children responded less consistently to cognitive difficulty.…

Examined, over 1 year, relations between information processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving in sample of 8-, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-olds. Identified three-stratus hierarchy with individual dimensions organized in three constructs: processing efficiency, working memory, and problem solving. Found that individual dimensions were…

Introduces this special issue topic by asserting that empirically powerful and theoretically guided educational research needs to be designed with the teacher in mind. Provides rationale for research focus on real-world knowledge and reasoning, and reasons for selecting research projects on inductive reasoning, mathematical reasoning, map skills,…

Examined event-based memory in three groups of children between ages 14 and 25 months. Found that search task success was general in oldest group while performance was similar on a task in which success "may" have been due to recalling an object-removal event and one in which success could "only" have been due to recall of…

Five experiments examined whether young children believe a lie tellers' implausible statement about a misdeed when the statement violates their developing knowledge of the reality- fantasy distinction. Findings suggested that 5- and 6-year-olds tended to report that the individual making the implausible statement actually committed the misdeed; 3-…

Discusses High/Scope's preschool key experiences (a set of 58 statements that describe young children's social, cognitive, and physical development). The key experiences are grouped into 10 major developmental areas (creative representation, language and literacy, social relations, movement, music, classification, seriation, number, space, and…

Systematically varied the day-night task requiring children to say "night" to a sun picture and "day" to a moon picture to investigate why young children typically fail the task. Found that reducing memory load did not help performance. Reducing inhibitory demand by requiring an unrelated response or inserting a delay between…

Examined whether gender differences exist within cognitive stages and whether gender differences exist at the cognitive stage level in college freshmen (n=86). Longitudinal study found students' epistemological development revealed gender differences in epistemological reasoning structures but not in cognitive structural stages. (Author/ABL)

Examined college roommates' (N=74) cognitive development, interpersonal understanding, and relationship rapport. Found interpersonal understanding did predict rapport, but cognitive development was not related to other variables. (Author)

Studies the sequence in development of conservation concepts in 19 language-impaired children aged 6-9 years and 20 children of 3-11 years who had no impairment. The two groups showed a similar sequence of development regardless of delay. Conservation of number appeared first, followed by weight, substance, length, area, and volume. (RJC)

The study examined two female children (ages two and five) with Williams Syndrome (characterized by moderate to severe mental retardation with verbal intelligence quotients significantly higher than performance intelligence quotients). Comparison with both normal and delayed children indicated an unusual cognitive profile. (DB)

The relationship between early language and cognition was studied in 20 children between 1 and 2 years of age. Four cognitive areas were tested: object permanence, means-end, play, and imitation. Results indicated that specific cognitive skills seem temporarily associated with some linguistic abilities, although attainment of skills can be…

The study (with eight adults and eight children at each of the ages three, four, five and seven years) found that children initially organize their speech gestures over a domain at least the size of the syllable and only gradually differentiate the syllable into patterns of gestures more closely aligned with its perceived segmental components.…

Relates therapeutic outcomes to moral development. Suggests that by addressing the problem of alienation, individuals evolve into moral agents who begin to perceive themselves, others, and the world in new ways. Warns that a person who experiences this moral restoration faces societal conditions which work against therapeutic change. (KO)

Presents a background and rationale for examining personal beliefs of efficacy and control as related to adulthood cognition and memory. Focuses on the self-efficacy construct and its utility in studying cognitive behavior in adults. Highlights related work on achievement behavior in children. (RJC)