Metacognitive knowledge of the dual-processing basis of judgment is critical to resolving conflict between analytic and experiential processing responses [Klaczynski, P. A. (2004). A dual-process model of adolescent development: Implications for decision making, reasoning, and identity. In R. V. Kail (Ed.), "Advances in child development and…

Background: Decision-making and reinforcement sensitivity were investigated in 23 children with ADHD and 20 healthy controls using a gambling paradigm. Methods: Children were required to choose between three alternatives that carried (A) small rewards and small penalties (advantageous), (B) large rewards and increasing penalties and (C) small…

We argue that the concept of goal neglect can be fruitfully applied to understand children's potential problems in experimental tasks and real-world settings. We describe an assessment of goal neglect developed for administration to preschool children and report data on two measures derived from this task alongside the Dimensional Change Card Sort…

We present a microgenetic analysis of the gestures that children produce as they talk about a balance task. Children gesture spontaneously on this task and here their hand gestures are considered in relation to the accompanying speech. By close examination of 21 children's single sessions, and the 163 iconic gestures they produced (a mean of 7.6…

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of map structure, concept quantification, and focus question on dynamic thinking during a Concept Map (CMap) construction task. The first experiment compared cyclic and hierarchical structures. The second experiment examined the impact of the quantification of the header concept in the map.…

Preschoolers' understanding that an object can be accurately described using two different non-synonymous words was investigated using a task in which children (N=36) had to judge which of two animals had provided correct adjectival labels for a series of pictures. For some pictures, only one animal provided a correct adjective, for some both…

Functional neuroimaging research has demonstrated that retrieving information about object-associated colors activates the left fusiform gyrus in posterior temporal cortex. Although regions near the fusiform have previously been implicated in color perception, it remains unclear whether color knowledge retrieval actually activates the color…

Previous research suggests that memory for music possesses a number of similarities to the more frequently studied modalities of verbal and visual memory. The present study addresses a yet uninvestigated factor involved in the memory for music: mood. Specifically, the study explored whether a mood-congruency effect is attained using major and…

This investigation tracked changes in categorical bias (i.e., placing objects belonging to the same spatial group closer together than they really are) while 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds and adults were learning a set of locations. Participants learned the locations of 20 objects marked by dots on the floor of an open square box divided into…

We present a critical examination of phonological effects in a picture-word interference task. Using a methodology minimizing stimulus repetition, English/Spanish and Spanish/English bilinguals named pictures in either L1 or L2 (blocked contexts) or in both (mixed contexts) while ignoring word distractors in L1 or L2. Distractors were either…

In this paper we describe a taxonomy of task demands which distinguishes between Task Complexity, Task Condition and Task Difficulty. We then describe three theoretical claims and predictions of the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson 2001, 2003b, 2005a) concerning the effects of task complexity on: (a) language production; (b) interaction and uptake…

Participant's eye-movements were recorded while they read locally ambiguous sentences. Evidence for processing difficulty was found when the interpretation of the initially preferred misanalysis clashed with that of the globally correct analysis, demonstrating the persistence of the earlier interpretation. Processing difficulty associated with the…

The voluntary and reflexive orienting abilities of persons with Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome, at average MA levels of approximately 4 and 7 years, were compared with an RT task. Reflexive orienting abilities appeared to develop in accordance with MA for the participants with Down syndrome but not for those with fragile X syndrome. However,…

Two experiments explored the representational basis for anticipatory eye movements. Participants heard "the man will drink ..." or "the man has drunk ..." (Experiment 1) or "the man will drink all of ..." or "the man has drunk all of ..." (Experiment 2). They viewed a concurrent scene depicting a full glass of beer and an empty wine glass (amongst…

Creating single-subject (SS) graphs is challenging for many researchers and practitioners because it is a complex task with many steps. Although several authors have introduced guidelines for creating SS graphs, many users continue to experience frustration. The purpose of this article is to minimize these frustrations by providing a field-tested…