This study assessed the development of spontaneous analogical transfer from story problems to physical tasks by examining the effects of practice alone, without intervention or explicit prompting. Participants were 216 children aged 5-8 years. The microgenetic technique was incorporated with each age group by following them for six consecutive…

Current individual-based, process-oriented approaches (dynamic systems theory and the microgenetic perspective) have led to an increase of variability-centred studies in the literature. The aim of this article is to propose a technique that incorporates variability in the analysis of the "shape" of developmental change. This approach is…

Event-related brain potentials were measured in 7- and 12-month-old infants to examine the development of processing happy and angry facial expressions. In 7-month-olds a larger negativity to happy faces was observed at frontal, central, temporal and parietal sites (Experiment 1), whereas 12-month-olds showed a larger negativity to angry faces at…

A major problem for developmental science is understanding how the cognitive and emotional networks important in carrying out mental processes can be related to individual differences. The last five years have seen major advances in establishing links between alleles of specific genes and the neural networks underlying aspects of attention. These…

The goal of this research was to assess children's beliefs about the reality status of storybook characters and events. In Experiment 1, 156 preschool age children heard realistic, fantastical, or religious stories, and their understanding of the reality status of the characters and events in the stories was assessed. Results revealed that…

In the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), participants have to choose repeatedly from four options. Each option is characterized by a constant gain, and by the frequency and amount of a probabilistic loss. Crone and van der Molen (2004) reported that school-aged children and even adolescents show marked deficits in IGT performance. In this study,…

To speak of cognitive regulation versus emotion regulation may be misleading. However, some forms of regulation are carried out by executive processes, subject to voluntary control, while others are carried out by "automatic" processes that are far more primitive. Both sets of processes are in constant interaction, and that interaction gives rise…

Museum educators often think about what they want children to take away with them from museum visits. But at least as important is what children bring to these visits. Research in developmental psychology shows that children and adolescents progress through a sequence of ways of understanding knowledge and knowing--understanding that lies at the…

Similarly to other European countries, in the Czech Republic scholars can identify a developmental stage of emerging adulthood. There has been a lack of studies describing subjective feelings and personal everyday experiences of young Czechs at this age. Results of the quantitative Study 1 indicate that two thirds of respondents experience the…

Research Findings: The present longitudinal study investigated whether a range of social-emotional difficulties in early childhood predict the development of depressive symptoms in middle childhood. Participants were 56 children and their teachers. Teachers' reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained during preschool, and…

Research in moral development from a cognitive-developmental model has been greatly influenced by the Piagetian stage theory of Lawrence Kohlberg. Based on the assumption of inherent cognitive development of internal structures, Kohlberg's theory maintains that the stages are universal across cultures and persons. As a primarily organismic theory,…

The authors present an overview of an assessment and intervention model designed for emotionally disturbed students. The approach is based on an integration of the interrelated theories of S. Freud, E. Erikson and J. Piaget as well as the works of other major professionals in the fields of education, psychology and child development. Brief…

Six mildly to moderately retarded children (2-5 years old) were studied to compare their pattern of language development with that of nonhandicapped young children. Tape recordings of Ss' spontaneous speech at home were examined and compared to data on normal development according to such variables as differential noun/pronoun use, noun type/token…

The third in a series of three booklets intended for parents of young handicapped children addresses cognition. The development of cognition is discussed and milestones charted from birth to age five. Learning processes are enumerated (using the senses, attending, exploring, adapting, imitating, and asking questions). Suggestions are given for…

A program to help parents understand their child's developmental level was evaluated with 13 handicapped infants and their mothers. The intervention sought to increase parents' overall understanding of child development, improve their observational skills, and help them adjust their interactions by taking cues from the child's responses. Mental…