Examined reasoning about physics principles within and across ontological kinds among 5- and 7-year-olds and adults. Found that all age groups tended to appropriately generalize what they learned across ontological kinds. Children assumed that principles learned with reference to one ontological kind were more likely to apply within that kind than…

Two- to 4-year-olds were presented with pictures of a target item (for example, carrot), a thematic alternative (rabbit), and an taxonomic alternative (tomato). The target was identified and children were asked to choose one of the alternatives. Children revealed no preference for either alternative. (BC)

Suggests that, with the waning influence of Piaget and shortcomings of information-processing perspectives of cognitive growth, cognitive developmentalists lack a metatheory to guide their research. Posits developmental biology as metatheory for cognitive development. Introduces basic principles of evolutionary psychology, and examples of…

Young children and adults looked at 400 pictures of common objects and were asked to name the object, indicate their familiarity with the object, and state how complex the object would be to draw. Normative data indicated that children and adults differed in the most frequent name assigned and the number of alternative names used. (BC)

Considers how preceding articles by Jansen and van der Maas, and Halford et al., contribute to understanding of how rule use can be best assessed, how systematic rule use can be reconciled with variable rule use, when children begin to use rules, and how children generate new rules. Summarizes current understanding of development of knowledge…

Two experiments were conducted to test Chinese children's comprehension of count-and mass-classifiers. Participants were Chinese-speaking children ages 3 thru 8, plus 16 adults. Results cohere with the linguistic analysis that the count-mass distinction is relevant in Chinese grammar. Results also cohere with the current theory in cognitive…

Deals with the changes in imagination that take place from childhood to adulthood. (CB)

Preschoolers' performance on a matching task and a counting task suggested that most four-year-old children and some 3 1/2-year-old children used number words to denote one-to-one correspondence in the tasks. (RH)

Argues that dual-task performance is currently not interpretable because several compatible hypotheses have been offered to account for dual-task interference. Demonstrates inability to discriminate among alternative hypotheses by constructing a model which includes limited resources and response competition and requires running at least eight…

Literature review revealed seven empirical articles exploring psychological functioning of color-deficient children. Analysis of literature indicated that equivocal nature of past research may be due to inadequate rationale explaining what outcome variables should be tied to color deficiency. Makes specific investigative recommendations to provide…

Communication is both cognitive and intuitive, although schooling stresses left-brain skills. Ways to develop intuitive (right-brain) skills include mandalas, Jung's technique for concentrating the right brain; writing with the nondominant hand; and positive affirmations. (SK)

In 2 experiments a total of 28 6-and 8-year olds and 9 adults were tested on a task that required making left-right directional judgments from various rotated orientations. The results supported the hypothesis that respondents who answered correctly performed imaginary rotations to correctly align themselves with the object. (MDM)

Suggests ways in which school psychologists can adopt broader role in thinking skills movement. Discusses meaning of term "thinking skills"; distinguishes thinking skills movement in "general sense" from thinking skills movement in "restricted sense"; and discusses hindrances to school psychologists' involvement in general thinking skills…

This commentary on the article by Demetriou et al. in this monograph focuses on three problems in neo-Piagetian theory, namely, the problems of (1) developmental domains; (2) reflective abstraction, or metacognition; and (3) representation, which involves considerations of what knowledge consists of, how it emerges, and how it relates to reality.…

Attempts to clarify issues related to three problems in neo-Piagetian theory, namely, the problems of developmental domains; reflective abstraction, or hypercognition; and representation, or knowledge. Concerning domains, answers three questions: (1) What is a domain?; (2) How are domains identified?; and (3) What happens to domains as they…