Children's comprehension and memory for different kinds of information in prose was assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, 72 elementary school children listened to paragraphs and answered questions about explicit and implicit semantic relationships. The second experiment investigated the relationship between children's initial…

When 48 first-, fourth-, and seventh-grade boys (classified as high, moderate, or low on an expectancy of success measure) were given a repetition choice task, a developmental trend in number of children choosing the interrupted task was found. When the task's difficulty level was matched to the child's grade, the trend was not found. (Author/JH)

The effect of resolution of incongruity on children's appreciation of cartoon humor was examined. (SB)

Attempted to determine (1) whether developmental differences existed in children's comprehension of simple necessity and simple sufficiency relationships, and (2) the source of developmental differences in children's causal reasoning. (SB)

Used stories involving self-deception, lying, and misleading appearances to examine 4- to 9-year olds' understanding of the relations between false belief, evidence, and epistemic responsibility. Found that younger children who understood false belief understood simpler types of deception but that understanding self-deceivers' epistemic…

Notes that the pragmatist approach to the study of mind is represented in psychology by Piaget's action orientation. Believes, however, that American empiricists regularly misinterpreted Piaget's approach. Generally supports Barrouillet and Poirier's advocacy of Piaget's orientation, but presents some disagreements with Barrouillet and Poirier as…

Comparison of gender differences in the observed play of 30 preschool children with cognitive delays found that, overall, boys engaged in more functional play and were more sophisticated when playing with a vehicle toy set whereas girls engaged in more constructive play and demonstrated greater sophistication with respect to doll toys. (Author/DB)

Discusses how mathematical voice can be used with the framework set forth by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule to investigate the existence of stages of mathematical development of female minority college students taking developmental mathematics. (MKR)

Presents results from Singaporean and Australian studies on the relationships between the cognitive variables and problem solving performance in three electrochemistry problems of different degrees of familiarity for comparisons. Concludes that idea association, problem translating skill, prior problem solving experience, specific knowledge, and…

Evaluates dominant theoretical positions on the development of intentionality, including goal-directedness, the role of parental scaffolding, an innate capacity for intersubjectivity, and behavioral object-directedness. Argues that this theoretical diversity is undermining the construction of a coherent developmental account, and explores the…

Four experiments examined the processes underlying children's understanding of desire and assessed whether young children's difficulty with false belief could be explained by desire's dominance over belief. Findings indicated that for 3-year-olds, there was no correspondence between desire and belief, suggesting that desire cannot explain their…

Based on decades of research on learning and memory, this article asserts that "what you think about is what you remember," noting that implications for teaching and assignments are substantial. Suggests that in the early stages of learning, students may display shallow learning, but deep, connected knowledge must be encouraged by…

This study examined two alternative interpretations of violation-of-expectation findings that young infants can represent hidden objects. Findings indicated that 5-month-olds succeeded in reasoning about the interaction of a visible and a hidden object even though the 2 objects were never simultaneously visible and a 3- or 4-minute delay preceded…

Three studies investigated the extent to which kindergartners, second-graders, and undergraduates were susceptible to the Deese/Roediger/McDermott (DRM) illusion, an adult false-memory paradigm. Findings indicated that the DRM illusion was at nearly non-existent levels in young children, and was still below adult levels in adolescence. The low…

This study investigated 2-year-olds' understanding of others' intentions in a social learning context. After seeing a demonstration of how to open a box, children in two "No Prior Intention" conditions were less likely than those in "Prior Intention" conditions to open the box themselves when the adult unsuccessfully tried to open it. Results…