Two experiments demonstrated that by the age of four years, children can use the difference between an object's initial and final state to work out what happens to an object when it changes. In contrast, three-year-old children have difficulty in using the difference between initial and final states to make a causal inference. (RH)

Used the Piagetian interview and observation to investigate the understanding of death of 378 children of 2-10 years. Results showed that most children revealed a well-structured understanding of death at 4-5 years. (RJC)

This paper (1) deals with the misconceptions that prevail regarding moral education; (2) rationalizes the need for an understanding of morality; (3) highlights Kohlberg's cognitive development morality; (4) discusses moral education; and (5) rationalizes the need for further research. (JOW)

Reyna and Brainerd supplement arguments they made previously in this issue by advancing five additional reasons for preferring output-interference explanations over the resources hypothesis. (RH)

Investigated 314 young children who had neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia. Results indicated that these children managed less well in neurological and psychological tests, had poorer school marks, and more often attended special classes than did members of the control group. (RJC)

Two studies found infants' scores on the Range of State Cluster of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale with Kansas Supplements to correlate significantly with visual discrimination performance at three months of age. The correlation with behavioral state organization contradicted the prediction that orientation scores would predict visual…

Examined two- to four-year-olds' and adults' internalized representations of the sizes of buttons, plates, and shoes in five experiments. Results suggested that three- and four-year-olds had accurate knowledge of the typical sizes of buttons and plates. Two-year-olds demonstrated accurate internal representations of the sizes of shoes. (RJC)

Discusses two cognitive models that are appropriate for the study of language acquisition: the "holodynamic" model, and the "production systems" model. (CFM)

Three experiments using the familiarization-novelty preference procedure confirmed the hypothesis that three-month-old infants could form categorical representations of spatial relations above and below. The infants, after being shown a familiarization diagram with a dot appearing in multiple locations below a line, showed a preference for a novel…

Examines Vygotsky's notion of two main lines of psychosocial development--the natural and the cultural--in light of contemporary Marxist debates concerning the relationship between the "material" and the "social." Argues that an adequate account of Vygotsky's theory must ground the social construction of cognition in a…

Questions Moll's assumption, in this issue, of a parallel between processes in Vygotsky's natural line and the "material" processes in Marxist theories. Disputes Moll's characterization of the natural line providing a kind of constraining framework within which the cultural line can operate, suggesting that the two enter into a…

Examined young children's understanding of seed origins and growth preconditions and the stages of plant growth. Found that, by 4.5 years, children realized that natural causal mechanisms underlie plant growth and appreciated the relationship of seeds to plants. Results suggest that preschoolers hold theory-like understandings of plants similar to…

Four word-learning studies exposed 2-year olds to novel verbs and nouns. Found that knowledge of what action or object was impending was not necessary for learning the words; children learned a novel verb for an intentional but not an accidental action; and children learned a novel noun for an object being sought, but not ones rejected while…

Two groups of children were tested at ages five, six, and seven to determine metalinguistic knowledge of the syntactic subject of a sentence. Found that five-year olds had difficulty repeating the pronomial and longest subjects; ability to isolate pronouns improved with age; and ability to identify longest subjects improved with increased…

This introduction reviews recent trends in childhood memory research, focusing on closer relations between the study of memory development and the study of cognitive and neurological development, new relations between the study of memory development and the study of adult memory, and new relations between the study of memory development and…