The author suggests that most research on the early detection of learning disabilities is characterisized by an ineffective and a theoretical method of selecting and validating tasks. An alternative technique is proposed, based on a neurological theory of cognitive processes, whereby task analysis is a first step, with empirical analyses as…

The paper describes the emergence of the variety of modified approaches toward the assessment of cognitive skills. A change in emphasis away from norm-referenced assessment toward criterion-referenced assessment is noted. For such approaches as emphasis on the process rather than the product, intense detailed behavioral observations, and…

The assessment profile of a 9-year-old blind child with normal intelligence is presented to illustrate activities useful in remediating lags in reasoning. Described are six activities from a module entitled "The Long and The Short of It", which provides the student with opportunities to use arbitrary units of measure and thereby…

This paper attempts to tie empathy to the individual's development of a cognitive sense of the other, and thus to lay the groundwork for a stage analysis of the development of altruistic motivation. The first stage proposed in this scheme is empathic distress, the involuntary experiencing of another person's painful emotional state. Empathic…

This paper introduces and gives a report of the first of a series of studies concerned with the developmental aspects of information processing. The experiments are concerned chiefly with how repeated visual encounters influence infants' attentional preference for what is familiar or unfamiliar and how infants' preference can be affected by…

This study was designed to ascertain the nature of information storage in humans and to determine the channel capacity of Ss at various stages of development. A 3 x 2 x 2 multivariate complete factorial design was employed: the three levels of the first factor (Age) were 5, 8, and 12 years; the two levels of the second factor were Visual and…

This issue of the IRCD Bulletin is devoted to a bibliography on the emotional and social development of socially disadvantaged children. The bibliography should be viewed as a companion to a previous one (UD 007 841) in which the focus was on cognitive development, for both the cognitive and the affective aspects of development should be regarded…

English, German, and American youth from pubescence to late adolescence were interviewed in order to discern the maturation of political perspectives. By comparing youngsters in three countries with different political traditions, the differential impact of social ideas was examined. At each age level subjects were matched for sex and I.Q. and,…

Piaget's conception of cognitive development as the development of a set of skills resulting from interaction with the environment has had a great effect on contemporary educational theory and spurred the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to develop a set of written exercises based on this concept. Piaget's emphasis, however, was on concrete…

The relationship between learning ability and intelligence has continually been a focus of theory and research. It is argued in this paper that the inconclusive results of studies relating individual differences variables such as intellectual abilities to learning are due to a too pragmatic, theoretical orientation. Theoretical models explicating…

The author's approach to the conceptualization and measurement of natural cognitions which may have some relevance for the study of values is presented. Research on natural cognitions, or ideas entertained by people before an experimenter comes along to disturb them attempts to assess pre-existing concepts which are grouped initially according to…

The purpose was to determine whether children in classrooms would manifest cognitive behavior described by Piaget for their developmental stage. First, fourth, and eighth grade classes were selected as representative of Piaget's preoperational, concrete, and formal stages respectively. Twelve classes at each grade level (six social studies and six…

This series of four studies investigated the abilities of children in grades five through eight to perform on a reasoning test written in both Ikonic and Symbolic form. An abstract reasoning test which had been shown to be highly correlated with success in mathematics was rewritten into Ikonic form. Children whose ages bridge the gap between the…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a multi-media presentation facilitates synthetic responses. The variables, linearity and meaningfulness of the presentation, were studied using a 2 x 2 design with outside control. The five conditions were administered to 95 fifth graders. The synthetic responses were measured with three tasks. Task I…

The role of motor activity in children's formation of dynamic mental imagery was investigated in two experiments using a paired-associate recognition task. From the recognition data, it was inferred that (2) the child's ability to form dynamic images relating two objects undergoes its most rapid development between the ages of five and eight; and…