Two experiments examined development of economic understanding among 5-, 7- and 9-year-olds. Found that most 5-year-olds understood the goal of acquiring desired goods, and most 7- and 9-year-olds also understood the goals of seeking profits, acquiring goods inexpensively, and competing successfully with other sellers. Results suggest that older…

Provides an overview of the research linking cognitive development in college students to interpersonal, cultural, and emotional factors. Interpersonal and cultural influences appear to be external; they can be positive or negative. Affective states, or emotions, are internal factors that can either enhance or inhibit cognitive development.…

Describes a study of students in grades three, four, and five that tried an educational application derived from the social constructivism view based on theories of Vygotsky and Piaget to improve cognitive development in a heterogeneous class. Path analysis showed that complex learning techniques are related to cognitive development. (Author/LRW)

Explores the development of understanding of the concept of average with students from grades 3 to 9 through interviews. Observed six levels of response based on an hierarchical model of cognitive functioning. Documents usage of ideas associated with the three standard measures of central tendency and representation as strategies for problem…

This study compared the performance of 17 children with autism, 17 children with mental retardation, and 31 normally developing children on a false belief task performance using a posting manipulation (a pictorial cue which facilitates the false belief performance of normal 3-year-olds). The performance of autistic children was significantly…

Reports children's understanding of objects with different anthropomorphic features, including a person, robot, computer, and doll. Shows that different objects did not elicit substantially different judgement patterns concerning their ability to think on their own, with the exception of a clear pattern of increased understanding of clever…

Five experiments examined matching to sample procedures among preschoolers. Results indicated that children selected taxonomic comparisons more often than thematic comparisons, independent of age, gender, instructions, order of trial type, specificity of feedback, presence of unrelated third comparisons, and level of taxonomy. Instructions to…

Tested hypothesized relationship between development of a theory of mind and increasing computational resources in 3- to 5-year olds. Found that the correlations between performance on theory of mind tasks and dual processing tasks were as high as r=.64, suggesting that changes in working memory capacity allow the expression of, and arguably the…

Tested 5- through 9-year-old children in structured and unstructured contexts to determine their ability to demonstrate contrasts in tempo and dynamics using a synthesizer keyboard. Shows that they were able to demonstrate contrasts in loudness and duration. Reports further results based on varied environmental situations. (DSK)

Offers a commentary on five contributions to recent developments in the study of cognitive development that have been selected for this special issue. The relevance of each author's paper to issues that are central to cognitivists today and post-Piagetian developmental psychologists is discussed, and the overall need of evolutionary models to…

Describes the slot-filler model of taxonomic knowledge development in which preschoolers derive "slot-filler" categories from event schemas. Maintains that the model has received considerable support across methodologies, ages, and sociocultural contexts. Argues that Krackow and Gordon's theorizing and methods could not lead to reliable,…

In years 1 and 3, the cognitive level of classroom discourse was assessed for 28 agriculture faculty. In year 2, interventions included either awareness workshops, workshops plus readings, or workshops plus teaching meetings. Percentage of higher-level discourse increased; faculty experiencing positive change with higher-level discourse increased…

Examined role of accuracy motivation in event recall among 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds, and adults. In high accuracy motivation condition, children as young as 6 were to withhold uncertain answers for benefit of accuracy. Expected quality-quantity tradeoff emerged only for peripheral items. The "I don't know" option condition decreased the…

This longitudinal study with 62 children and adolescents examined the validity of the consolidation/transition model in the context of moral reasoning development. Results of standard statistical and Bayesian techniques supported the hypotheses regarding cyclical patterns of change and predictors of stage transition, and demonstrated the utility…

Examined relationships among theory of mind construct of intention and false belief, problem-solving ability, metacognitive regulation, and strategy use in 39 preschoolers. Found significant correlations between strategy use and theory of mind, and metacognitive regulation and theory of mind. A moderate, but nonsignificant, correlation was found…