This study investigates the relationships of domain-general cognitive abilities and domain-specific verbal and mathematical abilities to students' educational characteristics when two theoretically grounded, but competing structural models are applied. In the standard model, a single latent ability causes interindividual differences in the…

Examined the development of pattern recognition in infant pigtailed macaques using the familiarization novelty technique. Results indicate that by at least 200 days postconception subjects show a consistently reliable visual response to novelty. (Author/RH)

Concepts important to cognitive development in children can be classified according to several levels. At level 1, concepts are equivalent in structural complexity to binary relations and univariate functions. At level 2, concepts are equivalent to compositions of binary relations, binary operations, and bivariate functions. At level 3, concepts…

Three experiments test object permanenece in 3 1/2- and 4 1/2-month-old infants, and use an impossible-possible-habituation event format. The 4 1/2-month-olds, and the 3 1/2-month-olds who were fast habituators, look reliably longer at the impossible than at the possible event. Results seriously question Piaget's (1954) claims regarding the age at…

Reply by Jerome Kagan to a recent article by Block, Gjerde, and Block (1986) which questions the validity of the construct of reflection-impulsivity. Kagan alleges flaws in the logic of the authors' (Block, Gjerde, Block) position and in the inferences drawn from their data. (Author/RWB)

Responds to the arguments and evidence adduced by Kagan (1987) in his reply to the Block, Gjerde, and Block (1986) study questioning the validity of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) as a measure of "reflection-impulsivity." (Author)

Describes two experiments that assessed young children's understanding of the characteristic uncertainty in the physical nature of random phenomena as well as the unpredictability of outcomes. (HOD)

Recent work suggests that the apparent shift from thematic to taxonomic concept organization reflects changes in children's preference for these forms of organization, rather than their capacity. A study was made to assess toddlers' knowledge of the different possible relations for the same concept and to extend the triad method to children under…

A 2-part investigation was conducted to examine the ways children resolve the inherent ambiguity of spatial descriptions in terms of cues indicated by the three constituents of spatial propositions: predicate, referent, and relatum. In the first study, it was hypothesized that certain objects, structural markers, and definite articles accompanying…

Strategies young children used to correct errors in nesting seriated cups changed substantially with age, becoming increasingly more flexible and involving more extensive restructuring of the relationships among the cups. The same trend toward increasing flexibility of thought and action also appeared in procedures children used to combine the…

Preschoolers' event descriptions indicate that they are able to engage in displaced reference, use timeless verb forms, report optional and conditional relationships, appropriately sequence events, engage in temporal reversibility, and appropriately use a number of relational terms, all at a much younger age than has traditionally been believed…

A path model of genetic and family environmental transmission was fitted to published twin correlations and to general cognitive ability data from adoptive and nonadoptive families in which children were tested yearly through the fourth year. Longitudinal genetic correlations from infancy to adulthood were modeled explicitly, as were effects of…

Discusses whether the cognitive development of developmentally delayed autistic children is the same as that of younger, normal children or whether it differs in significant ways that have implications for clinical assessment and treatment. (PCB)

Investigates whether 6- to 12-month-old infants' exposure to the successful search behavior of a sibling in two object-concept tasks would enhance infants' subsequent performance on these tasks. (HOD)

Explores longstanding inconsistencies in Piaget's account of development of spatial representation and perspective-taking. Examines Piaget's early writings and the findings of the original "three mountains" experiment. Concludes that Piaget's alternative theory is compatible with contemporary thinking and is important as a contributory…