Eye tracking offers a powerful research tool for developmental scientists. In this brief article, the author introduces the methodology and issues associated with its applications in developmental research, beginning with an overview of eye movements and eye-tracking technologies, followed by examples of how it is used to study the developing mind…

Maintains that Teyler and Fountain's presentation (1987) contains several limitations, namely, that the authors do not (1) distinguish between learning and memory, nor between storage and retrieval; (2) address the role of knowledge-based influences in memory and learning; or (3) employ concepts that can accommodate developmental phenomena in the…

Recent studies on the biological development of the prefrontal cortex in rhesus monkeys are reviewed. These studies have elucidated the basic neural circuitry underlying the delayed-response function in adult nonhuman primates and suggest that a critical mass of cortical synapses is important for the emergence of this cognitive function. (BN)

Discusses the relevance of the study of the neurobiology of cognitive development, for an understanding of both the neural bases and the nature of cognition. Also considered are the age at which hemisphere specialization first appears and whether hemisphere specialization changes over time. (PCB)

Ordering theory was used in two studies to empirically determine hierarchies of developmental precedence for Piaget's 16 logical combinations. In study 1, subjects (N=94) responded to statements about odd and even numbers; in study 2, 30 subjects responded to statements about line segments. Results are reported and discussed. (Author/JN)

Describes the van Hiele levels of reasoning in geometry according to responses to clinical interview tasks concerning triangles and quadrilaterals. Subjects were 13 students from grades 1 through 12 plus a university mathematics major. Students' behavior on tasks was consistent with the van Hiele original general description of the levels.…

The developmental pattern of concurrent synaptogenesis in rhesus monkeys is consistent with a straightforward model of relations between brain and cognitive development. Concurrent synaptogenesis is hypothesized to lay the primary cortical foundation for a series of developmental levels in middle infancy that have been empirically documented in…

The programs and publications of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research from 1980 to 1984 are listed and described in this document. The center's efforts focus on the study of the nature and effects of diversity among students. The research program adds to knowledge about how children learn, how they are taught, and what characterizes…

Specific modes of formal reasoning and measurements of principled moral reasoning ability were obtained from 99 10th-grade students. Hierarchical relationships were found amoung variables with combinatorial and correlational reasoning accounting for 22 percent of the variance in principled moral reasoning. Theoretical and educational implications…

This study attempted to search for a learning hierarchy among the skills comprising formal operations and the integrated science processes. Data were obtained from two instruments administered to 741 high school science students. The Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) measured performance on six Piagetian cognitive modes: controlling…

This report describes the results of an attempt to identify a learning hierarchy for each of a number of science concepts mainly encountered first in the high school grades. The concepts studied relate to stoichiometric calculations and molarity, both from chemistry; to food web relationships and problems involving Mendel's laws from biology; to…

Presents a study of metacognitive responses of English school children examining four common metacognitive function measures. Discusses the content of each measure, the search for developmental commonality, and statistical relationships. Concludes that no evidence supported a common metacognitive factor or unified construct, although a common…

A psychometric model called Saltus, which represents the qualitative aspects of hierarchical development in a form applicable to additive measurement, was applied. Both Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Gagne's theory of learning hierarchies were used to establish the common features of hierarchical development: (1) gappiness--the…

The 21 summaries of research programs, funded by the United States Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences which are presented are grouped in five broad topic areas: computer-based systems; information processing; learning, memory and transfer; human relations; and related issues and trends. Papers presented include:…