Criticizes the Mitchell and Lawson (1988) report from the viewpoint of individual interview method. Provides Lawson's reply to the comment by showing differences in research philosophy and methods. (YP)

The repeated psychological assessment of 41 high-risk infants during the first 2 years of life using the Mental Scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development was investigated. Analyses indicated that the infants' cognitive functioning remained fairly stable over the 2 years, particularly from age 6 months on. (Author/JDD)

A group test of formal thinking was administered to all grade 11 entrants in National High Schools in Papua New Guinea, and readministered two years later. Only 8 percent operated formally on the initial test; two years later, 18 percent were operating formally and 37 percent were at a transition stage. (MNS)

Summarizes school readiness and retention research issues, including youngest first graders' performance, entrance age policies, voluntary decisions to wait an extra year, assessment of children's readiness, and the negative effects of kindergarten and first-grade retention. Concludes that age disadvantages are seldom serious and usually disappear…

College students were given two paper-and-pencil conditional reasoning tests, one week apart, in varying order. The three problems on each test were presented either verbally or with line drawings as concrete referents. Performance was significantly poorer on the problems with drawings. (MNS)

Comparison of elementary grade students with (N=42) or without (N=42) learning disabilities (LD) on their logical-mathematical structures of thought found that, though both groups generated grouping relationships, children with LD tendered to generate solutions showing less coordinated structures of thought. For both groups, scores on the…

This study evaluated the Bielefeld Developmental Test for Blind Infants and Preschoolers by comparing cognitive performance of blind and sighted children (ages three and four). Results indicated that even this test (with "blind-neutral" items) did not permit a fair comparative assessment, though it did prove suitable for within-group…

Two factors which act to depress cognitive test performance are referred to as anxiety and boredom. The responses to a 20-item adjectival checklist administered to high school seniors after completing a cognitive test battery were subjected to iterative principal axes factor analysis. The relationships between anxiety or boredom and test…

This study, which assessed hypothesis-testing abilities using a discrimination-learning paradigm, found that 16 language-impaired primary-level children solved fewer problems than 16 controls equated on cognitive level, but the 2 groups used similar hypothesis types to solve the problems. Type of verbal feedback (explicit versus nonexplicit) did…

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) were compared using a sample of 26 developmentally disabled children, aged 32 to 73 months. The focus of the study was to determine the feasibility of the K-ABC both for assessment and for planning more effective remediation programs for this…

Examined the relationship between 7-, 9-, and 11-year old children's performance on a battery of selected Piagetian measures and on a proportional reasoning task. Found a strong relationship between stage level and (1) the complexity of hypotheses used, (2) the use of the proportional hypothesis, and (3) the overall use of logical hypotheses. (HOD)

Researchers have attempted to develop paper and pencil Piagetian tests that yield results equivalent to manipulative Piagetian tasks and that can be administered in significantly less time. This study is an attempt to partially replicate and extend the findings of research by Paul Ankeny and Lyle Joyce who found significant positive correlations…

For this study, computer technology was used to teach attentional skills to six young children. Prior reinforcement histories of individual stimuli were manipulated to examine whether they are the variable that controls the features of compound cues to which young children attend. (RWB)

The Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development has become widely used in a range of academic disciplines and such areas as career training and faculty consultation. However, current measurement techniques for the scheme, whether interview format or paper and pencil measures, do not adequately address issues related to assessing cognitive…

The Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) instrument has been widely used to gather cross-cultural data regarding the acquisition of logical thinking skills in adolescent children. This study of West German adolescents using the instrument adds further comparative data regarding the development of logical thinking skills. Additional data…