The late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential reflecting affective processing, may exhibit developmental shifts in magnitude and scalp location. In the present longitudinal study, 501 youth (47.3% female; 89.4% White; 12.0% Hispanic) completed the emotion interrupt task to elicit the LPP to neutral, positive, and negative images at…

The study of how children learn numbers has yielded one of the most productive research programs in cognitive development, spanning empirical and computational methods, as well as nativist and empiricist philosophies. This paper provides a tutorial on how to think computationally about learning models in a domain like number, where learners take…

The ability to consider multiple possibilities forms the basis for a wide variety of human-unique cognitive capacities. When does this skill develop? Previous studies have narrowly focused on children's ability to prepare for incompatible future outcomes. Here, we investigate this capacity in a causal learning context. Adults (N = 109) and 18- to…

Executive function (EF) plays a foundational role in development. A brain-based model of EF development is probed for the experiences that strengthen EF in the dimensional change card sort task in which children sort cards by one rule and then are asked to switch to another. Three-year-olds perseverate on the first rule, failing the task, whereas…

Associations between experiencing child maltreatment and adverse developmental outcomes are widely studied, yet conclusions regarding the extent to which effects are bidirectional, and whether they are likely causal, remain elusive. This study uses the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort of 4,898 children followed from birth…

This study reanalyzes data presented by Ritchie, Bates, and Plomin (2015) who used a cross-lagged monozygotic twin differences design to test whether reading ability caused changes in intelligence. The authors used data from a sample of 1,890 monozygotic twin pairs tested on reading ability and intelligence at five occasions between the ages of 7…

Relations between marital conflict, children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and fluid cognitive performance were examined over 3 years to assess allostatic processes. Participants were 251 children reporting on marital conflict, baseline RSA, and RSA reactivity (RSA-R) to a lab challenge were recorded, and fluid cognitive performance…

Infants imitate others' individual actions, but do they also replicate others' joint activities? To examine whether observing joint action influences infants' initiation of joint action, forty-eight 18-month-old infants observed object demonstrations by 2 models acting together (joint action), 2 models acting individually (individual action), or 1…

The understanding of nature and nurture within developmental science has evolved with alternating ascendance of one or the other as primary explanations for individual differences in life course trajectories of success or failure. A dialectical perspective emphasizing the interconnectedness of individual and context is suggested to interpret the…

What factors determine whether a young child will learn a new word? Although there are surely numerous contributors, the current investigation highlights the role of causal information. Three-year-old children (N = 36) were taught 6 new words for unfamiliar objects or animals. Items were described in terms of their causal or noncausal properties.…

In this paper, data generated in the intermediate-size transposition paradigm under a variety of experimental conditions are related to a 2-process model involving perceptual and cognitive components. (Author/JMB)

Reports four studies investigating very young children's understanding of two kinds of symbolic stimuli--scale models and pictures. The data indicate that 2.5-year-old children have difficulty understanding scale models as symbols but can understand pictures as symbols. Results suggest that experience with a symbolic medium they understand can…

Although developmental psychologists are generally happy to endorse dissociations and gradualist views of development like Woolley's (2006), the design and interpretation of developmental research often suggests an implicit commitment to a cleaner, less dissociative, sudden-transition view of development. Such an implicit commitment may derive…

Developmental rates and standard scores are examined for 56 infants in four gestational age groups by repeated measurements on the mental scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. (Author/JMB)

Two studies address the sequence of understandings evident in preschoolers' developing theory of mind. The first, preliminary study provides a meta-analysis of research comparing different types of mental state understandings (e.g., desires vs. beliefs, ignorance vs. false belief). The second, primary study tests a theory-of-mind scale for…