Children perform worse than adults on tests of cognitive flexibility, which is a component of executive function. To assess what aspects of a cognitive flexibility task (cued switching) children have difficulty with, investigators tested where eye gaze diverged over age. Eye-tracking was used as a proxy for attention during the preparatory period…

Distinguishes two types of executive theories: (1) emergence accounts; and (2) expression accounts. Asserts that the meta-analytic findings reported by Wellman, Cross, and Watson (2001) are fully consistent with emergence accounts of theory of mind and do not entirely rule out expression accounts. (Author/KB)

Examined relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschoolers. Found that IC was strongly related to ToM, even after controlling for several important factors. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in face of a conflicting prepotent response and those requiring delay of a…

Two experiments assessed preschoolers' understanding of objects possessing a property in part only and their understanding that different parts of an object may possess opposed properties. Results suggested that children as young as 3 years possess a sophisticated ability to reason about the heritability of properties from parts to wholes.…

Examined the relationship between age and the normative/descriptive gap--the discrepancy between actual reasoning and traditional standards for reasoning. Found that middle adolescents performed closer to normative ideals than early adolescents. Factor analyses suggested that performance was based on two processing systems, analytic and heuristic…

Support for the operation of internal factors in cognitive development was provided by an obtained increase from first to second posttest scores. Two conservations were considered to be involved--conservation of the whole and of the part. (Author)

Three experiments examined effects of language on developing knowledge of distinction between real and apparent properties. Found that when Spanish verbs for "to be" -- "Ser" and "Estar" -- were substituted for "is,""Ser" gave the Spanish-speaking and bilingual speakers a unique advantage in…

Examined dual representation among toddlers and preschoolers in four studies. Found that dual representation was as difficult for 2.5-year-olds with a set of individual objects as it was with an integrated model. Decreasing the physical salience of a scale model made representation easier for 2.5-year-olds. Increasing the model's salience made…

Three studies examined whether preschoolers' difficulties with deception and false belief arise from lack of inhibitory control rather than conceptual deficit. Found that 3-year olds deceived frequently under conditions requiring relatively low inhibitory control, but not high inhibitory control. Findings were not due to social intimidation, and…

Results obtained from 44 children (ages 7 through 16) with sex chromosome abnormalities and from 17 chromosomally normal siblings demonstrated that children in the former group have an increased risk of encountering learning problems. (MP)

Two studies with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds examined whether young children can differentiate expertise in the minds of others. Findings indicated that all children could correctly attribute observable knowledge to familiar experts, such as a car mechanic. Preschoolers had difficulty making attribution of knowledge of scientific principles to…

Three experiments in which photo or video presentations could guide one's search for a hidden object showed that under certain circumstances even 24-month-olds displayed representational insight. The first two experiments replicated earlier findings of chance performance across 4 trials, with 24-month-olds performing above chance in 3 of 4…

To assess children's understanding of intentions as distinct from desires, this study presented 3- to 7-year-olds and adults with situations in which intentions were satisfied but desires were not, or vice versa, in a story-comprehension task and target-hitting game. Findings indicated that younger children were unable to differentiate desires and…

Investigated children's representational ability as a cognitive factor underlying the suggestibility of their eyewitness memory. Found that the eyewitness memory of children lacking multirepresentational abilities or sufficient general memory abilities (most 3- and 4-year-olds) was less accurate than eyewitness memory of those with…

Two experiments examined 4- to 5-year-olds' acquisition of family-resemblance categories for fictitious animals. Results showed that children who performed theory-guided learning were more successful at making feature/category associations than children who performed similarity-guided learning and categorized attributes significantly better than…