Memory decision-making in 26- to 32-month-olds was investigated using visual-paired comparison paradigms, requiring toddlers to select familiar stimuli (Active condition) or view familiar and novel stimuli (Passive condition). In Experiment 1 (N = 108, 54.6% female, 62% White; replication N = 98), toddlers with higher accuracy in the Active…

Little is known about the influence of social context on children's event memory. Across four studies, we examined whether learning that could occur in the absence of a person was more robust when a person was present. Three-year-old children (N = 125) viewed sequential events that either included or excluded an acting agent. In Experiment 1,…

In humans, effortful cognitive processing frequently takes place during social interaction, with eye contact being an important component. This study shows that the effect of eye contact on memory for nonsocial information is different in children with typical development than in children with autism, a disorder of social communication. Direct…

This study examined the relation of 3-year core information-processing abilities to lexical growth and development. The core abilities covered four domains--memory, representational competence (cross-modal transfer), processing speed, and attention. Lexical proficiency was assessed at 3 and 13 years with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)…

A novel task, using a continuous spatial layout, was created to investigate the degree to which (in centimeters) 3-year-old children's ("N" = 63), 5-year-old children's ("N" = 60), and adults' ("N" = 60) own privileged knowledge of the location of an object biased their representation of a…

Longitudinal associations of domain-general and numerical competencies with individual differences in children's understanding of fractions were investigated. Children (n = 163) were assessed at 6 years of age on domain-general (nonverbal reasoning, language, attentive behavior, executive control, visual-spatial memory) and numerical (number…

A controversial issue in the field of language development is whether language emergence and growth is dependent solely on processes specifically tied to language or could also depend on basic cognitive processes that affect all aspects of cognitive competence (domain-general processes). The present article examines this issue using a large…

The neurodevelopmental sequelae of early deprivation were examined by testing (N = 132) 8- and 9-year-old children who had endured prolonged versus brief institutionalized rearing or rearing in the natal family. Behavioral tasks included measures that permit inferences about underlying neural circuitry. Children raised in institutionalized…

Whereas traditional theories of gender development have focused on individualistic paths, recent analyses have argued for a more social categorical approach to children's understanding of gender. Using a modeling paradigm based on K. Bussey and A. Bandura (1984), 3 experiments (N = 62, N = 32, and N = 64) examined preschoolers' (M age = 52.9…

The experiment measured attention-getting and attention-holding processes independently. Results confirmed the necessity for separating these measures and indicated differences between male and female infants in their demonstration of memory. (JMB)

Two experiments examined hyperactive children's tendency to underfocus their attention during learning. Taken together, the results of both experiments demonstrated the validity of the attentional diffusion hypothesis and indicate the need to assess the central processing demands associated with central and incidental learning in order to evaluate…

Results of three experiments suggest that groups of schizophrenic, younger normal, and older normal children used a serial information-processing strategy while performing on a partial report version of a span of apprehension task. Impairment of schizophrenic children on the partial report versions seemed to reflect inefficiencies in the…

The visual short-term cued recall memory of 8-, 12-, and 16-month-olds was assessed in two experiments using an operant indirect delayed-reaction procedure. In each experiment, 12- and 16-month olds performed better than chance, whereas 8-month-old infants did not. (Author/DB)

Examined concepts of mental activities involved in acts of knowing in 54 children of 8-10 years and adults. Ten-year-olds and adults judged memory involvement to be the most important relation among mental activities. Eight-year-olds judged comprehension and attention according to the involvement of visual or verbal information. (RJC)