We examined whether typical developmental trends in suggestion-induced false memories (i.e., age-related decrease) could be changed. Using theoretical principles from the spontaneous false memory field, we adapted 2 often-used false memory procedures: misinformation (Experiment 1) and memory conformity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 7- to…

This study investigated the prediction that playful activity would increase the number of alternate uses that children would be able to give for objects which are not involved in that activity. Subjects were 36 white, middle-class preschoolers. (Author/SDH)

Discusses two experiments in which middle-aged, elderly, professional, and non-professional males and females were given the Conceptual Styles Test. An analysis of variance on the percentage of complementary responses revealed significant effects for age, occupation, and th interaction between age and sex. (ED)

Suggests that the findings of Legerstee, Barna, and DiAdamo (2000) are most parsimoniously explained by associative learning and may not constitute a precursor to later understanding of intentionality. Argues for the importance of differentiating between associative and inferential processes and reviews evidence that the understanding of…

Two sets of tasks designed to measure operational thinking and the problem-finding skill of asking general questions were administered to 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children. Analyses performed on the quality of the children's questions revealed developmental trends consistent with earlier work on problem finding. (Author/JMB)

Describes two studies in which young children were shown pictures that represented sound with postures and contexts, with conventions, and with combinations of information. Shows that the different types of pictorial representation of sound were not equivalent in their ability to evoke a correct interpretation. (HOD)

Two experiments examined role of affective correspondence between signal and outcome in 4-month olds' associative learning. Found that only when consoling infant-directed speech signaled the sad face did infants' visual interest in a checkerboard increase. Arousing infant-directed speech signaling either the smiling or sad face produced positive…

Meaningfulness values, assessed via the production method, were obtained on 40 trigrams for 120 children, 40 each in second and sixth grade. These norms were subsequently used in a free-recall learning study. (MS)