Younger children have more difficulty in sharing attention between two concurrent tasks than do older participants, but in addition to this developmental change, we documented changes in the nature of attention sharing. We studied children 6-8 and 10-14 years old and college students (in all, 104 women and 76 men; 3% Hispanic, 3% Black or African…

Understanding gender differences in human cognitive development may contribute to understanding the gender differences in outcomes in cognitive ageing. However, evaluation of this topic has been hindered by a lack of representative, longitudinal data from different aged cohorts measured on the same cognitive tests. Gender differences in cognitive…

The present study prospectively evaluated cumulative early life perceived stress in relation to differential change in memory and perceptual speed from middle childhood to early adulthood. We aimed to identify periods of cognitive development susceptible to the effects of perceived stress among both adopted and nonadopted individuals. The sample…

How does cognitive control change with age, and what are the processes underlying these changes? This question has been extensively studied using versions of the task-switching paradigm, which allow participants to actively prepare for the upcoming task (Kray, Eber, & Karbach, 2008). Little is known, however, about age-related changes in this…

Moment-to-moment intraindividual variability (IIV) in cognitive speed is a sensitive behavioral indicator of the integrity of the aging brain and brain damage, but little information is known about how IIV changes from being relatively low in young adulthood to substantially higher in older adulthood. We evaluated possible age group, sex, and task…

Despite being ignored, visual distractors often produce traceable negative priming (NP) effects that can be used to investigate inhibitory processes. Robust NP effects are typically found with young adults, but not with children. Using 2 different NP tasks, the authors compared NP in 5 different age groups spanning 5 to 25 years of age. The 1st…

The relationship between aerobic fitness and executive control was assessed in 38 higher- and lower-fit children (M[subscript age] = 9.4 years), grouped according to their performance on a field test of aerobic capacity. Participants performed a flanker task requiring variable amounts of executive control while event-related brain potential…

This study demonstrated effects of age, education, and sex on complex reaction time in a large national sample (N = 3,616) with a wide range in age (32-85) and education. Participants completed speeded auditory tasks (from the MIDUS [Midlife in the U.S.] Stop and Go Switch Task) by telephone. Complexity ranged from a simple repeated task to an…

Working memory is an important theoretical construct among children, and measures of its capacity predict a range of cognitive skills and abilities. Data from 9- and 11-year-old children illustrate how a chronometric analysis of recall can complement and elaborate recall accuracy in advancing our understanding of working memory. A reading span…

A theoretical interpretation of the stimulus familiarization effect was explored in three experiments with 6- through 7-year-old children. (Author/SB)

This paper questions the assumption that a central processing deficit exists in the speed of performing mental operations by children as compared to adults. Two hypotheses are proposed and data are cited as evidence. (JMB)

Two studies examined conditional reasoning with false premises. In Study 1, 12- and 16-year-old adolescents made "if-then" inferences after producing an alternative antecedent for the major premise. Older participants made more errors on the simple modus ponens inference than did younger ones. Reasoning with a false premise reduced this effect.…

Used computer-administered tests to measure the reaction time to nonverbal stimuli of 4- through 6-year-olds and adults. Found age-related increases in processing speed that could not be attributed to increased accuracy and error rate monitoring. Used these results to evaluate R. Kail's (1991) model of processing speed, which adequately accounted…

Cognitive style was modified in a sample of 50 impulsive and 50 reflective fourth-grade boys. Subjects viewed a film-mediated model displaying a response style opposite to their own cognitive style. The specific cues in the model's behavior which facilitated shifts in cognitive style varied with the intellectual levels of the subject. (Author/WY)