Learning the meanings of Arabic numerals involves mapping the number symbols to mental representations of their corresponding, approximate numerical quantities. It is often assumed that performance on numerical tasks, such as number line estimation (NLE), is primarily driven by translating from a presented numeral to a mental representation of its…

We tested the hypothesis that political attitudes are influenced by an information-processing factor--namely, a bias in the content of everyday explanations. Because many societal phenomena are enormously complex, people's understanding of them often relies on heuristic shortcuts. For instance, when generating explanations for such phenomena…

In a previous study, we reported the first measurements of pre-movement and sensorimotor cortex activity in preschool age children (ages 3-5 years) using a customized pediatric magnetoencephalographic system. Movement-related activity in the sensorimotor cortex differed from that typically observed in adults, suggesting that maturation of cortical…

The rate at which people process information appears to influence many aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, many commonly accepted measures of "processing speed" may require goal maintenance, manipulation of information in working memory, and decision-making, blurring the distinction between processing speed and executive…

We examined whether individual differences in children's performance on a scaled battery of theory-of-mind tasks was predicted by parents' performance on an adult theory-of-mind task. Forty-six 3-year-old children and their parents participated in this study when children were aged 2;11 to 4;0. Thirty dyads returned 6 months later for a second…

The study investigated children's intention understanding using a longitudinal design. Thirty-two Italian children were tested on the "Demonstration of Intention" in the Re-enactment paradigm devised by Meltzoff (1995a), at two ages. Mean age was 12 months at the first session and 15 months at the second session. Previous research by…