Preschool children were trained on a color relevant oddity problem by one of 3 methods: (1) increased salience of the oddity relationship, (2) instruction on solution rule, or (3) a combination of both. Generality of results were probed with a form-relevant transfer problem. (DP)

Preschool children who did not group a set of geometric stimuli according to complete similarity on a pretest were taught classification wither in a modeling or in a reinforcement condition. Modeling was found to be an effective means of teaching classification behavior. (ST)

The effectiveness of three fading and two nonfading procedures were compared in training kindergarten children on an oddity problem in which shape was the relevant dimension. (SBT)

Evaluated the possibility that three-year-olds solve small-number conservation problems by an empirical procedure whereby the sets are quantified each time presented. Children chose the more numerous of two arrays, one containing two elements and the other three elements. Results disconfirmed claims that three-year-olds can conserve small numbers.…

Tested competing hypotheses about the acquisition of terms that refer to relationships in both time and space. Hypotheses were as follows: (1) language of time is acquired as a spatial metaphor; and (2) differential experience with the dual senses of each term results in different acquisition patterns depending upon which sense dominates actual…

Examines the importance of (1) dimensional characteristics of stimuli present in discrimination transfer tasks, (2) having contrasting stimuli presented simultaneously, and (3) subjects age. Subjects were rural Mexican youths, ages 4 to 10. Reversal and nonreversal type discrimination transfer problems were used in the study. (DP)

Tested 32 4-year-olds and 32 6-year-olds for free and cued recall following either play-and-remember or sort-and-remember instructions and assessed them for their metamemory of the efficacy of conceptual and perceptual sorting strategies. Younger children recalled more items under sort-and-remember, whereas no recall differences were found for the…

Two experiments tested whether children fail to make transitive inferences because they forget the premises. Children did not justify incorrect inferences by incorrect premises. Results between nontransitive and transitive inferers parallelled similar studies with nonconserver- conserver dyads and were viewed as reinforcing the commonality between…

Investigates the role of intraverbal learning (a process through which semantic knowledge is acquired from purely linguistic information) in preschool children's acquisition of semantic concepts. Shows that the relative effectiveness of pictorial and intraverbal information depends on the child's age, the type of information supplied, and the…