Introduction: Divergent thinking is a crucial component of effective problem-solving. This study investigated the divergent thinking of students with visual impairments (i.e., blindness or low vision) in three countries and explored the correlates of their performance on two tasks. Methods: A sample of 52 students with visual impairments completed…

Two studies were conducted to identify individual differences in the effect of instruction on strategies used to solve figural/numerical analogies. The first study assessed students' use of an appropriate rule for solving analogies and the stimulus attributes they incorporated. In Study 2, verbal protocols of selected subjects were analyzed.…

Nine- and 16-month-old infants were presented a manual search problem in which a toy was hidden in one of two inaccessible containers, which were then moved into reach. Older infants performed better than younger infants, performance improved across trials, and more correct searches occurred when containers or trajectories were distinctive.…

Three experiments examined the role of representations in adolescents' deductive reasoning. Findings indicated that, with age, conditional reasoning improved on tasks containing permission conditional relations; reasoning fallacies increased on tasks containing causal conditional relations. Valid conditional inferences were more common on problems…

Tested the hypothesis that increased task difficulty elicits more efficient problem-solving strategies from older adults, using "Twenty Questions" tasks with either 64 or 10,000 possible solutions. Although younger adults were more efficient, there was not evidence that task difficulty affected problem-solving for either age group. (Author/JAC)

This study explored 5- to 17-year-olds' use, self report, and awareness of verbal problem-solving strategies and strategy effectiveness. Findings indicated that children's verbal strategies moved from overt, to partially covert, to fully covert forms with age. Self-reports of strategy use were accurate yet incomplete. Strategy awareness was low…

Studied adults (ages 20-79) presented with two types of problem-solving tasks: a typical task used in problem-solving research, and a task composed of practical daily life problems. Results indicated that developmental function depends on the type of problem presented, while performance on abstract problems may decrease with age. (Author)

Two studies were conducted with 8- and 10-year-old children to examine sources of age and skill differences in verbal analogical reasoning. Discussion focuses on the child's "problem space" for the analogy task and possible differences in task understanding that lead to strategy and process differences in older versus younger and skilled versus…

Two experiments yield data suggesting that the structure of children's concept of artifact function changes profoundly between age 5 and 7, with striking effects on problem-solving performance. This effect is not caused by differences in children's knowledge about the typical use of particular tools, but rather, is mediated by the structure of the…

Examined patterns of conceptual and procedural knowledge of addition in 5- to 8-year-olds. Found that children were more successful in noticing that addends had been reordered rather than decomposed and in noticing the decomposition of addends presented with objects rather than with symbols. Also found that profiles of procedural competence were…

Attempts to determine the age at which the concept of middleness," or intermediately positioned object, emerges and is functional. (MB)

Tested the hypothesis that increasing problem complexity elicits strategies of greater efficiency from older adults. Responses of older and younger adults were compared in a version of "Twenty Questions." No evidence was found that older adults seek more efficient strategies. Both groups maintained the same strategies. (Author/JAC)

The effects of age-relevance of content material on reasoning were systematically studied in 120 adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. Subjects were presented with either an adolescent, young adult, middle-aged, or older adult interpersonal dilemma and asked a series of structured questions assessing relativistic and…

A study of the physical activity or motor responses associated with curiosity, persistence, and problem solving behaviors was undertaken to learn more about the general developmental nature of these behaviors among elementary school children. The sample consisted of 125 children from kindergarten, second, fourth and sixth grade, all of whom…

One hundred and sixty-two subjects of three age levels were tested to examine the relationship between crystallized and fluid abilities and three problem solving tasks varying in the abstractness/concreteness of their stimuli and emphasis on past experience. These dimensions have been used by Davis to distinguish between Type "O" and Type "C"…