The current study tests if the type of children's daily main meal (slow versus fast food) mediates the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with cognitive ability and cognitive growth in childhood. A Scottish birth cohort (Growing Up in Scotland) was assessed at ages 3 (N = 4512) and 5 years (N = 3833) on cognitive ability (i.e. vocabulary…

We recently proposed the Creative Reasoning Test (CRT), a test for reasoning in ill-defined problem spaces. The test asks children who first performed the Standard Progressive Matrices test (SPM) to next generate an SPM-style test item themselves. The item is scored based on different aspects of its complexity. Here we introduce a method to…

This study investigated intellectual development in 4-7 years old Greek and Chinese children. They were examined on speeded performance, working memory, reasoning, and self-awareness tasks in order to investigate possible effects of learning the Chinese logographic system on possible differences in intellectual development between these ethnic…

We evaluated over 200 participants semiannually from 12 to 48 months of age on measures of intellectual (Bayley Scales, Stanford-Binet Scale) and verbal (MacArthur-Bates Inventory, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) status. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear (growth curve) analyses were applied to address the nature of development…

Converging findings in psychology, neuroscience, education, and economics suggests that child persistence in learning represents an important determinant of academic success during the school years. Nevertheless, the developmental origins of productive learning behaviors are not well understood. Some findings suggest that executive function skills…

Results of five studies show that during the second half of the twentieth century there were increases in the Development Quotients (DQs) of infants in the first two years of life. These gains were obtained for the Bayley Scales in the United States and Australia, and for the Griffiths Test in Britain. The average of 19 data points is a DQ gain of…

Recent neuroimaging research has shown sex-related differences in the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function. Anatomical studies have shown a greater reliance for cognitive function on white matter structure in adult females, and a greater reliance on gray matter structure in adult males. Functional neuroimaging studies have…

In longitudinal studies data is collected in a series of waves. Each wave after the first suffers from attrition. Therefore it can be difficult to discriminate between changes in sample parameters due to a longitudinal process (e.g. ageing) and changes due to attrition. The problem is particularly vexing if one of the purposes is to compare…

Sex differences in the latent general and broad abilities underlying the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (KABC-II) were investigated for children and youth ages 6 through 18. The data were split into different age groups to account for changes due to differential development. Multi-group higher-order analysis of mean and…

Based on the construct of classical IQ, a model of the proportions of the population at various stages of cognitive development as a function of age is proposed. The model compares well with other theoretical models and provides evidence of the salience of the construct of general cognitive capacity. (SLD)

Examination of data from the Infant Health and Development Program, a comprehensive program to avert health and intellectual impairments associated with premature low birthweight, does not show any enduring and meaningful effects on cognitive development resulting from the program. Discusses findings in terms of intelligence and its mutability.…

Lower cognitive ability is a risk factor for some forms of severe psychiatric disorder, but it is unclear whether it influences risk of psychological distress due to anxiety or the milder forms of depression. The participants in the present study were members of two British birth national birth cohorts, the 1958 National Child Development Survey…

Research indicates that early cognitive intervention typically yields short-term advantages for children and their parents. Long-term effects are not maintained unless: intervention sets off a chain of positive consequences, and the whole life span is taken into account. Long-term change efforts should incorporate familial and psychosocial…

The current and future state of intelligence testing of educable retarded children are discussed in terms of prediction, diagnosis, and remediation. Individual testing formats, task analysis, transfer of training, social nature of testing, degree of contextual support, and Neisser's distinction between academic intelligence and everyday thinking…

This new edition of one of the classic works of psychology highlights the achievements of this pioneer in the study of intelligence and child development. (SLD)