Learning behavioural responses and adapting them based on feedback is crucial from a young age, continuing to develop into young adulthood. This study examines the development trajectory and contributing factors from childhood to adulthood using a reversal learning paradigm. We tested 202 participants aged 10 to 22 in an online study, where they…

Great teachers will tell you that you can learn a lot about students from the questions they ask. This book shares 400 of the most important questions kids ask about their brains, along with answers that can be shared with students from ages 3 to 18. "What hidden talents do I have?" "Where does our inner voice come from?"…

Previously rewarding experiences can influence choices in new situations. Past work has demonstrated that existing reward associations can either help or hinder future behaviors and that there is substantial individual variability in the transfer of value across contexts. Developmental changes in reward sensitivity may also modulate the impact of…

Functional connectivity within and between Intrinsic Connectivity Networks (ICNs) transforms over development and is thought to support high order cognitive functions. But how variable is this process, and does it diverge with altered cognitive development? We investigated age-related changes in integration and segregation within and between ICNs…

Purpose: Statistical learning research seeks to identify the means by which learners, with little perceived effort, acquire the complexities of language. In the past 50 years, numerous studies have uncovered powerful learning mechanisms that allow for learning within minutes of exposure to novel language input. Method: We consider the value of…

Rhythmic abilities are impaired in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) but learning deficit of procedural skills implying temporal sequence is still unclear. Current contradictory results suggest that procedural learning deficits in DCD highly depend on learning conditions. The present study proposes to test the role of sensory modality of…

We report on rapid perceptual learning of intonation contour categories in adults and 9- to 11-year-old children. Intonation contours are temporally extended patterns, whose perception requires temporal integration and therefore poses significant working memory challenges. Both children and adults form relatively abstract representations of…

Self-derivation of new factual knowledge through integration of separate episodes of learning is one means by which children build knowledge. Content generated in this manner becomes incorporated into the knowledge base and is retained over time; successful self-derivation predicts academic achievement. Yet the component processes on which…

The Woodcock-Johnson-Fourth edition (WJ IV; Schrank, McGrew, & Mather, 2014a) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014) are two of the major tests of cognitive abilities used in school psychology. The complete WJ IV battery includes the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (Schrank,…

The effects of parent-child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy-eight children (M[subscript age] = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine which factors contribute to the lexical learning deficits of children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Participants included 40 7-8-year old participants, half of whom were diagnosed with SLI and half of whom had normal language skills. We tested hypotheses about the contributions…

Decades of research have demonstrated that deaf children generally lag behind hearing peers in terms of academic achievement, and that lags in some areas may never be overcome fully. Hundreds of research and intervention studies have been aimed at improving the situation, but they have resulted in only limited progress. This paper examines…

Typically developing (TD) 6-year-olds and 9-year-olds, and older children and adults with Williams syndrome (WS) navigated through brick-wall mazes in a virtual environment. Participants were shown a route through three mazes, each with 6 turns. In each maze the floor of each path section was a different colour such that colour acted as an…

From a developmental perspective, it has been reasoned that over the course of development children make differential use of available landmarks in the surroundings to orient in space. The present study examined whether children can learn to apply different spatial strategies, focusing on different landmark cues. Children aged 7 and 10 years were…

A comprehensive investigation of the neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses of children with autism may help to better describe their cognitive abilities and to design appropriate interventions. To this end we compared the NEPSY-II profiles of 22 children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) with those of 44 healthy control…