Recent work has reported that the insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) promotes memory enhancement. Furthermore, impaired insulin or IGF1 functions have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments, hence implicating the insulin/IGF system as an important target for cognitive enhancement and/or…

We examine the contributions of dynamic systems theory to the field of cognitive development, focusing on modeling using dynamic neural fields. After introducing central concepts of dynamic field theory (DFT), we probe empirical predictions and findings around two examples--the DFT of infant perseverative reaching that explains Piaget's A-not-B…

In this study the authors investigated whether children demonstrated the "underconfidence-with-practice" (UWP) effect. This effect is a highly robust metacognitive illusion in which adults become underconfident in their memory performance when asked to predict their memory for the same items across multiple study-test trials. One…

Attention and working memory are fundamental for selecting and maintaining behaviorally relevant information. Not only do both processes closely intertwine at the cognitive level, but they implicate similar functional brain circuitries, namely the frontoparietal and the frontostriatal networks, which are innervated by cholinergic and dopaminergic…

Since Piaget, the view that motor and cognitive development are interrelated has gained wide acceptance. However, empirical research on this issue is still rare. Few studies show a correlation of performance in cognitive and motor tasks in typically developing children. More specifically, Diamond A. (2000) hypothesizes an involvement of executive…

Jones and Herbert describe research on deferred imitation and how this research reflects on the development of explicit memory in infancy. The article raises several interesting questions about how the medial temporal lobe memory system develops. In this commentary, I discuss some of the additional theoretical and empirical questions that are…

Competing explanations of the beneficial effect of spacing in retardate discrimination learning were tested. Results are inconsistent with consolidation and rehearsal theories but support the prediction of the Geber, Greenfield, and House spacing model that forgetting from short-term memory facilities retardate learning. (Author/SB)

Two experiments investigated the possibility that normal children (sixteen 6- to 7-year-olds) and retarded children (sixteen 9- to 10-year-olds) equated for immediate memory performance may not use effective strategies to eliminate interference from irrelevant information in memory. (Author/JH)

Problem studied: How children represent haptic spatial information in memory. Question aimed at: Whether, and if so in what ways, children's spatial representations differ according to the main modality of prior experience. (JH)

This experiment investigated age differences in memory performance and the extent to which rehearsal techniques contribute to these differences. Second and sixth grade children were trained in a variety of rehearsal techniques in an overt-rehearsal free recall task. (Author/SB)

Observing behavior and short term recognition were studied in a training and test design. (Author/SB)

In a study of development of organization strategies in rehearsal processes, children in the first, third, and fifth grades were exposed to a memory task which involved multiple overt rehearsal and recall phases. (SB)

Research reports have indicated that children's memories for pictures or events improved between early and later recall sessions in conjunction with operative growth. This study attempted to determine (1) if any intervening operative training task would increase memory improvements, and (2) if exposure to the memory stimulus per se would enhance…

In a visual memory task, two degrees of stimulus detail were compared to test Reese's hypothesis that stimulus detail would facilitate retention of paired associates for young children. Forty 4-year-olds and forty 5-year-olds were tested to assess reported trend that elaboration facilitates retention for older children. (JH)

Investigated the influence of schooling and environment on young children's memory and cognitive skills. Subjects were five- and six-year-old Mestizo and Quechua Indian children living in jungle villages or city slums in Peru. Samples of upper-middle-class children in Lima and poor children in Detroit were also tested. (JMB)