Used a multivariate approach and longitudinal design to examine the relationship of early perceptual and cognitive development in first grade, to school achievement in fourth grade. Results indicated variables used to predict achievement differed between the sexes, and sex as a predictor variable depended upon area of achievement studying.…

Investigated concurrent validity of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) with Native American primary-grade children. Significantly low General Cognitive Index indicates that the MSCA with Native American children is not recommended for psychodiagnostic purposes. However, perceptual-performance and motor scales may provide useful…

The effects of two types of play experiences (constructive and dramatic) on 64 preschool children's perspective-taking performance were studied. (Author/MP)

Reviews literature on music perception and cognition in the first year of life and examines their contribution to domains such as child development and music education. Focuses on studies examining musical features and the uses of music in the everyday life of infants and their caretakers. Critiques previous and current literature. Discusses…

Three experiments examined development of perceptual causality in 3- to 9-year-olds. Findings indicated that participants of all ages assigned contact events (A moves toward B, which moves upon contact) to the physical domain and non-contact events (B moves before contact) to the psychological domain. Participants chose causality more often for…

A total of 416 elementary school children described in writing what their grandparents meant to them. Girls were more likely than boys to mention love. Younger children reported obtaining more affective provisions (e.g., attachment and nurturance) from grandparents while older children reported more cognitive provisions (e.g., guidance and pride…

Argues that the capacity for consciousness of self and others arises from developing representational and perceptual activities, especially during play. Examines young children's development of symbolic play, from sensorimotor exploration to representational play through five stages involving gestures of recognition, self-pretend and pretend play,…

Traced emergence of elaborated framework of belief-desire reasoning. Preschoolers and adults were asked to explain why a story protagonist searched for a desired object in an incorrect location. Results suggest that, during late preschool years, conception of cognitive activities as contributing to knowledge and belief becomes integrated into…

Two experiments examined the effects of a culture-general factor, pattern redundancy, on the discrimination of five-tone melodies that differed in their adherence to Western tonal conventions, among 9-month olds, 5-year olds, and adults. Increasing exposure seemed to attenuate the effects of the pattern redundancy while amplifying the influence of…

Tested in two studies 4- to 7-year-olds' face recognition by manipulating the faces' configural and featural information. Found that even with only a single 5-second exposure, most children could use configural and featural cues to make identity judgments. Repeated exposure and feedback improved others' performance. Even proficient memories were…

How do infants identify the psychological actors in their environments? Three groups of 12-month-old infants were tested for their willingness to encode a simple approach behavior as goal-directed as a function of whether it was performed by (1) a human hand, (2) a morphologically unfamiliar green object that interacted with a confederate and…

Twenty-two children ranging in age from 2 to 3 years were tested on their abilities to apply weight and distance rules to the balance scale. This study was performed to test the prediction that 2-year-olds would be able to understand either a weight rule or a distance rule, but not be able to integrate the two. The sample group was instructed in…

Reports a study investigating the relationship between cognitive styles and the preschool child's use of play areas in nursery schools, using daily observation and two tests of analytic perceptual ability. (ED)

Attempts to clarify the basis for the unusual responses to observed movement by 7-year-old children, as compared to adults, discovered by Olum. Subjects were 40 first and third graders. Results indicate that these responses are genuine and that they go through a developmental evolution. (SDH)