Participants were interviewed about the biological and psychological functioning of a dead agent. In Experiment 1, even 4- to 6-year-olds stated that biological processes ceased at death, although this trend was more apparent among 6- to 8-year-olds. In Experiment 2, 4- to 12-year-olds were asked about psychological functioning. The youngest…

Gerstadt, Hong, and Diamond (1994) investigated the development of inhibitory control in children aged 3 1/2 - 7 years using the day-night task. In two studies we build on Gerstadt et al.'s findings with a measure of inhibitory control that can be used throughout childhood. In Study 1 (twenty-four 3 1/2-year-olds and sixteen 5-year-olds) we…

Age-related differences (9- to 15-year-olds) in the neural correlates of mapping from phonology to orthography were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were asked to determine if two spoken words had the same spelling for the rime (corresponding letters after the first consonant or consonant cluster). Some of…

This study examines development along Perry's intellectual and ethical scale among three successive graduating classes of students identified as gifted and talented in mathematics and science. Perry posits that intellectual development proceeds from a basic dualism through nine stages ("positions") and culminates with a sense of personal identify…

In two studies, children participated in route-planning tasks in which they were asked to find the shortest path to retrieve certain items. In Study 1, children participated in two versions of the task (standard versus feedback) differing in the amount of contextual support. Forty-eight children, ages 6, 8, and 10 years, had to help their…

Three experiments examined the relation between language acquisition and other symbolic abilities in 18- and 26-month old infants. Infants' ability to learn either words or symbolic gestures as names for object categories were compared across age groups. Findings indicated that infants at both ages learned novel words as symbols for object…

A longitudinal study of mental development during the first 6 years of life was conducted to determine whether different social and biological variables were related to mental development at different ages. A total of 218 children having complete neonatal records of 12 biological variables were studied at 6-month intervals until the children were…

Appraised cognitive patterning and development for 142 pairs of twins at 4, 5, and 6 years of age. From the results it was inferred that within a broad range of home environments, the genotype exerts a significant influence on the child's cognitive development. (Author/SDH)

Analyzed 20 test items for evidence of concordance for samples that included at least 120 pairs of identical twins and 85 pairs of same-sex fraternal twins at ages 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Also computed within-pair correlations for the total number of Piagetian-equivalent items passed. (Author/SDH)

Examines the effects of age and of incidental-learning tasks on recall of a categorized word list by two groups of adults (18-30 years and 55-65 years). (ED)

The nature and development of semantic processing in chess was investigated in a study involving younger players from 6 through 18 years of age. Efforts were directed toward establishing the assertion that skilled players' memory for chess positions depends largely upon the availability of pre-stored schema (PSS) that are both abstract and…

A total of 100 children from divorced and separated families were compared with 100 children from intact families in this investigation of ways in which children handle the concepts of family membership and relationships. Children were given two social and two physical tasks: a family identity task; Piaget's interview for determining the…

A study was conducted to test an hypothesis relating semantic structures to cognitive development, specifically that the mean number of associative complexes used by a group of children will be significantly greater than the mean number of associative complexes used by a group of adolescents. The word game "Password" provided a simulation of a…

Discussed are results of studies of the cognitive development of 2- and 3-year-old children which suggest that the mind makes gains in the ability to think as gains in language development are made. "Thinking" in this context refers to the judgments children made as they selected objects and maneuvered them into one arrangement or…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the physical, social, and psychological variables of the family environment and children's developmental performance on measures of cognition, academic achievement, and affective characteristics. A sample of 69 families was administered a multicomponent family assessment…