Episodic memories contain various forms of contextual detail (e.g., perceptual, emotional, cognitive details) that need to become integrated. Each of these contextual features can be used to attribute a memory episode to its source, or origin of information. Memory for source information is one critical component in the formation of episodic…

The hierarchical competing systems model (HCSM) provides a framework for understanding the emergence and early development of executive function--the cognitive processes underlying the conscious control of behavior--in the context of search for hidden objects. According to this model, behavior is determined by the joint influence of a…

Two experiments examined pictorial humor as an unusual but legitimate way to approach the study of children's representational activity and the transition from implicit to explicit knowledge. In both experiments, the participants were 3- and 4-year-old children. Experiment 1 studied the understanding of two pictorial jokes using two conditions,…

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that prenatal maternal and fetal processes can have a lasting influence on infant and child development. Results from animal models indicate that prenatal exposure to maternal stress and stress hormones has lasting consequences for development of the offspring. Few prospective studies of human pregnancy…

This report describes a series of studies concerned with preschool children's art. Preliminary work was based on observation of sessions in which one child would draw a picture in the presence of an adult. Major findings were that: (1) the children did not have preconceived notions of what they would draw; (2) they did not try to capture a moment…

The aim of this project was to conceptualize and map cognitive processes and structural aspects, working mostly from video tapes of children in relatively natural clinical interviews, play and school situations (laboratory work, etc.). A conception of cognitive structure and an over-all perspective on cognitive functioning, which differ…

According to J. Piaget, the child continually constructs or refines previous constructions in defining reality. Taking Piaget's lead, a study attempted to describe how children construct reality, with particular emphasis on the role of television in that construction. Four young children were observed and audio taped in viewing situations in their…

The role of verbalization in children's mental operations was studied by comparing the mental operations children used in spatial perspective tasks (indicating another's view) and rotation tasks (imagining an object's rotation and one's own subsequent view). Each of 96 children (equal numbers of boys and girls, kindergarten and second grade…

Explores Maria Montessori's notion that a young child's brain is significantly different from an adult's and that young children develop according to a series of predictable "sensitive periods." Cites numerous empirical studies that support these and other ideas Montessori postulated without the advantage of sophisticated scientific…

This symposium report on current child development research in Germany includes abstracts from papers presented at the biennial meeting of SRCD, April 1975, and a short overview of the history and present status of developmental research and training in Germany. According to this overview, developmental theory and empirical research, which had…

Suggests the need for detailed study of (1) behavior-environment interactions and (2) interdependencies within behavioral repertoires. Examines systems theory as a paradigm for both interpreting dynamic interrelationships and examining the complexities of learning and adaption. Argues for noninterventive studies of individual children's…

Findings based on extended analyses of cognitive, familial, personality, and social-behavioral data from two previous research investigations are presented. Data for the main study, i.e., the present study, was collected principally by means of interviews. Findings of the principal study include the following: (1) Parental figures living in the…