Developmental theory has long emphasized the importance of linking perception, cognition, and action. Techniques designed to record the spatial and temporal characteristics of hand movements (i.e., "manual dynamics") present new opportunities to study the nature of these links across development by providing a window into how perceptual,…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the verbal and nonverbal cognitive profiles of children with specific language impairment (SLI) with problems predominantly in expressive (SLI-E) or receptive (SLI-R) language skills. These diagnostic subgroups have not been compared before in psychological studies. Method: Participants were…

Recent cognitive psychological research has argued that involuntary mental time travel is an important individual difference variable that has the potential to affect an individual's motivation. However, this issue has not been empirically investigated in educational settings such as teacher education. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the…

The mechanisms underwriting our commonsense psychology, or "theory of mind", have been extensively investigated via reasoning tasks that require participants to "predict" the action of agents based on information about beliefs and desires. However, relatively few studies have investigated the processes contributing to a central component of…

The purpose of the current article is to highlight the importance of operant techniques in developmental research. Although many researchers employ operant techniques within their individual fields of study, the pervasive nature of these techniques is not often acknowledged in the general literature. The present article describes the history of…

Nine papers were presented at a workshop concerned with structure and process in cognition. The reports given at this conference represent detailed applications of these concepts to limited areas of experience. This work is unique in that both structure and process appear together, rather than being studied as independent concepts. All the papers…

THE PROCEEDINGS OF TWO RELATED CONFERENCES WHICH BROUGHT TOGETHER EDUCATORS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, AND SUBJECT-MATTER SPECIALISTS TO DELIBERATE ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF COGNITIVE STUDIES AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT ARE REPORTED. PROFESSOR JEAN PIAGET, (A GREAT SWISS SCIENTIST AND EDUCATOR) SERVED AS CHIEF CONSULTANT AT THE CONFERENCES. THE FIRST PART…

Explores the development of children's ability to plan their drawings. Presents a conceptual framework and a process-structural model of the planning of drawings in childhood. Two experiments support the model's prediction of different patterns of results as a function of the working memory capacity of the subjects. (SKC)

Outlines a theory of metaphor that posits varying levels of semantic processing and formalizes the levels in terms of kinds of semantic mapping operators. Predicted complexity of semantic mapping operators was tested using metaphor interpretations of 204 children aged 6-12 years and 24 adults. Processing score increased predictably with age. (SAK)

A presentation of arguments demonstrating piaget's sensorimotor stages in Hebb's terms, and the suggestion for performing a computer test. This paper is an early progress report of an attempt to translate some plausible arguments into a rigorous demonstration. (Author)

Analyzed was the mental activity required to answer Profile Test questions. This was then related to the results of pupils with differing profiles. Most of the mental activity could be reduced to three categories of knowledge: data, short operations, and paths. These categories are then discussed and applied. (MNS)

A critical evaluation of the use of stochastic independence in psychological research is provided, considering (1) confirming the null hypothesis; (2) power of the statistical test; (3) Simpson's paradox; and (4) between-subjects and within-subject correlations. The importance of formal models in studying (in)dependence is emphasized. (SLD)

The author examines how students in three countries use four styles of cognitive integration (affective balance, affective-evaluative consistency, centralization, and image comparability) within the cognitive domains of nations, acquaintances, self-roles, and family relations. (DE)

Argues that abilities to use sensory standards and construct and use model images are the primary cognitive abilities that preschool children develop. Discusses longitudinal intervention programs designed to enhance these abilities; their results demonstrate improvement in cognitive tasks and positive changes in neurophysiological activity. (SKC)