Purpose: This study investigated attentional shifting in preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to their typically developing peers. Children's attentional shifting capacity was assessed by varying attentional demands. Method: Twenty-five preschool children with SLI and 25 age-matched, typically developing controls…

The acquisition of number conservation is a critical step in children's numerical and mathematical development. Classic developmental studies have established that children's number conservation is often biased by misleading intuitions. However, the precise nature of these conservation errors is not clear. A key question is whether conservation…

This study investigated the relationship between specific cognitive patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSWs) and the errors children make in reading, writing, and spelling tests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Third Edition (KTEA-3). Participants were selected from the KTEA-3 standardization sample based on five cognitive…

How do children evaluate complex causal events? This study investigates preschoolers' representation of "force dynamics" in causal scenes, asking whether (a) children understand how single and dual forces impact an object's movement and (b) this understanding varies across cause types (Cause, Enable, Prevent). Three-and-a half- to…

This study investigated the relationship between specific cognitive patterns of strengths and weaknesses and the errors children make on oral language, reading, writing, spelling, and math subtests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Third Edition (KTEA-3). Participants with scores from the KTEA-3 and either the Wechsler Intelligence…

In simple rule-switching tests, 3- and 4-year-olds can follow each of two sorting rules but sometimes make perseverative errors when switching. Older children make few errors but respond slowly when switching. These age-related changes might reflect the maturation of executive functions (e.g., inhibition). However, they might also reflect…

Spatial scaling is an important prerequisite for many spatial tasks and involves an understanding of how distances in different-sized spaces correspond. Previous studies have found evidence for such an understanding in preschoolers; however, the mental processes involved remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether children and…

Most children's speech difficulties are "functional" (i.e. no known sensory, motor or intellectual deficits). Speech disorder may, however, be associated with cognitive deficits considered core abilities in executive function: rule abstraction and cognitive flexibility. The study compares the rule abstraction and cognitive flexibility of…

Deficits in working memory (WM) and executive cognitive control are core features of schizophrenia. However, findings regarding functional activation strengths are heterogeneous, partly due to differences in task demands and behavioral performance. Previous investigators proposed integrating these heterogeneous findings into a comprehensive model…

When comparing rows of dots in length or number, some children used number strategies and some length strategies. After training to correct missed items, errors were made on previously correct items. These findings are interpreted with reference to the distinction between having a dimensional strategy and attaching it to appropriate situations.…

Explores 96 preschool children's utilization of complementary and taxonomic relations under varying task demands. Results indicated that, as task demands increased, (1) complementary intrusions produced systematic error in the taxonomic condition and (2) performance decreased in both conditions. Complementary pairs were maintained at progressively…

Two experiments examined the communicative bases of preschoolers' object appearance-reality (AR) errors. Found that AR performance correlated positively with performance on a control test with the same discourse structure but nondeceptive stimuli, and on a naming test. Overall findings indicated that the discourse structure of AR tests elicits a…

This report reviews some ostensibly conflicting empirical findings which have been reported in conjunction with Elkind's (1967) conjecture that Piaget's conservation problems tap two distinct concepts. The discrepant findings which report on the order of emergence of identity conservation and equivalence conservation are discussed. An analysis of…