Investigated beliefs about feeling the stares of an unseen other. Found that most adults and young children believed they could feel the unseen stares of another, and across age there were some increases in beliefs about the feeling. Participants believed that in order to feel stares, some cognitive maturity was required. (MOK)

Two experiments studied the impact of the nature of information available at different processing levels on differences in haptic (tactile) and in visual, free classification development. Found that exploration characteristics (involving simultaneous versus independent processing of stimulus dimensions) and presentation of the stimulus dimensions…

The influence of selected cognitive factors on age-related changes in speech recognition was examined by measuring the effects of recall task, speech rate, and availability of contextual cues on the recognition performance of 10 young listeners (ages 18-40) and 10 older listeners (ages 65-76). Hearing loss affected performance. (Author/CR)

Results suggested that preadolescents and adolescents understand but reject or subordinate parents' conventional interpretations of family conflict, and reinterpret them as issues of personal jurisdiction. Parents understand but reject children's claims to personal jurisdiction, and state the issues in conventional terms. (RH)

Examined effects of sugar on behavior of 45 preschool and elementary school children. Provided all children with basic breakfast that included drink containing either 50 g of sucrose, a comparably sweet placebo, or very little sucrose. Found some small behavior changes in high-sucrose group. All effects were small in magnitude and not considered…

Data from three studies identified the cognitive deficits associated with reading difficulties as distinct from attentional deficits. The studies found consistent cognitive deficits (especially naming and phonological awareness) associated with difficulty in reading. Deficits were consistent across samples, developmental levels, definitions, and…

Two studies on M-capacity found factor-analytical and correlational evidence that five M-capacity tests share a common source of variance and that, as subjects' increase in age, scores increase at a similar rate. Results suggest that, in the 6-11 age range, M-capacity can be measured with a battery of tests. (AA)

Six experiments involving 262 children (as young as 16 months and as old as fifth grade) indicate that the basic framework for coding location is present early in life and that later development consists of an increasing ability to impose organization on a broad range of bounded spaces. (SLD)

Examined whether age-related change in naming time reflects automatic access of familiar names because of greater familiarity with the named objects or global change in speed of processing. The path analyses and structural-equation modeling of 8- to 13-year olds were consistent with the second explanation. Time and age were linked to reading…

Two experiments examined causal links among age, processing time, articulation time, and memory span in elementary school children. Found that age was correlated posssitively with memory span but negatively with processing and articulation times and that age-related change in processing time was associated with a decrease in the time required to…

Observed the reactions of 3.5-month-old infants looking at a carrot that should have but did not appear in a window after passing behind a screen. The results of this and several similar experiments indicated that 3.5-month-old infants are able to represent and reason about hidden objects. (BC)

Tested comprehension of syntactic structures by presenting each structure with both plausible and implausible content. Results revealed that cognitive nonlinguistic factors were important for comprehension and that errors and reaction time increased with age. The minimal contribution of neuropsychological factors to this decline suggests that the…

Six experiments involving 279 2- to 5-year-old children, 52 undergraduates, and 16 adults examined the interaction of perception and language in the development of magnitude marking of size, loudness, and achromatic color. Results suggest converging interactions between perception and language for size and loudness and antagonistic interactions…

Second and fifth graders participated in a study of the use of intraprogram synopses to improve comprehension of a television program. Central content recognition of second graders who saw synopses did not differ significantly from that of fifth graders. This indicates that intraprogram synopses offer promise as a method for improving young…

Preschool and first grade children's recall of script-based event sequences was studied in four different instruction conditions. Differences in sequencing ability were observed in relation to age and sequence. Findings indicate that at both ages, the effort involved in sequencing aids semantic processing of the material and enhances recall. (SH)