Kim (1985) found that both English-speaking and Korean-speaking children find true negative sentences more difficult to verify than false negative sentences. A closer examination of the findings reveals that the difficulty is greater among Korean-speaking children. (Author/RH)

Replies to Akiyama's critique, pointing out areas of agreement between the Kim and Akiyama studies and areas of disagreement. Concludes that, contrary to Akiyama's argument, the Kim (1985) data would not directly challenge the cognition primacy hypothesis in any serious manner. (RH)

Three experiments examined effects of language on developing knowledge of distinction between real and apparent properties. Found that when Spanish verbs for "to be" -- "Ser" and "Estar" -- were substituted for "is,""Ser" gave the Spanish-speaking and bilingual speakers a unique advantage in…

Two studies examined whether 4-year-olds' difficulty using relational information in spatial tasks was due, in part, to their inability to deal with situations where both objective and egocentric cues were available and pointed to different responses. Findings indicated that the presence of conflict significantly affected children's performance in…

Four experiments investigated 3-year-olds' understanding of the differential importance of shape for categorizing solid objects. Found that they categorized rigid and deformable objects differently in a non-naming task and knew that material was important for deformable items and shape for rigid items. In two naming tasks, they generalized names…

Fifth graders, ninth graders, college students, and persons over age sixty-five were given pencil-and-paper tasks in spatial development. Discusses results in terms of ecological validity, experience, and number of competing cues to be processed simultaneously. Used Piaget's formulation on adult cognitive development to explain elderly's…

Five- and 6-year-olds heard stories in which a character sorted items into two locations. Found that children could reject a report of the character's belief when the character had a false belief more easily than a belief in which an object known to the character was described using an unknown term. Children found it easier to predict incorrect…

Two studies examined whether object names and functions act as cues to categories for infants. Findings indicated that both 14- and 18-month-olds were more likely to select the category match after being shown a novel category exemplar with its function than when given no additional cues. Only at 18 months did naming the objects enhance…

Investigated whether 4- to 6-year-olds' ability to reason about truths and lies influenced their truth-telling behavior. Found that children's performance on truth/lie questions did not predict their truth-telling. Regardless of performance on truth/lie questions, children receiving developmentally appropriate truth/lie discussions gave more…

Investigated 3-year-olds' understanding of the appearance-reality distinction using verbal response and nonverbal response paradigms in 4 experiments. Found that about 30 percent of children were correct in verbal paradigm; over 90 percent of same children were correct in nonverbal paradigm. Participating in the verbal paradigm impeded children's…

Four studies compared preschoolers' fast mapping of new proper and common names following indirect exposures requiring inference with their learning new names following ostensive cues. Found that inferential learning of names and learning by direct instruction were largely equivalent: learning from a situation with clear joint references…

Eight experiments examined abilities of 3- to 4-year-olds to reorient themselves and locate a hidden object in an open circular space furnished with landmark objects. Findings showed that children failed to use geometric configuration of objects to reorient themselves. Children successfully located the object in relation to a geometric…

Five experiments examined whether young children believe a lie tellers' implausible statement about a misdeed when the statement violates their developing knowledge of the reality- fantasy distinction. Findings suggested that 5- and 6-year-olds tended to report that the individual making the implausible statement actually committed the misdeed; 3-…

Examined the degree of specificity encoded in early lexical representations by presenting 18- to 23-month-olds with object labels either correctly or incorrectly pronounced and analyzing children's eye movement. Found that children recognized the spoken words in both conditions but recognition was poorer when words were mispronounced, with effects…

Examined third- and seventh-graders' and college students' thinking regarding different types of disagreements. Found that participants' thinking was constrained by the realm and form of the disagreement. At all ages, participants judged some disagreements acceptable and others unacceptable, described disagreements based on different attributes,…