J. Kagan (2008) urges contemporary developmentalists to (a) be cautious when attributing conceptual knowledge to infants based on looking-time performance, (b) constrain their interpretation of infant performance with multiple methodologies, and (c) reconsider the possibility that qualitative development may be the path by which perceptual infants…

Reports the results of structured interviews with mothers of 29 children three and one-half to 12 years of age, documenting the development of four categories of food rejection based on distaste, danger, disgust, and inappropriateness. Suggests that lack of contamination sensitivity in younger children is due to their belief that chemical…

Examined whether children differentiate or confuse the domains of folk biology and folk psychology. Children and adult subjects were asked whether the animals depicted in pictures possessed certain biological and psychological properties. Results indicated that by kindergarten, notions of folk psychology and folk biology are sufficiently…

Examines how children's responses to questions about object terms varied across objects and the degree to which children specified common and conventional values for different object dimensions. (HOD)

Reports two studies. The first study compared adults and children (aged four, six, and eight) on ability to sort paintings according to artist, a conceptual task that can reveal cognitive organization. The second study compared three groups of eight- to nine-year-olds using slightly different procedures. The results showed strong developmental…

This replication study negates Bruner's finding that older subjects (age 15 and adult) understand the mathematical concept of ratio as exemplified by comparing judgments of fullness in pairs of glasses differing in height, diameter, and water volume. Weaknesses in Bruner's design and procedure that explain the discrepancy between the two studies…