The relationship between early language and cognition was studied in 20 children between 1 and 2 years of age. Four cognitive areas were tested: object permanence, means-end, play, and imitation. Results indicated that specific cognitive skills seem temporarily associated with some linguistic abilities, although attainment of skills can be…

Investigated in 3 studies whether 2- to 4-year-olds make accurate causal inferences on the basis of patterns of variation and covariation. Found that all three age groups considered information from various patterns of variation and covariation in judgments regarding two objects and activation of a machine. Three- and 4-year-olds used the…

Seven infants and toddlers with severe/profound and multiple learning difficulties were presented with a contingency situation which they could control. Increased responses and positive emotional effects, which were reversed when their control was eliminated, suggested that infants with mental ages as young as two months can detect cause and…

A longitudinal study examined the role of a mapping system in 2-year olds' learning of color and size words. Results indicated that the children acquired color maps in a characteristic order and showed a different acquisition pattern for size words. Results suggest that learning word associations may promote color-word acquisition; learning color…

Twenty-two children ranging in age from 2 to 3 years were tested on their abilities to apply weight and distance rules to the balance scale. This study was performed to test the prediction that 2-year-olds would be able to understand either a weight rule or a distance rule, but not be able to integrate the two. The sample group was instructed in…

While very young children's understanding of objects as symbols for other entities has been the focus of much investigation, very little is known concerning the emergence of comprehension for symbolic relations among actions modeled with toy replicas and their real counterparts. We used videotaped depictions of real actions in a preferential…

Explores the relations among combinatorial capacities in language, symbolic play, blockbuilding, and nonsemantic action sequences within a sample of 18- to 24-month-old children, as well as assessing the developmental level of a selected subset of concepts. (HOD)

Presents a framework within which to organize and synthesize existing knowledge about children's understanding of the mental states of imagination, pretense, and dreams. Concludes that by the age of three, children understand important fundamental aspects of the mental nature, origin, and truth-relation of fictional mental states, but that their…

Twenty-four 12- to 19-month-old children were studied to examine the cognitive basis for the emergence of verbs. Substantial increases in verb comprehension across contexts, abstract cognition, and the ability to engage in symbolic action were observed, suggesting a relationship between underlying cognitive development and increased verb…

This study compared the development (at 40 months) of 40 deaf and hard-of-hearing infants whose hearing loss was identified either before 6 months or after 18 months. Infants whose hearing loss was identified earlier scored significantly on tests of expressive language and comprehension/concepts. Results support early hearing screening for…

Examines the development of children's understanding of the difference between "want" and "need" in two different experiments. The first experiment required the children to respond verbally in choosing between the two concepts; the second required them to give an object to one of two characters who had made a request using…

Explored how mothers convey information about category structure during naturalistic interactions. Videotaped reading-aloud sessions between mothers and toddlers; coded their interactions for explicit and implicit discussion of animal and artifact categories. Found that mothers provided a rich array of information beyond simple labeling routines,…

This description of toddlers and preschool children emphasizes how young children think and describes the development of self-concept. Language development and antisocial and prosocial behavior are also discussed. The exploration of children's thought processes begins with two principles: (1) Concepts originate in activity; and (2) Motor…