The potency of Pascual-Leone's M construct was demonstrated by experimental production of decalages on combinatorial reasoning tasks. Logical and perceptual task characteristics remained constant while the number of variables was varied so that processing demands, relative to processing capacities, were the same for subjects at each of three age…

Attempted to determine whether children from grades two and six generate inferences while they read or only later in response to tasks which require inferences. (Author/DB)

Preschool and kindergarten children were shown carnival-game sequences which pictured an actor's outcome at four game trials. At one session, children summarized the game outcome after every sequence; at another session, subjects judged the actor's ability after viewing the trials. Results suggest that accurate summary information is a necessary…

This study investigated the relationship between the attainment of a Piagetian formal operational concept (proportion) and personal characteristics in 117 children 10 to 12 years old. (SB)

Tests semantic integration and frequency tally models of memory among 60 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children. Data from third and fifth graders show different patterns of results for regular and anomalous stories. The true-inference error rate was significantly greater than the error rates for false premise and false-inference sentences in…

Examines the relation between children's (1) probability learning performance and a measure of their memory for items presented in a sequence and (2) probability learning and performance on a test of abstractive integration. Participating were 80 six- and seven-year-old boys and girls from both low and middle socioeconomic classes. (Author/RH)

Investigates inferential behavior in five- and six-year-old children who made inferences about the spatial locations of models of animals and people in three experiments. Two levels of inference were found. Inferences of most five year olds were consistent with information given; Inferences of most six year olds were logically necessary ones.…

Reports three experiments based on the hypothesis that qualitative changes in verbal reasoning emerge, not from the conclusions children draw, but from what they accept as conclusive evidence. Results show a gradual development across 7-13 age range in ability to distinguish logically certain from only suggested or probabilistic conclusions.…

This study investigated the development of the concept of a critical search area by means of an action sequence in which a cartoon character loses his toy while walking through his house. The results showed that it is not until ages 7 or 8 that children readily make the inference that the critical area is the only plausible place to search for the…

This study investigated the use of covariation as a principle of causal analysis in children 3-4, 6-7, and 9-11 years of age. The results indicated that children as young as 3 years were capable of using covariation information in their attributions of simple physical effects. (Author/CS)

Tested hypothesis that understanding validity of inference is a relatively late development by asking fourth and seventh graders and college students to sort sets of deductive arguments. None of fourth graders, 45 percent of seventh graders, and 85 percent of college students used validity as basis for distinguishing arguments. Experiments…