To examine whether children's acquisition of perspective-marking language supports development in their ability to reason about mental states, we conducted a longitudinal study testing whether proficiency with complement clauses around age 3 explained variance in false-belief reasoning 6 months later. Forty-five English-speaking 2- and 3-year-olds…

Higher-order thinking is relational reasoning in which multiple representations are linked together, through inferences, comparisons, abstractions, and hierarchies. We examine the development of higher-order thinking in 64 preschool-aged children, observed from 14 to 58 months in naturalistic situations at home. We used children's spontaneous talk…

In a seminal study Simcock and Hayne (2002) showed that 3-year-olds were unable to use newly acquired words to describe a "magic" event experienced 6 or 12 months earlier. In the reference study the children's verbal recall was tested without props being present. Inspired by recent evidence, the original design was replicated, testing…

The present study was a causality study that investigate the effects of conditional factors; if x, y & z are the independent factors (e.g. socio-economic status, Anthropometric status, and home environmental status) on the dependent factors (e.g. memory, social skill, language acquisition, logical reasoning, and problem solving). The present…

Recent advancements in the field of infant false-belief reasoning have brought into question whether performance on implicit and explicit measures of false belief is driven by the same level of representational understanding. The success of infants on implicit measures has also raised doubt over the role that language development plays in the…

Investigates in an experimental setting the claim that young children have some knowledge of the rules of correspondence between language and reality which are central to propositional logic. (EKN)

This paper presents a system for describing and categorizing various theories of language and thinking. Within this system, theories are described in terms of their position on three basic issues: (1) the direction of dependency between language and cognition, (2) the necessity of that dependency, and (3) the level of specificity at which the…

Children, aged 4-8 were given 2-term relational problems to test the hypothesis that only older children can process sentences as propositions and realize their logical implications. Results indicated even the youngest children could perform the task. (ST)

The aim was to determine whether logical concepts acquired in one language could be transferred to another language. (Author)

THIS RESEARCH STUDY WAS BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE TECHNIQUE OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENTATION, AS WELL AS FORMAL ANALYSIS, CAN BE APPLIED TO DISCOVER SOME VARIABLES WHICH ALLOW THE HUMAN TO RESOLVE AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES. THE PROBLEM OF AMBIGUITY WAS CONFINED TO SITUATIONS IN WHICH A KEY PRONOUN IN A SENTENCE HAS MORE THAN ONE POSSIBLE…

This study examined the factors influencing the choice of the conjunctions "and" or "but" in joining two clauses of a compound sentence. Subjects were students at first-, fourth-, seventh-, and tenth-grade and adult levels. (Author/ED)

A Piagetian framework is provided for understanding patterns of cognitive growth and their relation to early reading achievement among kindergarten children. Reference is made to relevant research, including recent Piagetian interpretations of prereading, language, and logical thinking. Instructional strategies are offered to guide kindergarten…

These forty conference papers deal with a wide variety of new approaches to the application of developmental theory. The papers represent a cross-section of current research methodology and techniques used to evaluate such traditional Piagetian topics as concrete and formal operations, conservation, classification skills, language development,…

Examines the relationship between formal operational reasoning and two language variables--subordinate clauses and tentative statements. Supports Piaget's position of independence between linguistic and cognitive development, showing how subordinate clause use and tentative statement use are not related significantly to performances on reasoning…