Three experiments examined the relation between language acquisition and other symbolic abilities in 18- and 26-month old infants. Infants' ability to learn either words or symbolic gestures as names for object categories were compared across age groups. Findings indicated that infants at both ages learned novel words as symbols for object…

This study attempted to ameliorate the educational deficits of infants using structured tutorial programs of language and concept training in the home. It was part of a larger project whose purpose was to determine the age at which intervention will produce maximum acceleration of cognitive development. Subjects were 20 disadvantaged 8- and…

After intensively studying for several years the thinking processes of members of a tribal group in Western Africa, the Kpelle, the authors examine the relation between culture and cognitive development. The following issues are discussed: (1) an analysis of the terms "culture" and "cognition"; (2) an ethnographic description of the Kpelle…