The current experiment examined the relative advantage of an errorless learning technique over an errorful one in the acquisition of novel names for unfamiliar objects in typically developing children aged between 7 and 9 years. Errorless learning led to significantly better learning than did errorful learning. Processing speed and vocabulary…

One critical aspect of learning is the ability to apply learned knowledge to new situations. This ability to transfer is often limited, and its development is not well understood. The current research investigated the development of transfer between 8 and 16 months of age. In Experiment 1, 8- and 16-month-olds (who were established to have a…

The constructive episodic simulation hypothesis suggests that we imagine possible future events by flexibly recombining details of past experiences to produce novel scenarios. Here we tested this hypothesis by determining whether episodic future thinking is related to relational memory ability during the preschool years. Children (3- to…

Children build up knowledge about the world and also remember individual episodes. How individual episodes during which children learn new things become integrated with one another to form general knowledge is only beginning to be explored. Integration between separate episodes is called on in educational contexts and in everyday life as a major…

The exhibition of actions that are causally unnecessary to the outcomes with which they are associated is a core feature of human cultural behavior. To enter into the world(s) of their cultural in-group, children must learn to assimilate such unnecessary actions into their own behavioral repertoire. Past research has established the habitual…

This study investigated infants' rapid learning of two novel words using a preferential looking measure compared with a preferential reaching measure. In Experiment 1, 21 13-month-olds and 20 17-month-olds were given 12 novel label exposures (6 per trial) for each of two novel objects. Next, in the label comprehension tests, infants were shown…

The self-teaching hypothesis proposes that orthographic learning takes place via phonological decoding in meaningful texts, that is, in context. Context is proposed to be important in learning to read, especially when decoding is only partial. However, little research has directly explored this hypothesis. The current study looked at the effect of…

In this study, 3-year-olds matched on vocabulary score were taught three new shape terms by one of three types of linguistic contrast: corrective, semantic, or referential. A 5-week training paradigm implemented four training sessions and four assessment sessions. Corrective contrast ("This is concave, it is not square," where "square" is the…

Four- and five-year-old children (n=24) were put into two groups and trained to discriminate between two displays which could only be differentiated by a single distinctive feature located on one of the displays. Subjects trained with the distinctive feature located on the positive display learned the simultaneous discrimination while feature…

Twenty-four 14- and 30-month-old children observed a model use 20 new words as labels for objects of varied semantic associations. Age was highly and positively correlated with elicited and spontaneous imitation and scores for recognition of the objects associated with the words. (Author/SB)

Among 294 children of three to eight years, tactual oddity learning increased gradually with age. The finding of bidirectional cross-modal transfer of oddity learning supported the suggestion that such transfer occurs when training and transfer oddity tasks share a common vehicle dimension. Results are considered consistent with the view that…

In this study, hypothesis probe techniques were used to provide trial-to-trial monitoring of second and third grade children's use of feedback. (SB)

Three experiments investigated effects of attentional factors on children's learning set performance. Younger children's learning was differentially affected by two or more irrelevant dimensions. Practice improved performance for all ages. Results confirmed that irrelevant dimensions and within-problems exposure interact with age and amount of…

Examines the processing of physical and nominal features of letters by children from grades 1, 2, and 6. Examines processing strategies in relation to reading ability. (BD)

Evaluates autistic children's affect and rate of task acquisition under three experimental conditions: constant task, varied acquisition task, and varied with maintenance task. Results showed significantly more efficient learning under the varied maintenance condition. (Author/CI)