Describes a theory of the understanding and use of representations, drawing heavily on Paul Ricoeur's and James Mark Baldwin's theories. Presents this theory as construing representation as intrinsically mimetic, characterizing the development of representational understanding as internalization, and emphasizing the importance of self-reflection…

Reviews theoretical and empirical developments in Erik Erikson's construct of generativity-stagnation. Presents a five-category model describing styles of resolving the issue using combinations of level of involvement or active concern for the growth of self and others; and level of inclusivity or scope of caregiving concern. Discusses model in…

Proposes a variant of mental model theory which suggests that the development of conditional reasoning (if--then) can be explained by such factors as the capacity of working memory, range of knowledge available to a reasoner, and his/her ability to access this knowledge "on-line." Finds much empirical data explained by this model.…

Reviews research on development of children's beliefs about intelligence; proposes that this development represents simultaneous processes of concept acquisition and theory building. Discusses research foci on children's definitions of intelligence, beliefs about the component structure of intelligence, criteria children use to evaluate ability,…

Reviews research on external memory strategies, provides a rationale for using neural network models, and discusses their application to intellectual and developmental differences in the external memory strategies of typical and atypical children, including those with mental retardation. Examines mechanisms of intellectual differences and…

Proposes an account of the development of temporal understanding, linking it with episodic memory development. Distinguishes between ways of representing time in terms of frameworks involved; describes perspectival and nonperspectival frameworks and those representing recurrent sequences or particular times. Describes emergence of new kinds of…

Reviews development of rehearsal and organizational strategies based on cross-sectional and longitudinal research, focusing on the Munich Longitudinal Study. Found that longitudinal data reveal greater individual variability in strategy acquisition, suggesting that canonical development patterns inferred from cross-sectional studies obfuscate…

Reviews explanatory dimensions of children's false memory relevant to forensic practice: measurement, development, social factors, individual differences, varieties of memories and memory judgments, and varieties of procedures inducing false memories. Asserts that recent studies fail to use techniques that separate acquiescence from memory…

Discusses hierarchical complexity of tasks as a way of conceptualizing information in terms of the power required to complete a task, and its implications for developmental psychology and information science. Provides an analytic solution to the definition of developmental stages and allows for the possibility within the science of scaling the…

Introduces the concepts of online and offline sampling and highlights the role of online sampling in agent-based models of learning and development. Compares the strengths of each approach for modeling particular developmental phenomena and research questions. Describes a recent agent-based model of infant causal perception. Discusses limitations…

Examines the possibility that parent-child relationships contain horizontal qualities paralleling comparable qualities in child-peer relationships. Argues that these qualities allow children to experience and practice horizontal skills later used with peers. Focuses on reciprocity and shared power, especially in parent-child play and control…

Extends dynamic model of cognitive growth proposed by van Geert in three directions: (1) added a term to consider exposure to material to be learned; (2) developed method to apply model to cross-sectional studies; and (3) developed procedure to scale cognitive abilities tests with items of varying difficulty. Tests model with 2- to 15-year-olds'…