This paper presents a new perspective on the transition from early to middle childhood (i.e., human juvenility), investigated in an integrative evolutionary framework. Juvenility is a crucial life history stage, when social learning and interaction with peers become central developmental functions; here it is argued that the "juvenile transition"…

Fuzzy trace theory explains why children do not have to use rules of logic or premise information to infer transitive relationships. Instead, memory of the premises and performance on transitivity tasks is explained by a verbatim ability and a gist ability. Until recently, the processes involved in transitive reasoning and memory of the premises…

The ideas of Vygotsky [Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). "Thinking and speech." In "The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky," (Vol. 1). New York: Plenum. (Original work published 1934.)] have been increasingly influential in accounting for social-environmental influences on the development of social understanding (SU). In the first part of this article, I…

Discusses metacognitive and associative models of children's strategy discovery and use. Contends that models based on only one type of mechanism cannot entirely account for observed variability and constraint revealed by microgenetic studies of children's strategy change. Proposes a new model of children's strategy development in which…

Because early theoretical frameworks such as Piaget's stage model and social learning theory sought to explain the development and performance of imitation in terms of overall group trends, any evidence for individual differences in this behavior was until recently largely overlooked. Results of contemporary imitation studies have not only begun…

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…

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…

Argues that individual and group differences in priming performance scores are heavily influenced by overall speed and accuracy, and thus are a flawed reflection of internal activation of semantic priming. Suggests that meaningful comparison of groups on the activation underlying priming difference scores requires removing the effects of overall…

Examines perspectives on family influences on child development. Maintains that genetic and biological factors and parental actions/attitudes make important contributions to individual differences. Draws on research on gender differences and conduct disorders to illustrate that parental influence on individual differences within cultures has been…