Place value concepts were measured longitudinally from kindergarten (2017) to first grade (2018) in a diverse sample (n = 279; M[subscript age] = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females; 41% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, 12% Latino). Children completed three syntactic tasks that required an explicit understanding of base-10 symbols and three approximate…

This article examines how semantic memory processes influence the items that are considered by decision makers in memory-based preferential choice. Experiments 1A through 1C ask participants to list the choice items that come to their minds while deliberating in a variety of everyday choice settings. These experiments use semantic space models to…

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) has robust associations with psychopathology. As such, understanding the development of AMS (or its inverse, overgeneral autobiographical memory) and how it may be unique from other aspects of memory performance is important. In particular, it is unclear whether child AMS is distinct from…

This article synthesizes the roles of morphology in English reading acquisition and reports a meta-analytic structural equation modeling study (k = 107, N = 21,818) that tested the effects of morphological awareness (MA) on reading comprehension in school-aged readers. Moderator analysis was conducted through a set of subgroup comparisons based on…

In two studies, we explored the associations among situational reading-related competence beliefs and task value, inference strategies, comprehension during reading, and foundational skills in college age students. In Study 1, 93 participants from a community college completed assessments of comprehension and two types of inference strategies…

We apply a biopsychosocial conceptualization to attention development in the 1st year and examine the role of neurophysiological and social processes on the development of early attention processes. We tested whether maternal behavior measured during 2 mother-child interaction tasks when infants (N = 388) were 5 months predicted infant medial…

Harsh environments are known to predict deficits in children's cognitive abilities. Life history theory approaches challenge this interpretation, proposing stressed children's cognition becomes specialized to solve problems in fitness-enhancing ways. The goal of this study was to examine associations between early environmental harshness and…

This study investigates the direct and/or indirect effects of some cognitive (working memory capacity) and affective (writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy) variables on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of second language (L2) learners' writings. To achieve this goal, 232 upper-intermediate English learners performed an automated…

The purpose of this study was twofold: to create a measure of morphological awareness with college students and to examine effects of morphological awareness on literacy abilities. Three morphological awareness measures, and spelling, word reading, and sentence comprehension tasks were administered to 214 undergraduate college students. Item…

This study explored the relationships among language proficiency, two selected test-taker characteristics (i.e., topical knowledge and anxiety), and integrated speaking test performance. Data collection capitalized on three sets of instruments: three integrated tasks derived from TOEFL-iBT preparation materials, the state anxiety inventory created…

The present longitudinal study examined the cross-lagged relations between parental causal attributions of children's math success to children's ability, parental help, children's math performance and task persistence. A total of 735 children, their mothers, fathers and teachers were assessed twice--at the end of the second and the third grades.…

A study was conducted on the involvement of visuospatial working memory (VSWM) in intuitive geometry and in school performance in geometry at secondary school. A total of 166 pupils were administered: (1) six VSWM tasks, comprising simple storage and complex span tasks; and (2) the intuitive geometry task devised by Dehaene, Izard, Pica, and…

This study assessed 562 four-year-old children at the beginning and end of their prekindergarten (pre-k) year and followed them to the end of kindergarten. At each time point children were assessed on 6 measures of executive function (EF) and 5 subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson III academic achievement battery. Exploratory factor analyses yielded…

Associations between young children's developing theory of mind (ToM) and judgments of prototypical moral transgressions were examined 3 times across 1 year in 70 American middle class 2.5- to 4-year-olds. Separate path models controlling for cross-time stability in judgments, within-time associations, and children's age at Wave 1 indicated that…

Research Findings: Several recent studies carried out in the United States and abroad (i.e., Asia and Europe) have demonstrated that the ability of young children to regulate their behavior (including inhibitory control, working memory, attentional control) significantly predicts their academic achievement. The current study examined the…