Reorientation tasks, in which disoriented participants attempt to relocate objects using different visual cues, have previously been understood to depend on representing aspects of the global organisation of the space, for example its major axis for judgements based on geometry. Careful analysis of the visual information available for these tasks…

Three experiments tested 21- and 27-month olds' ability to construct a path to a mentally re-presented goal. After seeing the goal-state configuration of problems, both age groups evinced planning. Demonstration of initial solution step was less effective than goal-state exposure. Even with specification of a greater proportion of the goal path,…

Outerdirectedness has been defined by first author and his colleagues as a style of problem solving characterized by reliance on concrete situational cues rather than by active attempts to deduce abstract relationships. (Authors/MB)

A modified elicited imitation task was used to examine the development of the ability to resist and overcome interference in the 2nd and 3rd years of life. In the modified task, distractor props were included in the test array, so that children could imitate the modeled sequence but could also produce actions with the additional props provided,…

Research using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) showed that young children are usually able to sort accurately by an initial rule but are unable to switch to a new rule when the two rules conflict. In 2 experiments, the DCCS was modified to study the effects of feedback on 3- to 5-year-old children in a problem-solving task. In Experiment…

Young children's responses to a velocity inference task based on static pictorial stimuli giving cues of proximity and ratio were examined. Subjects (N=65) in preschool through second grade viewed pictures of snails moving horizontally or spiders suspended vertically and were asked to estimate which competitor would reach its destination first.…

The purpose of this study was to examine young Children's tendencies to be task or socially oriented in an experimental situation. On the basis of past research, two independent variables were chosen: field dependence-independence and sex. It was expected that field-dependent subjects and girls would tend to be more socially oriented, while…

Field-tested with 400 elementary school students, this curriculum focuses on developing the cognitive skills behind appropriate social behavior rather than teaching children a set of specific behaviors to enact. Along with a thorough overview, teachers will get 66 activity-based lessons on social skills, organized around topics that build on each…

Investigates the effect of intensive instruction in cue attendance upon the ability of preservice elementary science methods students to solve paper-and-pencil reasoning tests that require a form of formal operation thought. (Author/HM)