Problem solving is an important cognitive skill that children use to plan and navigate various developmental and social tasks. Although previous research was theory-grounded and systematic, to our knowledge, no research has observed and documented children's problem solving as a primary objective in naturalistic developmental contexts, such as…

This study proposes a family psychobiosocial model on gender differences in cognitive development. Specifically, the aim is to investigate how family biological, socioeconomic, and psychological factors predict child mathematics achievement (MAch) development. The data were obtained from the Millennium Cohort Study. Children's pattern construction…

Between 6 and 9 years of age, children's free associations shift from syntagmatic to paradigmatic relationships. "Syntagmatic relations" are words that are syntactically adjacent, thematically related ("summer-vacation"), or both; "paradigmatic relations" are words from the same grammatical class, taxonomic category…

Measurement of early childhood development at the population level has traditionally been neglected in Latin America. In this context, Uruguay stands out for having two population-based protocols: the Nutrition, Child Development and Health Survey (ENDIS), a home survey, and the School Readiness - Child Development Inventory (INDI). This paper…

Inconsistent findings regarding sex differences in cognition have been found in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study evaluated sex differences in cognitive-developmental functioning in a large clinical sample of young children diagnosed with ASD. The sample included children 18-68 months of age who received the Mullen Scales of…

This study examined the relationship between young children's cognitive development and fathers' engagement in early childhood. The study examined fathers' home engagement patterns based on literacy, play, and caregiving activities when their children were 9-month-old and these patterns of engagement in 9-month-old were related to children's…

This study explores the influence of kindergarten care on the social and cognitive development of Saudi Arabian and international students in early childhood education in Saudi Arabia. A mixed-methods approach assessed the development of 302 children, aged between 5 years and 11 months to 7 years, and their mothers in Saudi Arabia's Eastern…

The author discusses gender differences in children's play and its relation to the programs of "Sesame Street," which for fifty years has sought to enhance children's physical, cognitive, and social development through playful learning. Gender differences in children's play, she asserts, are vast, and she notes that, consequently, boys…

A good deal of research purports that bilingualism has a positive effect on some aspects of cognitive functioning. However, this effect is not consistent, and little research examines trajectories of cognitive skill development in bilingual children. Moreover, it remains unclear whether different types of bilingualism impact how cognitive…

Objective: The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence -- Fourth Edition Australian and New Zealand Standardised Edition (WPPSI-IV[superscript A&NZ]) is one of the most widely used intelligence assessments for children aged 2 years 6 months to 7 years 7 months. Given the impact of clinical and placement decisions that are…

Empathic responding--the capacity to understand, resonate with, and respond sensitively to others' emotional experiences--is a complex human faculty that calls upon multiple social, emotional, and cognitive capacities and their underlying neural systems. Emerging evidence in adults has suggested that the hippocampus and its associated network may…

Neurological soft signs (NSSs), minor neurological abnormalities, have been implicated as risk factors for poor cognitive performance in small-scale studies. Here we investigate the associations between NSSs and multiple domains of cognitive performance in a large, population-based cohort and evaluate sex differences in these associations. We…

This study investigated the prospective relationship between preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) skills and academic school readiness, while exploring the possible moderator role played by child gender. The participants were 75 children who were assessed at two time points: when enrolled in the second preschool year (T1) and again 4 months before…

Play is a powerful influence on children's learning and parents can provide opportunities to learn specific content by scaffolding children's play. Parent-child synchrony (i.e., harmony, reciprocity and responsiveness in interactions) is a component of parent-child interactions that is not well characterized in studies of play. We tested whether…

Background: Only a handful of longitudinal studies have explored the effects of both parents in early parenthood on children's cognitive development, and no study has controlled for simultaneous early childhood education and care (ECEC) experiences. Aims: To examine the similarity of each parent's cognitive guidance and contribution to children's…