Four-, six, and eight-month-old infants' perception of the multimodal features of the human face was investigated. Results show that speech-related exaggerated prosody cues facilitate detection of the audible features of multimodally represented faces, but not until six months of age. (Author/DR)

The term ecological self describes connections with and attitudes toward the natural environment. A young child has a unique way of knowing and experiencing the natural world that is different from adults. Frequent and positive experiences in the out-of-doors during childhood promote a positive attitude toward nature. (AMC)

Advocates an environmentally congruent conception of child development and includes Montessori theory as part of a biocentric view where child development connects to the laws of nature. Explains orientations to the world informing development of a biocentric vision of childhood: mastery, immersion, and engagement. Discusses how mastery and…

This study examined the relationship of crossing the midline while reaching for objects to the development of bimanual reaching among infants ages 12, 18, and 26 weeks. Findings indicated that the frequency of two-hand grabbing and the number of midline reaches increased with age; most midline reaches were part of two-handed reaches and occurred…

This study of six infants (three with blindness, three sighted) identified an underlying sequence in the development of crawling, with the ability to reach for an object and to move to or from the sitting position being the two most critical precursors to the actual execution of crawling. Infants with blindness had a lower frequency of activity…

Examines how and when spelling begins when a group of Finnish kindergartners were provided guided and meaningful literacy opportunities. Demonstrates a substantial growth in children's spelling: some spelled almost all dictated words correctly, most used invented spelling, and only one child used random letter strings for a few words. Notes that…

Articulates Kohlberg's position that moral understanding and moral reasoning provide motivation for moral action, contrasting it with traditional conceptions of motivation. (Author/BB)

Analyzed relevant works of Chaucer, More, Locke, Shakespeare, Bayly, Milton, Prior, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Hazlitt, and Dickens for their imagery of youth and adolescence. Concluded that way youth are depicted in these works remained remarkably stable over time. Main theme of adolescence throughout these works is that it is time of turbulence,…

The phonological systems of 40 functional misarticulators, ages 40-80 months, were examined in terms of the nature and variation of phonetic inventories and phonotactic constraints. Evidence suggests that these properties of disordered systems represent delays in the normal acquisition process and are not otherwise deviant. (Author/JDD)

Testing of the similar structure hypothesis (which states that when matched for level of cognitive development, mentally retarded and nonretarded individuals do not differ in cognitive processes) with 40 mentally retarded adults and nonretarded mental age peers on Piagetian tasks found the developmental theory favored 4:1 over the difference…

Applies Erikson's life cycle conception of ego integrity versus despair in old age to three octogenarian women: Augusta Turnley (fiction), Florida Scott-Maxwell, and Arie Carpenter. Both dialectical struggle in Erikson's model of old age and specific components of ego integrity, despair, and wisdom are made concrete in theoretical exploration of…

Investigates whole body stiffness as a function of developmental level in the hopping of seven children of four-eight years. Proposes that stiffness may be a key parameter that is controlled by the central nervous system when children hop. (RJC)

Used physical systems with effects of continuous magnitude to examine development of causal prediction in 30 children of 5 and 9 years and adults. There were clear age differences in the ability to integrate information about potency and resistance into sophisticated causal predictions of the magnitude of an effect. (RJC)

Two experiments demonstrated that by the age of four years, children can use the difference between an object's initial and final state to work out what happens to an object when it changes. In contrast, three-year-old children have difficulty in using the difference between initial and final states to make a causal inference. (RH)

Used the Piagetian interview and observation to investigate the understanding of death of 378 children of 2-10 years. Results showed that most children revealed a well-structured understanding of death at 4-5 years. (RJC)