Data from the application of word reading, letter recognition, memory and classification tasks to preschool children suggest that word learning ability is more closely tied to cognitive development than is alphabet knowledge and that reading readiness assessment might profit from applying a word learning task. (MB)

Separate analyses of five-, six- and seven-factor solutions for the first 168 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory item responses from a large unselected sample of public mental health patients revealed close correspondence with the six factors derived by Overall, Hunter, and Butcher. (Author)

This study focused on the kinds of cognitive behaviors preschool and kindergarten children engage in while playing in a solitary, parallel, associative or cooperative manner. The effects of socio-economic status, developmental level, and the use of specific materials on social and cognitive levels of play are discussed. (BD)

Sensitivity to logical contradiction, as manifested by surprise reaction to the Jastrow illusion, was investigated in 30 nonretarded children, 30 educable mentally retarded (EMR) children equated for chronological age, and 30 EMR children equated for mental age. (Author)

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that coding used for recall is a dynamic process that changes in accordance with operational structures. Fifty male and female university students participated in two task sessions: (1) Formal operations and recall and (2) recall one month later. Significant correlations supported the basic…

Compares semantic uses of mental state words by children four and a half to five years old. Suggests that children's linguistic and cognitive capacities can be influenced a great deal by subtle situational factors and that the effects vary according to the child's cultural background. (AEW)

Three experiments explored the development of formal logical reasoning between Grades 4 and 12 and the role of semantic content in the solution of Wason's (1966) selection task problems. Results suggest that formal logical reasoning is not generally present during the fourth or sixth grades and that formal logical competence becomes available in…

Effects of maltreatment were examined in three domains suggested by attachment theory: relationships with novel adults, effectance motivation, and cognitive maturity. Three samples of four- to eight-year-old children were studied: 93 maltreated children, 67 demographically matched nonmaltreated childen, and 30 nonmaltreated middle-class children.

Vocal and object-directed behaviors of parents and infants were examined according to the social-construction view of development. Interactions of 66 infant-parent dyads were observed. Normative changes and stability of individual differences of joint-action variables and the relation of these variables to 30-month cognitive-development status…

The Russell C. Gordon Elementary School (Nova Scotia, Canada) offers the Enriched Students Program (ESP) for academically gifted students. ESP goals include: fostering and developing individual interests of students; initiating higher level thinking skills; strengthening task commitment; stimulating creativity; promoting leadership qualities; and…

Eighty unimpaired adults took the iconic-symbolic (I-S) subtest of the Muma Assessment Program under traditional protocols and revised instructions like those used in classic studies of classification ability. Only 18 functioned at the symbolic level as defined by the protocols; revised instructions more frequently evoked the expected symbolic…

Subjects from kindergarten-age to adult participated in four experiments. In order to view the stimuli, subjects in three experiments activated lights in viewing boxes; in the fourth experiment, stimulus fixations were measured using a corneal reflection technique. Results supported the view that visual observing is controlled by cognitive…

Multidimensional scaling analysis was used to examine a sample of adolescents' cognitive appraisals of major and daily stressful events. The desirability of events was the only major feature for the entire sample. Older adolescents also distinguished the impact of events on their lives and generality of causes of events. (Author/JAZ)

The article reviews studies which demonstrate the positive impact of peer tutoring on cognitive and affective skills of special children, considers implications for classroom programming, and discusses the use of tutoring as a learning activity for all students regardless of abilities. (Author/DB)

Considers adult cognitive growth within the social domain. Draws from Plato's writings and from current views to argue that in order to understand how the educational process is to be of use to adult learners, researchers must determine the kinds of cognitive processes most suited to the learner's stage of life. (Author/NB)