Describes a woman who maintained high cognitive test scores until her death at 101 years of age despite anatomical evidence of Alzheimer's disease. The woman was part of a larger "Nun Study" in which 678 sisters donated their brains to teach others about the etiology of aging and Alzheimer's disease. Findings are discussed. (RJM)

Conducted a trivariate genetic analysis of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), Mental Development Index (MDI), and Task Orientation (TO). Found that for 101 nonadoptive and 92 adoptive sibling pairs at 12 and 24 months of age, TO explained the remaining genetic variance on the HOME not explained by the MDI. (MDM)

Reviews key assumptions of two contextualist theories (constructivism and interactionism), examines the theories' claims, and offers suggestions as to how a sociological analysis of human development can remedy some of the major theoretical failings while building on the basic strengths. Also discusses how a critical contextualism might help…

A review of groundbreaking studies in child development by Piaget, Vygotsky, Baillargeon, Premack, and Woodruff suggests that the ideal learning environment would need to have developmentally appropriate and challenging activities; nurturing experts; plenty of social interaction; and opportunities for problem solving, thoughtful reflection, and…

A study investigated the ability of six individuals with mental retardation to focus on task-relevant elements of complex visual arrays and increased visual-search efficiency. Results found participants were able to limit attention to the task-relevant items on a guided search task, thus greatly reducing overall target identification times.…

Discusses how friendships are transformed from equality-based exchange relationships during early childhood into need-based communal relationships during adolescence. Builds upon thesis that developmental changes in friendships can best be understood using both deep- and surface- structure levels of analysis. Examines cognitive representations of…

Used hypothetical vignettes to examine 384 preadolescents' understanding of gossip in varying circumstances. Found that children correctly labeled talk about nonpresent others as gossip and considered it inappropriate. Skepticism was higher for gossip than for firsthand information and was greatest with cues suggesting that speakers were…

Three studies examined the age at which children start to use external symbols to aid their memory and how external symbol use affects both memory performance and information allocation strategies. Findings with children in grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 suggest that in mid-childhood, children begin to distribute information actively between internal and…

Investigated development of face-to-face communication in infants between 1 and 14 weeks old and their mothers. Found a curvilinear development of early face-to-face communication, with increases occurring between weeks 4 and 9. When placed on a sofa, infants' face-to-face communication was longer than when they were held. Girls spent a longer…

Describes the kinds of literacy knowledge ("knowing in doing") preschool children may express during play. Provides evidence of literacy understanding, strategies, and skills as children negotiate routines, roles, and rules in play. Discusses how literacy in play differs from the literacy learning later demanded in school, and includes…

Five experiments used a categorization habituation-of-looking paradigm to investigate infants' categorization of animals and vehicles based on static versus dynamic attributes of stimuli (color images versus dynamic point-light displays). Findings showed that 6-month-olds categorize animals and vehicles based on static and dynamic information, and…

Semantic or vocabulary errors were measured among 6 children with autism and mild learning disability (ages 7-8) and 6 with mild learning disability. Vocabulary errors were similar, except under extension, which was not used by children with autism. Children with autism tended to use all mechanisms in order to name something. (Contains…

Examines whether an individual's linguistic knowledge, either as a speaker of a particular language or as a bilingual, influences theory of mind development. Three- and four-year-old English monolinguals, Mandarin Chinese monolinguals, and Mandarin-English bilinguals were given appearance-reality, perspective-taking, and false-belief tasks.…

Clarifies features of Smith et al.'s attentional learning account of object naming, arguing that Booth and Waxman's findings address tenets not in the attentional learning account while not addressing one of the central tenets of the attentional learning account. Suggests that the debate about the nature of children's language and cognition would…

Responds to Smith et al.'s work on relations between perceptual, conceptual, and linguistic knowledge in early word learning and discusses treatment of evidence. Asserts that Smith et al.'s commentary fails to engage data presented and their implications. Asserts that learners seamlessly integrate perceptual, linguistic, and conceptual information…