Discusses ideas from Vygotsky, Leont'ev and Bakhtin to show how fantasy play acts as its own zone of proximal development that contributes to the development of symbolic mediation, the appropriation of social roles and symbols, and the preschool child's preparation for elementary school. (JPB)

Two experiments examined the communicative bases of preschoolers' object appearance-reality (AR) errors. Found that AR performance correlated positively with performance on a control test with the same discourse structure but nondeceptive stimuli, and on a naming test. Overall findings indicated that the discourse structure of AR tests elicits a…

A study examined the basis of "theory of mind" (ToM) reasoning in 20 native signers (ages 4-8) of British Sign Language. Children and their siblings were given a measure of the quality of sibling relations. Sibling quality as perceived by siblings predicted children's ToM score over age and referential communication. (Contains…

Examined children's, adolescents', and college students' judgments of children's and adults' rights to freedom of speech and religion in societal, school, and family contexts. Found that endorsements of these freedoms were increasingly affected by social context and agent with age. College students were less likely than others to affirm children's…

Claims that mind and mental objects form a societal mental structure enabling children to assimilate the society and become co-constructing members. Cites evidence that competence to create mental objects, symbols, and meanings separated from action is the evolutionary evolved human capacity for society and culture. Vygotsky's "natural"…

Contrasts work of Leontiev and Vygotsky. Suggests that Leontiev concentrated on social activity as a whole, whereas Vygotsky made semiotic mediation through culturally developed symbols a central aspect of his analysis. Maintains that they shared a philosophical base and that Leontiev used Vygotsky's ideas as a starting point to explore human…

Explores how the discourse context of metaphorical language supports children's understanding of sociocultural norms. Classroom data are examined to determine how language, situation, and interaction assist in the interpretation of metaphorically used language. (46 references) (Author/CK)

Examined data from 408 pairs of identical, same-sex fraternal twins at 14, 20, and 24 months to assess cognitive development and to identify genetic and environmental influences on phenotypic similarity. Found various patterns of development for separate constructs, for females versus males on each construct, and for individuals across constructs.…

A study of 177 low-income children (ages 3-30 months) investigated the relationship among neglect, failure to thrive (FTT), and cognitive functioning. The cognitive performance of children who had been neglected and were FTT was significantly below that of children who had only one of the variables and typical children. (Author/CR)

Compared teaching and learning measures of 16 mother-child and sibling dyads playing a picture categorization game. Found that although siblings' teaching styles directed target children to make the correct choices, mothers provided information to help them make choices on their own, suggesting differences in how mothers and siblings interpreted…

Discusses an Instrumental Enrichment (IE) program of cognitive modification. Presents the IE program as an intensive intervention curriculum designed to enhance the capacity of the low functioning adolescent to modification as a result of exposures to new experiences. Discusses results of the intervention on a group of 7th grade students (N=93).…

Examined the relation between 3- to 5-year-olds' beliefs about the tendency for antisocial behavior to remain stable over time and their reasoning about peer interactions. Found that children who endorsed sociomoral stability beliefs were less likely than their peers to make prosocial inferences, were rated by their teachers as less likely to…

Interviews with 16 Taiwanese mothers of babies with Down syndrome found the mothers believed cognitive development was the most important benefit from parent-child interaction. Compared to other mothers, they placed relatively more emphasis on cognitive and physical benefits and outcomes of parent-child interactions than on social and academic…

Tested with adolescents and adults two predictions from Markovits and Barrouillet's developmental model of conditional reasoning related to the effects of the association between antecedent and consequent terms and the formulation of the minor premise on uncertainty responses. Found results consistent with hypotheses and indicating importance of…

This article first considers how plasticity of the brain in response to differential experience was discovered in research with laboratory rats around 1960. Animal research soon followed on effects of enriched experience as therapy for brain dysfunction. Relations between animal research and some human therapies are considered. (Contains…