Aspects considered include cognitive and social development, the preschool prediction of learning disabilities, patterns of environmental processes in learning disabilities and mental retardation, environmental disadvantages, and biological determinants. (Author/DLS)

The author's response to H. Reed's paper (EC 115 148) on the nature of the relationship between biological defects and educational aptitude and achievement discusses, from the viewpoint of a physician, the issues of relevance, test validity, and cooperation and understanding between neuropsychologists and special educators. (For other responses…

Examined children's beliefs about the origins of gender differences and age-related changes in these beliefs. Findings suggested that young children may have an early bias to view gender categories as predictive of essential, underlying similarities between members but later come to acknowledge the role of other causal mechanisms in shaping how…

Compares different views of the role of sexual reproduction concerning the survival and evolution of species. Discusses the benefits and disadvantages of thelytoky, one nontraditional method of reproduction. (CW)

Sibling differences in family processes, such as parental monitoring, and in individual adjustment were examined for 133 pairs of 10- to 18-year-old siblings in divorced families. Found that siblings who lived apart after their parents' divorce differed more than siblings who lived together. (MDM)

Historical discussions of the euthanasia or "lethal chamber" option in relation to people with mental retardation are presented. The paper concludes that eugenic beliefs in the primacy of heredity over environment and the positive role of natural selection may have condoned the poor conditions characteristic of large, segregated institutions and…

Considers eight models for the study of pubertal change that explore possible links between hormones and negative affective experiences, such as depression and aggression. Notes that hormonal effects, though small, have demonstrated stability and have interacted with psychological and social factors, implicating hormonal changes in the development…

The futility of the debate between heredity and environment as determinants of intelligence is argued, with convictions inspired by C. Burt's work (apart from the question of fraud in his work). It is contended that the influence of this misconceived ideological disagreement is apparent in today's educational systems. (SLD)

Comments on Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper's article in this issue. Discusses the claim for a connection of stressful childhood environments and early pubertal maturation. Argues that early puberty need not imply a shift from a "quality" toward a "quantity" reproductive strategy and that nonevolutionary factors can account for…

Summarizes research findings that challenge long-standing theories of infant cognition and motor development and proposes alternative theoretical models to describe skill acquisition during the first several years of life. Findings are discussed with respect to research in the area of infant speech physiology and production. (Author/CR)

Describes a biological and cultural framework that examines species-specific and culture-specific characteristics for the development of human emotions with evidence from Korea, China, and the United States. Discusses how emotions fall into broad families and dimensions across cultures, with both commonalities and differences. Notes that…

This article discusses risk factors that influence the development of educational problems in children and protective factors that foster resilience. It reviews three aspects of risk and protective factors: early in-child signs, families, and schools. The effect of instructional programs, curriculum, and teachers' perceptions and expectations are…

We have used a genetically tractable model system, the fruit fly "Drosophila melanogaster" to study the interdependence between sensory processing and associative processing on learning performance. We investigated the influence of variations in the physical and predictive properties of color stimuli in several different operant-conditioning…

Many studies of the neural mechanisms of learning have focused on habituation, a simple form of learning in which a response decrements with repeated stimulation. In the siphon-elicited siphon withdrawal reflex (S-SWR) of the marine mollusk "Aplysia," the prevailing view is that homosynaptic depression of primary sensory afferents underlies…

This volume provides an informed and accessible overview of the whole area of children's thinking. The book reviews children's thinking in detail by discussing the ways children remember and organize information in general; the acquisition of skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the development of more complex reasoning as children…