Cognitive control shows two main developmental trends: greater self-directedness (i.e., children need less external scaffolding) and greater proactiveness (i.e., children increasingly anticipate and prepare for upcoming cognitive demands). The present study examined potential links between these major developmental transitions. Specifically, it…

Background/purpose: This study investigates the probabilistic thinking process in solving probability problems by prospective mathematics teachers with a field-independent cognitive style. The objective is to explore how individuals with this cognitive style approach problem-solving based on the three stages of Polya's framework: understanding the…

This case study used individual interviews to investigate graduate students' sensemaking in upper-level electrostatics in the context of problems that can be efficiently solved for the electric potential using Laplace's equation. Although there are many technical mathematical issues involved in solving Laplace's equation, the focus of this…

Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) may reduce levels of intolerance to certainty (IT) and increase levels of cognitive flexibility (CF) by introducing the individual to situations that create uncertainty and reward cognitive flexibility. This study used a two-group design, where one group featured a 3-day backpacking trip, and one was devoid of any…

We conducted a quantitative longitudinal examination of the cognitive development of 186 counselors-in-training (CITs) across their training programs. Findings indicate a general developmental trajectory, with most change occurring between completion of practicum and end of program. There were key differences in trajectories between clinical…

Prior research suggests a link between curiosity and metacognition, but how curiosity is involved in two key metacognitive processes -- metacognitive monitoring (i.e., assessing one's cognitive states and performance) and metacognitive control (i.e., adjusting decisions and behaviors) -- remains unclear. In three experiments (N = 264) participants…

Some philosophers argue that reflection is key to rational thinking. By tying reflective thinking to language, they struggle to account for minimally verbal infants and exclude nonhuman animals. This study assessed processing of undermining defeaters--a basic form of reflective thinking--in 36 two-year-old British children (13 female; M[subscript…

Prioritizing what information to learn based on value is a critical developmental skill. Across two studies, value-based memory was assessed predominately in White children aged 6- to 7-years-old and 9- to 10-years-old using a nationwide sample collected between 2020 and 2023. Children learned cue-target associations worth varying point values.…

Successful action anticipation in dynamic social environments, such as sports, requires the integration of prior expectations with observed kinematic cues. However, little is known about how temporal constraints modulate this integration process. In this EEG study, thirty-five expert basketball players completed a sport-specific prediction task in…

Students in a spins-first quantum mechanics course often have difficulties transitioning from spin systems to continuous systems like the infinite square well. Our study investigates how students understand discrete and continuous quantities in quantum mechanics and the connections the students make between them. We interviewed six students who…

Cognizance, or the self-awareness individuals have of their cognitive processes, is a critical factor in adult learning and literacy, which are fundamental for personal and social development. This study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the instrument used and investigate how cognizance affects the academic achievement of new…

Visual attention develops rapidly across the first postnatal year, from reflexive eye movements driven by low-level stimulus properties to increasingly voluntary eye movements influenced by higher-order factors. To test the hypothesis that development reflects guidance by increasingly abstract features, we used representational similarity analysis…

Professional vision (PV) enables teachers to act competently in classrooms through cognitive processes of noticing, reasoning, and generating alternatives of action. Expert features of applying concepts, focusing on students, drawing inferences, and taking multiple perspectives are also considered a part of PV. PV can be fostered with video-based…

Interpersonal synchronization between infants and parents emerges early in life and serves as a critical foundation for the development of cognitive, social, and communicative abilities. Traditionally, researchers have assessed this synchrony using composite scores that capture the overall degree of reciprocal, coordinated interaction within a…

Schools too often undermine creativity, said Ken Robinson, an educationalist who has changed thinking on schools. In his famous TEDtalk "Do schools kill creativity?," he argues that the undermining of creativity results from being too focused on children's heads rather than on their bodies. In line with Robinson's observation, music…