This paper presents results of an investigation exploring the experience and functionality of positive feelings and emotions in learning and teaching. The role of emotions in learning is receiving increasing attention; however, few studies have researched how university students and academics experience and perceive positive emotions. A prototype…

Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that…

This work is an attempt to give a unified theory in response to two questions. The first question arises in the philosophy of mind: what is the mechanism by which we think of objects in the world? The second is a question in the philosophy of language: what is the mechanism by which we speak of them? These are questions that some have treated…

How do teachers teach gifted students whose emotional age trails their chronological age? How can they integrate those students into their classes so that these students mature while not detracting from the learning of the other students? In this article, the author offers pieces of advice on teaching gifted students whose emotional ages trail…

This study tests a model of students' reflective thinking, perceived ideological bias among university faculty, and reactions to ideological bias in the college classroom. Participants were 187 undergraduates who completed the Reasoning About Current Issues Questionnaire and the Political Bias in the Classroom Survey. Structural equation modeling…

Being able to wait is an essential part of self-regulation. In the present study, the authors examined the developmental course of changes in the latency to and duration of target-waiting behaviors by following 65 boys and 55 girls from rural and semirural economically strained homes from ages 18 months to 48 months. Age-related changes in latency…

Part representation is not only critical to object perception but also plays a key role in a number of basic visual cognition functions, such as figure-ground segregation, allocation of attention, and memory for shapes. Yet, virtually nothing is known about the development of part representation. If parts are fundamental components of object shape…

Growth models for subtests of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, 4th edition (R. L. Thorndike, E. P. Hagen, & J. M. Sattler, 1986a, 1986b) were developed for individuals with Down syndrome. Models were based on the assessments of 208 individuals who participated in longitudinal and cross-sectional research between 1987 and 2004. Variation…

Just as the early years of a child's development create the architecture for future brain growth, early implementation of federal Part C legislation laid the groundwork for a system of supports for families of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Some aspects of the current legislation provide a sturdy foundation for sound policies and…

Timing is essential for the development of cognitive skills known to be impaired in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), such as social cognition and episodic memory abilities. Despite the proposal that timing impairments may underpin core features of ASC, few studies have examined temporal processing in ASC and they have produced conflicting…

Objective: The few studies applying single-voxel [superscript 1]H spectroscopy in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) have reported low "N"-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and high myo-inositol/phosphocreatine plus creatine (PCr+Cr) ratios in the anterior cingulate. The aim of this study…

A known contributor to adults' superior memory performance compared to children is their differential reliance on an existing knowledge base. Compared to those of adults, children's semantic networks are less accessible and less established, a difference that is also thought to contribute to children's relative resistance to semantically related…

Eye tracking offers a powerful research tool for developmental scientists. In this brief article, the author introduces the methodology and issues associated with its applications in developmental research, beginning with an overview of eye movements and eye-tracking technologies, followed by examples of how it is used to study the developing mind…

Children growing up in a dual-language environment have to constantly monitor the dynamic communicative context to determine what the speaker is trying to say and how to respond appropriately. Such self-generated efforts to monitor speakers' communicative needs may heighten children's sensitivity to, and allow them to make better use of,…

In this longitudinal study, we examined time keeping in relation to working memory (WM) development. School-aged children completed two tasks of WM updating and a time monitoring task in which they indicated the passing of time every 5 min while watching a film. Children completed these tasks first when they were 8 to 12 years old and then 4 years…