bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Correlates of manipulative latency in infancy: A naturalistic study of manipulative inhibition in an interactive setting
Authors: Demetre J. D.
Published: July 2011

Experimental studies have shown that manipulative inhibition becomes differentiated with respect to stimulus novelty from the last quarter of the first year. The study described here employed this response in an effort to understand infants' processing of mothers' actions with objects in an interactive setting. The findings gave rise to two main interpretations. First, at 9 months, infants process mothers' actions with objects in terms of stimulus changes (novel information) brought about in an object previously experienced in a stationary state. Second, at 16 months, infants appear to be accommodating to the duration of the mother's manipulation of an object, and this may compensate for retrieving from memory object‐specific actions previously performed or encountered (as suggested by the temporal patterning of manipulative inhibition when the infant manipulates objects independently of the mother).
Crises in parents of prematures: An Australian study
Authors: Silcock Anne
Published: July 2011

The behaviour of 24 mothers of infants with birth weights below 1500 grams was examined relative to the four psychological ‘tasks’ which, according to Caplan et al. (1965), accompany pre‐term birth. Data gathered between birth and discharge of the infants and at ‘follow‐up’ visits permitted an investigation of the intensity of maternal experience of these tasks, of mothers' success in grappling with them and of the relationship between success in grappling and later mother‐infant relationships. Certain personal, sociological and infant variables associated with maternal behaviour were identified. Ability to cope with the crises was related to better mother‐infant relationships at one month and markedly superior ones at four months. The necessity for assisting mothers to cope with the immediate and later psychological disequilibrium is emphasized.
Developmental changes in application of the majority rule in group decisions
Authors: Mann Leon , Tan Charlotte , MacLeod‐Morgan Crisetta , Dixon Anne
Published: July 2011

This study examined age‐related changes in the child's application of the principle of majority rule in group decisions. Following a problem posed by Moessinger (1981), we enquired whether children routinely apply the majority rule when the majority consists of a shifting (variable) set of members across decisions, and alternate between majority and minority when the majority and minority is fixed, i.e. consists of the same individuals each time. In Geneva, Moessinger found that 8‐year‐olds failed to discriminate between fixed and shifting majorities, while most 13‐year‐olds (75 per cent) did so. An altered replication was conducted in Australia modifying Moessinger's procedure to control for extraneous variables such as ‘set’ and the need for variety in choice. It was found that on the task 7 per cent of 8‐year‐olds, 20 per cent of 10‐year‐olds, 32 per cent of 12‐year‐olds, and 39 per cent of 14‐year‐olds discriminated on a behavioural criterion between fixed and shifting majorities. Ten per cent of 8‐year‐olds, 40 per cent of 10‐year‐olds, 52 per cent of 12‐year‐olds, and 55 per cent of 14‐year‐olds made the discrimination on Moessinger's cognitive ‘reason’ criterion. The results show that development of the conceptual distinction between fixed and shifting majorities is gradual and continuous.
Children's use of verbal collaterals in DRL performance
Authors: Tsoi Mona M. , Nicholson John N.
Published: July 2011

This study examines the effects of a verbal collateral (counting) on a series of three differential reinforcement of low rates of response (DRL) tasks with progressively longer interresponse time requirements (DRL‐2, DRL‐6 and DRL‐12). Forty‐eight 10‐year‐old children, divided according to sex and conceptual tempo (fast‐inaccurate vs. slow‐accurate) participated in DRL training, half of them being instructed to count aloud between responses. Counting was found to be related to faster learning of all the tasks and to greater efficiency in obtaining reinforcement in most cases. It also eliminated differences due to sex and conceptual tempo except in DRL‐12. However, it had the disadvantage of causing inexact temporal discrimination. The results were replicated in a group of 8‐year‐old subjects performing the same tasks.
Helping behaviour and moral judgement among adolescents
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel , Nissim Roni
Published: July 2011

This study examined the development of helping behaviour and moral judgement during adolescence. Adolescents of three age groups, 12–13, 14–15 and 16–17 years, were asked to fill out a moral judgement questionnaire and were later asked to volunteer to help old people under three helping conditions: when tangible reward was promised in return for their help; when social reward was promised; and when no reward was promised. The volunteers who arrived at the appointed hour on the set date were asked by the experimenter to explain in writing why they had decided to help. The results showed that the older the adolescents, the less they expressed their willingness to help. Helping conditions had a differential effect on behaviour and influenced the three age groups differently. Finally, the results showed that the older the adolescents, the more altruistic the motives expressed and the more relativistically oriented they were. These results are explained within the framework of adolescents' social‐developmental psychology.
Professionals' negative expectations of boys from father‐headed single‐parent families: Implications for the training of child‐care professionals
Authors: Fry P. S. , Addington Jean
Published: July 2011

The study explored the possibility that individuals' assessment of children's personality and behavioural functioning may reflect stereotypic perceptions involving more negative expectations of boys from father‐headed as opposed to mother‐headed single‐parent families. These hypotheses were based upon the assumptions of the pre‐emincnce of the maternal role in the parent‐child relation. The objective was to determine whether stereotypic perceptions, if any, prevail equally or differentially among laypersons and trained professionals such as teachers and social workers. Consistent with the hypotheses, the findings showed that both laypersons and professionals had more negative expectations of boys from father‐ as opposed to mother‐custody homes. Comparison of laypersons with the professional group of teachers and social workers combined showed no significant differences between the perceptions of these two groups of respondents. The teachers, however, had significantly fewer stereotypic negative perceptions of boys from father‐headed families than laypersons and social workers. The implications of the findings are discussed for the welfare of the children and their single parents, and the training of professionals.
Early social games and the acquisition of language
Authors: Camaioni Luigia , Laicardi Caterina
Published: July 2011

The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to analyse developmental changes in the social games played by mothers and children during normal home activities; (b) to examine how mother's linguistic production during game episodes could be related to the child's pattern of language acquisition.

Three mother‐child dyads were followed longitudinally for a 12‐month period starting when the children were 6 months old. Thirty‐minute observation sessions were carried out one in 20 days on average during a free‐play situation in the family environment. Videotapes were segmented into interaction episodes defined as games, and a distinction was made between conventional and non‐conventional games. Results were analysed in terms of both developmental changes and individual differences in characteristics of play behaviour. In all dyads, conventional games increased in significant linear fashion between 6 and 12 months of age and children became increasingly able to play an active role in them. The three dyads also showed consistent differences in some aspects of play behaviour as well as in mothers' style of linguistic production during game episodes and in children's rate of language acquisition. The role of early conventional games in assisting the child's transition to language is discussed.
Pictures for the blind: An investigation of the influence of pictures on recall of text by blind children
Authors: Pring L. , Rusted J.
Published: July 2011

The study investigated the extent to which two groups of blind children were able to use tactual picture information to improve memory performance for auditorily presented texts. Adventitiously blind children demonstrated significant increases in amount recalled with illustrated presentation, showing improved recall of information represented in both the text and the picture. For congenitally blind children, the pictures also produced increased recall of pictorial information, but this was at the expense of recall of non‐pictorial information represented in the text only.
Are young children's judgements of liquid inequality rule guided or stimulus driven?
Authors: McShane John , Morrison David L.
Published: July 2011

Previous research has indicated that children below the age of 4 years are more likely to judge liquid quantity on the basis of the relative fullness of two containers than on the heights of the liquid columns. Two experiments are reported that investigated this phenomenon further in the context of judgements of liquid inequality. When relative fullness information was available children below the age of 4 years performed significantly better than children above that age. An explanation that young children use a relative fullness rule is contrasted with an explanation based on stimulus salience. It is argued that young children do not use a single strategy but rather that their judgements are determined by salient stimulus dimensions.
Father absence, perceived family characteristics and stage of drug use in adolescence
Authors: Brook Judith S. , Whiteman Martin , Gordon Ann Scovell
Published: July 2011

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the interplay of paternal absence and family characteristics and its association with the adolescent's stage of drug use. Five hundred white male and female high school students participated in the study. Results indicated that youngsters from father‐absent homes are more likely to report higher stages of drug use than are those from father‐present homes. In addition, the findings supported a mediational model in which the absence of the father seems to influence parents' behaviour towards the child and towards each other, which in turn results in the youngster's being at a higher stage of drug use.
Do young children understand comparatives?
Authors: Bishop Dorothy , Bourne Elizabeth
Published: July 2011

Several studies have demonstrated good understanding of comparatives by 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds. We suggest that this result is artifactual and arises because testers have used tasks where the child can successfully respond to sentences such as ‘the A is bigger than the B’ simply by understanding ‘the A is big’. We tested 80 children aged from 4 to 7 years using a task where the child could not succeed simply by responding to the first half of the sentence, and found that the majority of 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds did not understand comparatives. Children's errors were not random but showed that they used two basic strategies to interpret sentences: a non‐linguistic strategy of selecting the largest objects, and a linguistic strategy of assigning the adjective to the first noun. It is not until 6 or 7 years of age that most children reliably respond correctly to comparatives. Even this may be an overestimate of understanding, since children of this age are quite unable to appreciate that a comparative construction using a nonsense adjective implies a contrast between the two nouns, although they can handle simpler sentences using nonsense adjectives quite adequately.
The development of cueing strategies in young children
Authors: Whittaker Stephen , McShane John , Dunn Dorothy
Published: July 2011

This study investigated the nature of cueing behaviours in 3‐, 6‐ and 9‐year‐old children in a spatial memory task. Although few subjects spontaneously generated the target strategy, it was found that they could be induced to do so, following prompting. The second part of the study probed children's understanding of cueing behaviour. It was found that 3‐year‐olds could be induced to produce appropriate cueing behaviours without understanding their implications. Older children, in contrast, understood the principles underlying cueing, but sometimes failed to produce cueing strategies spontaneously. The implications of these results for theories of the development of memory strategies are discussed.
Young children's causal attributions and performance expectations on skilled tasks
Authors: Nesdale A. R. , Pope S.
Published: July 2011

This study examined 4‐ and 7‐year‐old children's causal attributions of their successes and failures on skilled tasks and their performance expectations on subsequent tasks. The children either consistently succeeded (S‐S) or failed (F‐F), or experienced success followed by failure (S‐F) or failure followed by success (F‐S), on two tasks. The results indicated that both age groups perceived the ease or difficulty of the task as the main cause of their success or failure, respectively. In addition, expectations were systematically related to success and failure and appeared to be mediated by their causal attributions.
Movement perception and identity constancy in the new‐born baby
Authors: Slater Alan , Morison Victoria , Town Carole , Rose David
Published: July 2011

Five experiments using the visual preference method (Expt 1) and an infant‐controlled habituation procedure (Expts 2–5) are described. Their aim was to examine the salience of movement, both rotation and translation, as a stimulus for new‐borns, and to investigate under what conditions information about shape can be extracted from stationary and moving stimuli. A moving stimulus, whether rotating or translating, was found to be consistently preferred to an identical stationary stimulus (Expt 1). Following habituation to one direction of rotation, no novelty preferences were found for the other direction of rotation (Expt 2); this suggests that clockwise and anticlockwise movements may be comparable for the new‐born.

The other experiments suggest that new‐borns can extract shape information from stationary and moving stimuli, and can transfer what is learned to moving and to stationary stimuli (Expts 3 and 5). This transfer occurred when (a) the spatiotemporal changes caused by stimulus rotation were the same from habituation to post‐criterion trials (Expt 3), and (b) orientation did not change (due to the use of translation movement) across conditions (Expt 5). There was no evidence that new‐borns could transfer learning from stationary to rotating stimuli or vice versa (Expt 4).

This demonstrates that new‐borns can perceive a similarity between a stimulus when moving and when stationary, and suggests a degree of visual organization that is not usually attributed to the new‐born: Expt 5 in particular suggests that the perceptual potential for identity constancy is present from birth.
Adjustment of means‐ends coordination and the representation of spatial relations in the production of search errors by infants
Authors: Willatts Peter
Published: July 2011

Three experiments are reported that examined infants' ability to use supports to retrieve objects that were visible or invisible, and covered or uncovered. Experiment 1* failed to confirm Frye's (1980) hypothesis that infants in Piaget's Stage 4 make search errors because they cannot adapt means‐ends coordinations. Infants given a search task made errors, but infants presented with an uncovered toy on a support adapted to a change of support with few errors. Experiment 2 showed that infants did make errors with supports if the toy was under an opaque cover, and an explanation was sought in Butterworth's (1977) claim that errors are produced by covering the toy, regardless of its visibility. Experiment 3 confirmed this proposal by showing that errors still occurred on the support task if the toy was under a transparent cover. These results replicated Butterworth's findings, and are interpreted as supporting his code conflict hypothesis. In particular, it is argued that certain features of the no‐cover support task help infants to coordinate egocentric and allocentric spatial codes and thus to avoid making errors.
Hand‐eye coordination and infants' construction of convexity and concavity
Authors: Bonniec G. Piéraut‐Le
Published: July 2011

This study examined the development of visuo‐motor coordination with respect to flatness and to concavity/convexity. The results showed that infants do not reach for objects with their hands differentially according to their concavity /convexity until well after they are able to distinguish these characteristics visually. Younger babies did not begin to adjust the shape of their hands prior to touching stimulus surfaces. By 10 months all the children modified their hand shape appropriately to the surface shape prior to contacting it. Convex objects were approached adaptively earlier in development than concave objects. During the 6–9 months period, the establishment of coordination between visual and haptic perception enabled the latter to supply the former with significant information.
Emotional behaviour during the learning of a contingency in early infancy
Authors: Lewis Michael , Sullivan Margaret Wolan , Brooks‐Gunn Jeanne
Published: July 2011

Sixty infants divided equally among three age groups (10, 16 and 24 weeks) participated in a contingency learning task. After an initial baseline period, half of the subjects received an audio‐visual stimulus contingent upon arm movement while the remaining infants, matched for age and sex, served as a control group. Session length was controlled by the infant and served as an index of task involvement. Amount of visual fixation per minute, fussing and frequency of smiling were also examined. There were consistent condition effects for each of the arm movement measures analysed but age and age × condition effects were obtained only for average rate and peak rate of response. With respect to affective measures, subjects in the contingent condition spent more time in the experiment irrespective of age and fussed proportionally less compared with control subjects. These subjects at 16 and 24 weeks also smiled more than non‐contingent controls at the same ages, although the overall rate of smiling was low.
Infants' block banging at midline: Evidence for Gesell's principle of ‘reciprocal interweaving’ in development
Authors: Ramsay Douglas S.
Published: July 2011

Infants' ability to bang two blocks together at midline was assessed at weekly intervals for the 14‐week period following the onset of duplicated syllable babbling. Block banging was first observed in some infants a few weeks after babbling onset and became frequent by 7–10 weeks after this onset. A previous study reported that the unimanual hand preference for manipulation and/or banging shown by these infants underwent two fluctuations during this period with troughs on average four and again eight weeks after babbling onset. Inspection of the data for individual infants suggested that block banging emerged or became frequent with the resolution of the first fluctuation in unimanual handedness. This relation implicates a process like Gesell's ‘reciprocal interweaving’ in the development of hemispheric specialization for motoric control—specifically, the development of the dominant hemisphere's control over the non‐preferred hand.
Children's reciprocal altruism in a competitive game
Authors: Fishbein Harold D. , Kaminski Nancy K.
Published: July 2011

Groups of 6‐, 8‐ and 11‐year‐old children were tested in a competitive game situation under one of two treatment conditions—their confederate/opponents always voluntarily helped them, or their confederate/opponents were compelled always to help them. At the end of the game playing, children were questioned about the confederate's motivation for helping them. On the measures of reciprocity—percentage help returned to confederates, and number of games confederates were allowed to win—children showed greater reciprocity under the voluntary than compulsory conditions. There were no age affects, nor age × treatment condition interactions. Perceived motivation varied with both age of children and treatment condition, forming a different pattern of results than that for the reciprocity behaviour. It was concluded that the context in which help was received significantly affected children's reciprocal altruism, but that perceived motivation had independent effects.
Change in the reading attainment of adults: A longitudinal study
Authors: Rodgers Bryan
Published: July 2011

Little is known of the changes in reading attainment that take place after the years of compulsory education and yet this is an important aspect of intellectual development which has implications for adult literacy provision. Longitudinal studies of cognitive behaviour have demonstrated that improvements in performance can take place until late adulthood and, further, that some individuals show greater gains than others. Recent surveys of adult literacy students have indicated that certain sections of the population are particularly motivated to seek advancement in respect of their reading skills.

Results from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development show a substantial improvement in reading attainment between the ages of 15 and 26, including a fall in the percentage of very poor readers. Appreciable normative change took place over this interval and this relative movement was associated with several features of individual life‐histories, including further education, employment, health and family background. These findings reinforce the contention that early adulthood is not a period of intellectual stagnation and that development during this period is influenced by many events and circumstances.
Children's comprehension of expressions of intention
Authors: Astington Janet W.
Published: July 2011

The concept of intention is central to human cognition and the expression of intention in language is a vital part of human communication. This study examined children's comprehension of some expressions of intention by determining their ability to choose from sets of pictures the ones that illustrated sentences which included expressions of intention. Two types of expression were used: expressions in the present tense marking prior intentions (type A) and expressions in the past tense marking the intentional or unintentional nature of an action (type B). Children were tested at four age levels: 4, 5, 7 and 9 years. It was found that understanding improved markedly between the ages of 4 and 9. The 4‐year‐olds appeared to disregard the expressions of intention, whereas the 9‐year‐olds understood most of them.
Developmental changes in judgements of relative strategy effectiveness
Authors: Justice Elaine M.
Published: July 2011

Developmental changes in awareness of the relative benefits of four memory strategies were examined. Preschool, kindergarten and second‐grade children made paired‐comparison judgements of the mnemonic benefits of looking, naming, rehearsal and categorization in a free‐recall task using categorizable materials. Measures of spontaneous strategy use and strategy imitation were also obtained. Preschoolers judged looking as significantly more effective than the other three strategies. The kindergartners showed no significant preference, while second graders judged rehearsal and categorization as significantly more effective than looking or naming. Preschoolers and kindergartners named to‐be‐remembered items, while most second graders used a grouping strategy. Significant relationships between strategic awareness and strategic behaviour were found across ages; however, correlations were not significant when the effect of age was removed. Thus, coordination between strategic knowledge and strategic behaviour appears to result from increases in both strategic awareness and the ease with which more effective strategies can be executed.
Detour behaviour in young human infants
Authors: McKenzie B. E. , Bigelow E.
Published: July 2011

The ability of infants, who have recently become mobile, to select an open path to a goal was studied in two experiments. In Expt 1 48 infants aged 10, 12 and 14 months were required to find their mother who was located behind either a transparent or an opaque barrier. Transparency of the barrier did not influence the efficiency of the detour paths. Infants aged 14 months followed a more efficient path than younger infants. Change in the barrier position disrupted detour behaviour in the two younger groups. A similar disruption was found in 10‐month‐old infants in Expt 2 after only one trial prior to relocation of the barrier. It was concluded that infants in their first year do not readily modify their locomotor response according to changed spatial relationships between the barrier and the goal. More flexible way finding develops early in the second year.
Vision‐to‐touch and touch‐to‐vision transfer of form in 5‐month‐old infants
Authors: Streri Arlette , Pêcheux Marie‐Germaine
Published: July 2011

We investigated 5‐month‐old infants' cross‐modal transfer of form from vision to touch and from touch to vision. In the first experiment, 32 infants were familiarized with an object visually or tactually (in the hand), until a habituation criterion was reached, and then they received three tests in which the same or a different object appeared in the same or a different modality. The dependent variable was the duration of a look or of a grasp. If infants are capable of cross‐modal transfer they should (1) explore the familiar object presented in a new modality less than the novel object presented in the new modality, (2) remain habituated to the familiar object in the first modality after presentation of that object in the second modality, and (3) discriminate objects intra‐modally.

Cross‐modal transfer was found from vision to touch, but not from touch to vision. In an attempt to employ a different test of touch‐to‐vision transfer, a second experiment was conducted, in which 16 infants were tactually familiarized with an object and then given a visual preference test; cross‐modal transfer from touch to vision again did not occur. Tentative explanations are presented, involving the perception of modality‐specific object properties and the development of eye‐hand coordination.
Mothers' internal state language to toddlers*
Authors: Beeghly Marjorie , Bretherton Inge , Mervis Carolyn B.
Published: July 2011

Two studies are presented which describe how mothers talk about internal states with language‐learning toddlers during social interaction. In study 1, mothers' internal state language was assessed longitudinally when toddlers were 13, 20 and 28 months of age. In study 2, mothers' internal state language addressed to prelinguistic children with Down's syndrome was compared to that observed in mothers of non‐handicapped children. The non‐handicapped children were matched to the children with Down's syndrome in three groups for chronological age, mental age and level of language development. Results indicated that the quantity, complexity, content and attributional focus of mothers' internal state language was significantly affected by the following factors: children's developmental abilities, other child characteristics, differences in social context, and mothers' beliefs about their children's development. Implications of these results and future directions for research are discussed.
Relations between the non‐verbal context of maternal speech and rate of language development
Authors: Harris Margaret , Jones David , Brookes Susan , Grant Julia
Published: July 2011

This study compares maternal speech to two groups of children who showed a normal or slower rate of language development up to 24 months. Maternal speech to these children at 16 months was analysed in order to determine relations between speech and the contiguous non‐verbal context. Several differences emerged between the two groups. Mothers of children with slower language development initiated more changes in conversational topic without providing an appropriate non‐verbal context. They also made fewer references to objects which were at the child's current focus of attention and more references to objects to which the child was not attending. The children with slower language development were also presented with fewer specific object labels and more general terms such as pronouns and general nouns. Possible difficulties for the early stages of language development arising from these differences are discussed.
The use of a colouring task to elucidate children's drawings of a solid cube
Authors: Moore Vanessa
Published: July 2011

Previous accounts of young children's drawings of solid objects have relied on an inspection of finished drawings from an adult perspective. In this study, an attempt was made to determine the child's intention in making an outline drawing through the use of a subsequent colouring task, in which each colour used identified a particular segment of the object drawn (a cube). It was found that 7‐year‐olds included more hidden faces of the object in their drawings than 9‐year‐olds, but that the spatial location of faces in relation to each other was accurately preserved in the drawings of children of both ages. Although outline drawings comprising a single face produced by children in the two age groups looked identical on inspection, the younger children apparently intended such drawings to represent the whole object. Whilst none of the children produced technically perfect drawings of a cube seen in depth, their drawings nevertheless served as good communications about the nature of the object drawn.
Multivariate genetic analysis of ‘environmental’ influences on infant cognitive development
Authors: Thompson Lee Anne , Fulker David W. , DeFries J. C. , Plomin Robert
Published: July 2011

A multivariate path model of the relationship between environmental measures and measures of infant cognitive development in 183 adoptive and 165 non‐adoptive families was tested.

Environment‐development relationships are not confounded by genetic similarity between parents and their offspring in adoptive families. The structure of the genetic factors that mediate ostensibly environmental influences was assessed by comparing multivariate relationships in adoptive families with those in non‐adoptive families. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure produced a highly satisfactory fit of the model to the data. The results obtained from fitting a series of simplified models to the data indicate that environmental variables measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) have significant influences on Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI) scores, language development as assessed by the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD), and a factor from the Bayley Infant Behavior Record (IBR) termed task orientation. However, the relationships of the HOME to the MDI and SICD are mediated to a similar extent by hereditary influences.
General transferable ability: An interpretation of formal operational thinking
Authors: Smith Leslie
Published: July 2011

Inhelder & Piaget's (1955/1958) account of formal operational thinking has been interpreted as an account of general abilities which transfer on possession. An alternative interpretation is permissible. This is that the account identifies general, transferable abilities. The difference between actual and potential transfer is crucial. This interpretation is defended on theoretical grounds. Formal operational thinking is presented as a family of general abilities in three respects: the abilities are invariant to content, common to all individuals whose thinking attains the same developmental level, and powerful in a relative sense. One psychological consequence is that the process of acquiring such abilities is marked by a type of thinking consisting of the incomplete differentiation of abilities which are later integrated. Formal operational thinking is also presented as a family of abilities whose displays are subject to constraint. The analysis uses Piaget's constructivist research so as to identify six types of cognitive constraint with a relevance to formal operational thinking. One psychological consequence is that the non‐display of such thinking is taken to be due to the presence of constraint identified in Piaget's account. The preferred interpretation is, therefore, a candidate for psychological testing. Its theoretical adequacy is evaluated by its capacity to withstand psychological criticism that has been directed against the standard interpretation of Inhelder & Piaget's account.
The development of indirect search strategies
Authors: Sophian Catherine , Wellman Henry
Published: July 2011

Two experiments with 3‐ and 5‐year‐old children investigated the development of indirect search strategies. Two components of indirect search were evaluated: the acquisition of indirect search information and the utilization of that information to target further searches effectively. Even 3‐year‐olds showed some use of both components of indirect search, although they were more likely than 5‐year‐olds to search in places where previous indirect searches had indicated the target object could not be. An intriguing aspect of the results was that children were not necessarily any more efficient in their indirect searches than they would have been with a direct approach to the problem. This suggests that children actively strive to develop strategies for solving problems intelligently, even when those strategies do not produce any immediate improvement over direct or rote procedures.
The use of maps by 4–6‐year‐old children in a large‐scale maze
Authors: Blades Mark , Spencer Christopher
Published: July 2011

Previous research has demonstrated that even very young children can use simple maps to find a location. The aim of our study was to find out if young children (aged 4–6 years) could also use a map to follow a route. A large‐scale maze (25 metres long) was designed in a school playground and 120 children, divided into five age groups, were given maps of the maze. The children were asked to walk through the maze, and to do this successfully they had to make correct route choices at different T‐junctions in the maze. For half the children, salient landmarks were placed at the junctions in the maze (and on the maps). In both conditions all but the youngest age group performed much better than chance expectations and were able to use the maps successfully.
Syntactic awareness and reading acquisition
Authors: Tunmer William E. , Nesdale Andrew R. , Wright A. Douglas
Published: July 2011

Although previous studies have demonstrated that syntactic awareness is related to beginning reading achievement, the direction of causation remains a matter of dispute. Our study employed a reading level design in which good, younger readers were matched with poor, older readers on four measures of reading ability (real word recognition, pseudo‐word naming, reading fluency, and reading comprehension) and verbal intelligence. It was found that the good, younger readers scored significantly better than the poor, older readers on two measures of syntactic awareness, one an oral cloze task and the other an oral correction task. The findings suggest that the older, poor readers were developmentally delayed in syntactic awareness and that this delay may have retarded reading development.
IQ profiles of learning disabled and mildly mentally retarded children: A psychometric selection effect
Authors: van der Wissel A.
Published: July 2011

The aetiological validity of the differentiation of school failers into a group of LD (Learning Disabled) and a group of MMR (Mildly Mentally Retarded) children has been challenged by van der Wissel (1986). In this article the phenomenon of (differences in) the amount of subtest patterning within the populations of LD and MMR is analysed and is found to be a psychometric selection effect. A computer simulation of the conditions under which this selection takes place shows that the IQ profiles of LD and MMR children are similar, although they are more pronounced in the LD group. It is concluded that these differences are psychometric consequences of the way in which both groups are selected, and that it is not necessary to introduce specific hypotheses to deal with the differences betwen these groups.
Assessing children's understanding of one‐to‐one correspondence
Authors: Cowan Richard
Published: July 2011

Brainerd's (1973) cardination test is supposed to assess children's understanding of one‐to‐one correspondence independently of their counting ability. Children's errors in this test could result from difficulty in executing a pairing strategy rather than defective understanding. This was tested by comparing performance on the cardination test displays with performance on such displays with guidelines added to make pairing easier. Both 5‐year‐olds and 7‐year‐olds took part. Guidelines helped both age groups; the 7‐year‐olds more than the 5‐year‐olds. There were very marked differences between the age groups.
Learning mathematics
Authors: Young‐Loveridge Jennifer M.
Published: July 2011

This paper looks at the issue of early mathematics instruction and whether or not it needs to be delayed until the more general cognitive developmental abilities have appeared. The notion of ‘readiness’ is considered in relation to early mathematics. Evidence is examined on the question of whether or not logical abilities are necessary prerequisites for learning mathematics. A detailed description is given of the various competencies in numerical mathematics which preschoolers have demonstrated and the cognitive processes which are thought to be involved in the development of these competencies. The implications for mathematics learning are then discussed. The paper concludes by arguing that early mathematics instruction should, from the very beginning, include activities which are designed to facilitate children's understanding of number.
Children's interpretations of ambiguous spatial descriptions
Authors: Bialystok Ellen , Codd Judith
Published: July 2011

Children from 3 to 7 years of age and adults were asked to determine the location for top and front of an object. They listened to a verbal description and then positioned a given object (referent object) to indicate the intended top or front relation of another object (relatum object). The descriptions were ambiguous in that each could refer to two different locations. The location could be determined by the intrinsic structure of the relatum object or the extrinsic position of that object in space. Three features of the description were examined for their role in determining the spatial reference: the object being described (relatum), the kind of object used to indicate the top or front relation (referent), and the presence of the definite article in the description (predicate). There were two main results. First, descriptions of front were generally interpreted intrinsically while descriptions of top were generally interpreted extrinsically. Intrinsic interpretations of top, however, increased as a function of the three features examined. Second, the three features became relevant for determining top at different ages. All subjects attended to properties of the object relatum, 5‐year‐old children attended as well to the object referent, and oldest children and adults additionally considered the presence of the definite article in the predicate.
Developmental differences in the span of visual memory for pattern
Authors: Wilson J. T. Lindsay , Scott Jane H. , Power Kevin G.
Published: July 2011

A procedure is described which gives a measure of memory span for patterns. Results are presented from a study of four age groups: 5+, 7+, 11+, and adults. Pattern span increases rapidly between the ages of 5 and 11, by which time it is at the adult level. Span is decreased by an interpolated interfering task, and there is memory decay over a 10 second unfilled interval. The results are interpreted as evidence for a system for representing patterns which is shared by short‐ and long‐term visual memory, but which is distinct from systems for verbal representation.
Infants' understanding of numerical transformations
Authors: Sophian Catherine , Adams Norene
Published: July 2011

This research explored infants' understanding of transformations that change the numerosity of a set. Do infants know how the insertion or deletion of a single object affects the relative numerosity of two sets? Four age groups (14‐, 18‐, 24‐ and 28‐month‐olds) were tested on problems involving sets whose numerosities were never greater than 2. The children were encouraged to find the set with more objects, after watching the experimenter cover up two sets and then transform one of them by performing either an insertion or a deletion. On the start‐equal problems, the two sets had the same number of objects until the transformation was performed, so that when an object was inserted the transformed set always had more and when an object was deleted the untransformed set always had more. On the start‐unequal problems, the initial numerosities of the two sets were varied so that these relations between the type of transformation that was performed and the relative numerosities of the two sets no longer held. One set initially had two objects in it and the other set had none. Insertions were performed on the smaller set, so that it still had less than the untransformed set; and deletions were performed on the larger set, so that it still had more than the untransformed set. Performance improved significantly across the four ages tested. However, every age group showed some understanding of the transformations. These results add to the growing body of evidence for an understanding of numerical relationships in infancy.
The primacy of affordances in categorization by children
Authors: Smitsman Ad W. , van Loosbroek Erik , Pick Anne D.
Published: July 2011

This study investigates a basis for object categorization. On the basis of Gibson's concept of affordances, we hypothesize that affordances are a primary basis for object categorization. A class inclusion task was used as a first method to test this hypothesis. Stuffed and fuzzy (cuddly), stuffed but not fuzzy (stuffed) and non‐stuffed toy animals varying in species were presented to 5‐ to 7‐year‐old children. Results for children's class inclusion answers and object selections indicated that the superordinate was taken into account more frequently when it denoted the affordance cuddliness than when it denoted type of species. Other results indicated that a higher‐order structure such as the affordance of cuddliness rather than a component of this structure such as stuffedness formed the primary basis for categorization.
Cultural influences on the development of conceptual differentiation in person description
Authors: Miller Joan G.
Published: July 2011

Cultural influences on the development of person/situation and self/other differentiation are examined in a cross‐cultural developmental study of person description. Comparison is undertaken of modes of describing peers known well and peers not known well by middle‐class Hindu and American children at ages 8, 11 and 15 years and by middle‐class Hindu and American adults. Results indicate that at older ages Americans make significantly greater reference to general psychological dispositions and employ significantly more impersonal attributions than do Hindus. It is also observed that significant developmental increases in use of general psychological dispositions and impersonal attributions occur among Americans and not among Hindus. Evidence is presented to suggest that these cross‐cultural developmental differences reflect individuals' acquisition of contrasting cultural meaning systems rather than differences in individuals' cognitive capacities, socio‐economic status or exposure to the persons being described. The results are interpreted as implying that developmental changes occurring in conceptual differentiation may be dependent on cultural transmission and non‐progressive in nature.
The development of comprehension of physiognomic metaphor in photographs
Authors: Seitz Jay A. , Beilin Harry
Published: July 2011

The study examined child and adult responses to physiognomically suggestive visual metaphor in photographs. Preschoolers, 3 and 4 years of age, normal and high IQ schoolchildren, 6 and 8 years of age, and adults were shown 10 photographs and their responses categorized by type of metaphor (based on physiognomic characteristics, physical similarity, orientation; and gestural/facial, intertextual and allegorization responses). Preschool and 6‐year‐old children demonstrated significant levels of physiognomic responding, although high IQ, older children and adults showed even higher levels of response. All groups displayed high consistency in physiognomic object responses and were equally good in categorizing a photograph using orientational metaphors as bases. Explanations given indicated that the youngest children used self‐referential metaphors exclusively, older children used perceptual and action‐based metaphors as well, and adults added context‐independent metaphors.
The relationship between social—cognitive skills and peer sociometric status
Authors: Spence Susan H.
Published: July 2011

The relationships between affective perspective taking, decoding of emotion from facial expression, interpersonal problem solving and peer sociometric status were investigated with 60 kindergarten children aged 3–5 years. Significant, positive correlations were found between affective perspective taking, decoding of facial expression and positive peer nominations. Interpersonal problem‐solving ability however, as measured by number of alternative responses to hypothetical situations, was not found to be a significant correlate of positive or negative peer nominations. When non‐cognitive variables were considered in addition to social—cognitive variables in a fixed‐order, multiple regression analysis, physical attractiveness was found to contribute significantly along with affective perspective taking in the prediction of positive peer nominations. The only variable to predict negative peer nominations was the number of behaviour problems reported by care staff. Subsequent analyses indicated that acting out behaviours were the most important correlate of negative peer status. The implications of the findings for intervention programmes with children who experience poor peer relationships are discussed.
The nature of infant memory for hue
Authors: Catherwood Di , Crassini Boris , Freiberg Kate
Published: July 2011

The question of whether infants remember hue categorically or in terms of precise hue identity was investigated with 32 infants (mean age 20·0 weeks). Eight infants participated in a pre‐test designed assess the discriminability of hues from the same category and a further 24 infants were assessed for recognition of these hues. These infants were familiarized to one hue and tested for recognition of this hue either immediately or following a five‐minute delay. Recognition was assessed by means of a series of paired comparisons: the original hue paired with itself (control), with a novel same‐category hue or with a novel new‐category hue. Additionally, ‘false’ or categorical recognition was tested by comparing the novel same‐category hue to the novel new‐category hue. On the immediate test, infants responded as if they had remembered the exact identity of the original hue—although there was also evidence of sensitivity to categorical relationships between hues. On the delayed test, however, infants appeared to remember only the category of the original hue. Control procedures adopted in the study made it unlikely that these results were confounded by such factors as differential hue preferences or hue brightness.