Argues that researchers can achieve objectives of advancing basic knowledge and addressing applied problems within a single research program. Provides a framework for this perspective by examining historical trends of basic and applied developmental research and examining potential approaches. Uses research on affordances and childhood injuries to…

Reviews evidence that gesture provides access to information children know but do not say. Argues that gesture may contribute cognitive change indirectly, by communicating spoken aspects of the learner's cognitive state to potential change agents; and directly, by offering the learner a simpler way to express and explore ideas that may be…

Presents evidence from studies on adults' language processing and children's language acquisition that the lexicon is at the core of grammatical generalizations at several levels of representation. Proposes that phonological acquisition might provide the bootstrapping into grammatical generalization in general. Concludes that age-appropriate…

Presents a developmentally grounded perspective on study of social life in cultures that examines sources of coexistence of sociability and opposition, harmony and conflict, acceptance and critique. Proposes that coexistence of these elements is systematically connected both to development of distinct domains of thought and to the dynamics of…

Reviews current large-scale, longitudinal studies focusing on children. Describes the data collected, including child outcomes, process-oriented information on child-parent interactions, child care quality, parental mental health, family violence, fathering, employment patterns, and community characteristics. Notes that several studies incorporate…

Presents French-speaking researchers' contribution to differential developmental psychology. Traces methodological and theoretical transformations necessary for understanding individual differences within a general theory of cognitive development. Provides overview of pluralistic and multidimensional model of cognitive functioning/development…

Focuses on the conceptual implications of analyses of individual differences in francophone post-Piagetian research. Maintains that these analyses are preoccupied by the "American question" of measurement and method, instead of attempting a theoretical account of the issues raised by intraindividual and interindividual variability in development.…

Discusses some general-causal assumptions of current neo-Piagetian research and compares them with those of French European developmentalists with regard to individual differences, developmental stages, and methodology. Discusses the developmental unfolding of mental attentional mechanisms. Highlights developmental theory problems for the…

Discusses ways in which researchers have examined the role of social and emotional factors in cognitive functioning and development to uncover additional sources of variation to explain interindividual and intraindividual differences in cognitive development from within a Piagetian framework. Considers the implications of recent Francophone…

Suggests ways to use dynamic systems analysis to illuminate the pluralistic and multidimensional model described by Larivee, Normandeau, and Parent (2000). Issues discussed include the characteristics of developmental transitions, such as hysteresis; nature of growth processes, such as hierarchical development or predator-prey interactions; and…

Maintains that there are core-specific and non-core-specific domains of knowledge, but that only the core-specific domains benefit from innate skeletal structures. Asserts that core skeletal domains are universally shared, even though their particular foci may vary. Emphasizes that individuals vary in terms of the noncore domains they acquire.…

Notes that the Piagetian perspective admits the existence of interindividual differences but interprets them as noise masking the universal logical succession of structures, whereas the differential perspective views development as consisting of "vicarious processes." Asserts that the main aim of the "procedural studies" carried out in Geneva was…

Emphasizes the benefits of cooperation between researchers in developing a comprehensive model of cognitive development that considers the constraints of human brain structures and the interplay of general laws of development and individual differences in developmental pathways within the context of social and cultural environments. (Author)

Examined behavioral/physiological responses of 2-month-olds during physical examinations. Found that colic infants cried twice as much, cried more intensely, and were more inconsolable than control infants. Heart rate, vagal tone, and cortisol measures showed no appreciable difference. At home, colic infants displayed a blunted rhythm in cortisol…

Examined European- and Hispanic-American mothers' multimodal communication to their 5- to 30-month-olds while they taught the children target words by using distinct objects during play. Found that mothers used target words more often than nontarget words in synchrony with object motion and sometimes touch, and tailored communication to infants'…