Right-hemispheric specialization for tactual processing was investigated in right-handed preschool children. Cross-modal transfer from touch to vision was assessed while children palpated shapes with hand while music was simultaneously played to ear. Left-hand advantage and lateralized nature of interference among older children supports…

Nine- to 18-month-old infants were presented with simple two-location manual search tasks involving invisible displacements of objects with sequence of displacements occurring before infants search. Results provided insights into age differences associated with development of logical search strategies, information-processing skills, and temporal…

To evaluate prevalence of perseveration in early search, nine-month-olds were tested on both two- and three-location version of Piaget's AB task. Three principal findings emerged: (1) infants did not show systematic perservation on either location task; (2) they did demonstrate positive search skills; and (3) they searched using similiar methods…

In the four studies reported, facial expressions of emotion are considered to be not merely responses indicative of internal states; they are also stimulus patterns that regulate the behavior of others. Results indicated that one-year-old infants seek out and use maternal facial expressions to monitor behavior. (Author/DST)

In this developmental study of sustained cognitive monitoring, second graders, sixth graders, and college students followed a two-part sequence of spatial directions and then made judgments about reaching the destination intended by direction giver. Cognitive monitoring skills of the type examined appear to be useful in many real-world cognitive…

Preschool children's awareness of distinctions between animate and inanimate objects was assessed by showing stimulus films of animate and inanimate objects that moved in different ways. Results indicated that five- and some four-year-olds performed near adult levels, whereas three-year-olds did not, although the animate-inanimate distinction did…

A spontaneous mastery measure, sampling sophistication of infants' behavior and infants' propensity to demonstrate their most sophisticated repertoire of skills, was developed and tested for predictability. Unlike a measure of executive capacity to which it was compared, the spontaneous mastery measure was highly stable across a 6-month period.…

Developmental changes in specific types of fantasy play and the relation of role taking, egocentrism, and receptive vocabulary were examined in two- to six-year-olds. Both frequency and duration of material and ideational fantasy play increased with age, but play patterns differed. Data suggest developmental progression from object to person…

Observers aged six to 24 years estimated distances between elements in patterns illustrating Gestalt grouping principles of proximity, similarity, closure, and good continuation. Magnitude of distance distortions decreased significantly with age, suggesting that perceptual development includes improving ability to disregard Gestalt groupings when…

Three-, four-, and five-year-olds were given problems to test their ability to recognize absolute number and relative order. Results suggest that children understand number as an absolute amount before they understand it as part of a progressive sequence in contradiction to the "ordinal theory of number." (Author/DST)

Investigates cerebral asymmetries to study the perception of visually presented emotional and verbal material. Grade 1/2, Grade 4/5, and Grade 8 children reported on emotional facial expressions and on letters shown laterally and tachistoscopically. Findings indicate right hemisphere dominance for mediating visual emotional information from as…

In a longitudinal sample of three- through 11-year-olds, age-appropriate versions of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) were administered. Uncorrected for attenuation, MFFT error scores were more consistent over time than MFFT latency scores for both girls and boys. Implications of results for validity of MFFT as a measure of cognitive…

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that scripts (event schemas) provide a basis for categorical structures in semantic memory. Significantly better memory and organization were achieved on slot-filler lists than on either taxonomic or complementary lists, suggesting that slot-filler categories are more available in preschoolers' semantic…

Digit span and latency from P300 component of event-related brain potential--a measure of stimulus evaluation time--were obtained from children and adults. Increases in digit span were associated with decreases in peak latency for children but not adults, suggesting that immediate memory development is tightly coupled with decreases in speed of…

Use of strategies to eliminate interference from irrelevant information in memory was investigated for 11-, 15-, and 18-year-olds. A directed forgetting paradigm was introduced. Results suggest that 11-year-olds use adequate selective remembering strategy, but not selective rehearsal: most 15- and 18-year-olds did. (Author/DST)