Examined performance of over one hundred 6- to 10-year olds on three of each of the following tasks: processing speed, memory span, phonological skill, and articulation tasks assessing speed with which they could say familiar stimuli. Found that performance on span tasks was predicted by phonology and articulation tasks but not by age or…

Measured cognitive processing time, imagery skill, and spatial memory span of 128 children and adults, ages 8 to 20 years. Found that performance on spatial memory span tasks was largely predicted by imagery skill, which in turn was strongly linked to processing time; age was much less of a predictor in both cases. (EAJ)

Equally divided by sex and distributed equally across fourth/fifth, eighth/ninth, and college grade levels, 144 subjects performed a mental rotation task under instructions emphasizing either accuracy or speed of response, or both. Instructions had large and consistent effects on speed of response but were not as uniformly effective in their…

In two experiments, 168 subjects aged 8-22 years performed visual search and memory search tasks (experiment 1) or memory search, mental rotation, analogical reasoning, and mental addition tasks (experiment 2). Increases with age in speeds of visual and memory search were described well by exponential functions. (SKC)

Assesses performance of 9-, 13-, and 20-year-olds on 3,840 trials of a mental rotation task in which subjects judged if pairs of stimuli presented in different orientations were identical or mirror images. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms underlying the impact of practice. (Author/NH)

Children and adults were tested on a mental rotation task in which letters were presented in different orientations. The task was performed by itself or with a memory task. Results indicated that the relation of response time to stimulus orientation in the rotation task was the same in both conditions. (BC)

Massive practice on mental rotation of letters resulted in substantial change in speed of mental rotation of 11 and 20 year olds. Change in rate of mental rotation was characterized by hyperbolic and power functions. (RH)

Two experiments were conducted to study the development of mental rotation abilities in late childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Subjects were third, fourth, and sixth graders, and college students. (MP)

Maintains that most of the claims made by Morrison, Morrison, and Keating do not undermine the data analysis and conclusion of a study reported in a 1988 paper. Discusses (1) evidence concerning a common rate of developmental change; (2) functions that characterize developmental stages; and (3) procedures for estimating parameters. (LB)

Two experiments examined causal links among age, processing time, articulation time, and memory span in elementary school children. Found that age was correlated posssitively with memory span but negatively with processing and articulation times and that age-related change in processing time was associated with a decrease in the time required to…

Tested adults and children (age 6 to 16 years) on 4 speeded tasks that included 19 experimental conditions. The 6- to 16-year olds' response times decreased with age as a function of adults' response times. (MM)