Acquisition of formal scientific reasoning by 10- and 13-year-olds: Detecting interactive patterns in data.

Attempted to teach a scientific reasoning skill, the detection of interactive patterns in data, to 128 10- and 13-yr-olds. The instructional procedure was closely based on a flow chart model of a strategy sufficient to solve the types of interaction problems that would be presented. Predictions from the model concerning the general efficacy of the procedure, the relative difficulty of the problems, and the pattern of learning were largely supported. The fact that some of the predictions ran counter to previous, related findings and to the general intuitions provided additional evidence of the model's utility. The advantages of formal models in deriving nonintuitive predictions and in distinguishing what is taught from what is learned are discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of formal scientific reasoning by 10- and 13-year-olds: Designing a factorial experiment.

A study of 60 5th and 8th graders indicates that 8th graders who received conceptual-framework-plus-analog problem instruction generated more complete factorial arrays than did Ss who received conceptual framework alone who tended to attain perfect performance more often than Ss in the control condition. 5th-grade conceptual-framework-plus-analog Ss generated all combinations more often than Ss in either of the 2 remaining conditions, which did not differ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasoning and secondary reinforcement in 6–7-year-olds and 10–11-year-olds.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate the 1st author's cognitive theory of secondary reinforcement effects, which predicts that Ss of a preoperational age (i.e., younger than 7 yrs) should not necessarily learn responses followed by a stimulus object previously instrumental in obtaining a reward, while Ss of a postoperational age should do so. Using 24 1st and 24 5th graders in 2 learning tasks, the prediction was confirmed. Furthermore, verbal responses indicated that the logical operations that presumably influenced the behavior of the older children actually did occur. In Exp II, using 28 2nd and 15 6th graders, the training task was simplified in order to try to facilitate logical reasoning, but the behavior of the younger Ss was not affected. It is concluded that secondary reinforcement of a stimulus–response associative type has yet to be demonstrated, and that secondary reinforcement of a cognitive type is heavily dependent on reasoning ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's responses to same- and other-gender peers: An experimental investigation with 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds.

This research compared how participants in the age range of middle childhood (N?=?565, approximate ages 8, 10, and 12 years) responded to provocation by a same- or an other-gender peer. In a laboratory play session, participants were provoked in two ways: by losing at a computer game and by being teased by a confederate actor. Immediately following the provoking play session, participants were interviewed about their perceptions of the provoking peer, emotional responses, coping strategies, and social goals. For both the baseline and provocation periods, observational data indicated that facial, verbal, and gestural responses to an other-gender peer were more negative than to a same-gender peer. With other-gender partners, participants reported liking the peer less, trying less to get along with the provocateur, and coping with the provocation by trying to play better rather than by verbally confronting the actor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between competitiveness and empathy in 6- and 7-year-olds.

Tested the proposition that competitiveness and a competitive instructional set would suppress the expression of empathy in 6- and 7-yr-old children. The Feshbach and Roe test of empathy was administered to 84 Ss while they were preparing either to compete or to cooperate with another child on a game. Boys rated by teachers as highly competitive were less empathic than less competitive boys; no difference was found for girls. There was no evidence that the Ss' empathy was influenced by the manipulation of instructional set. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing time and memory for pictures.

Postexposure processing of an iconic memory following the presentation of pictures of complex, colored, naturalistic scenes was assessed in 3 experiments which examined the effects of exposure duration and mask delay upon recognition memory. Ss were 50 undergraduates. Exposure durations ranged from 50 to 550 msec and mask delays from 0 to 500 msec. For exposure durations of 300 msec and longer, recognition accuracy was primarily determined by exposure duration, and mask delay had no significant effect. For exposure durations of less than 300 msec, postexposure processing continued for up to 250 msec following the offset of a target picture, and recognition accuracy was a function of total processing time (i.e., the total time separating target and mask onsets.) This reciprocity between exposure duration and mask delay was similar to that previously demonstrated for verbal materials. The processing-time/recognition memory relationship was also shown to be due to differences in initial encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for medical emergencies experienced by 1- and 2-year-olds

Children (13-18 months, 20-25 months, and 26-34 months) who had experienced trauma injuries were recruited in a hospital Emergency Room and subsequently interviewed about them within days (if verbal) and after 6, 12, and 18 or 24 months. The youngest children demonstrated little long-term verbal recall, whereas a few children in the intermediate group, who could not narrate about past events at time of injury, could verbally recall the target events 18 months later. Most of the oldest children, who had narrative skills at time of injury, demonstrated good verbal recall 2 years later. Illustrative case histories were described. Accuracy of recall was low for the youngest children, and although the majority of older children's recalled information was accurate, there were still many errors.     

Prospective memory and the efficacy of a memory strategy in multiple sclerosis.

Prospective memory (PM), which is the ability to remember to carry out actions that are planned for the future, plays an important role in professional and social life as well as in activities of daily living. This study examined PM performance among adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) and evaluated the efficacy of a mnemonic strategy, implementation intentions. Compared to controls, adults with MS were impaired on PM, both in terms of acting when encountering the correct circumstances (prospective component) and in terms of remembering the correct action to perform (retrospective component). The prospective-component deficit was greater for tasks that depended on more resource-demanding cognitive processes and smaller on tasks that could be performed more automatically. Use of implementation intentions improved MS-group performance on the prospective component, particularly on the more resource-demanding tasks, consistent with the explanation that implementation intentions improved performance by allowing the use of more automatic processes to perform these PM tasks. Implications for providing environmental support to encourage the use of mnemonic strategies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fantasy play and related cognitive development in 2- to 6-year-olds.

Developmental changes in specific types of material and ideational fantasy play and the relation of role taking, egocentrism, and receptive vocabulary from the PPVT were examined in a group of 78 2–6 yr olds who were randomly assigned to play in dyads. Each dyad engaged in free play for 3 15-min periods each week, for 3 wks in a playroom of the daycare center or school. Both frequency and duration of material and ideational fantasy play increased with age, but the play patterns differed. Material fantasy play followed a curvilinear trend, whereas ideational fantasy displayed a linear trend for frequency but a curvilinear trend for duration. Contrary to previous research, sex differences were not found for material or ideational fantasy play. Role taking was negatively correlated with material fantasy and sociodramatic play. Egocentrism did not correlate with the play measures, and the PPVT measure of receptive vocabulary correlated only with material play. Data suggest the developmental progression from object to person fantasy play does not occur as presumed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building permanent memory codes: Codification and repetition effects in word identification.

Three experiments, with 46 university students, investigated the memory processes that underlie 2 phenomena in threshold identification: word superiority over pseudowords and the repetition effect (a prior presentation of an item facilitates later identification of that item). Codification (i.e., the development of a single memory code that can be triggered even by fragmented input information) explains the faster and more accurate identification of words than pseudowords. The present studies traced the development and retention of such codes for repeated pseudowords and examined the growth and loss of the repetition effect for both pseudowords and words. After approximately 5 prior occurrences, words and pseudowords were identified equally accurately in 2 types of threshold identification tasks, suggesting that codification had been completed for pseudowords. Although the initial word advantage disappeared, the accuracy of identification still increased with repetitions. The facilitation caused by repetition was not affected much by spacing within a session, but it dropped from day to day and disappeared after a delay of 1 yr. Results suggest an episodic basis for the repetition effect. After 1 yr, performance was equal for old pseudowords and new and old words: All these levels were superior to that for new pseudowords, suggesting that the learned codes for pseudowords are as strong and permanent as the codes for words. A model of identification is presented in which feedback from old codes and episodic images in memory facilitates better processing. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deception in 3-year-olds.

Children's ability to deceive was examined in order to determine whether they are able to hide their emotional expression intentionally. Three-year-olds were instructed not to peek at a toy while the experimenter left the room. When asked, the great majority either denied that they peeked or would not answer the question. Facial and bodily activity did not differentiate the deceivers from the truth tellers. Boys were more likely than girls to admit their transgression. These results indicate that very young children have begun to learn how to mask their emotional expressions and support the role of socialization in this process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy and cooperation in 4-year-olds.

4-yr-olds viewed slides of children designed to elicit emotions of fear, sadness, anger, and happiness in the S. Cooperative behavior was then assessed by having Ss play a game in dyads and by observing their behavior in nursery school. No differences in total empathy or in individual emotions were obtained between cooperative and noncooperative children. Girls obtained higher empathy scores than boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The evolution of multiple memory systems.

The existence of multiple memory systems has been proposed in a number of areas, including cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and the study of animal learning and memory. We examine whether the existence of such multiple systems seems likely on evolutionary grounds. Multiple systems adapted to serve seemingly similar functions, which differ in important ways, are a common evolutionary outcome. The evolution of multiple memory systems requires memory systems to be specialized to such a degree that the functional problems each system handles cannot be handled by another system. We define this condition as functional incompatibility and show that it occurs for a number of the distinctions that have been proposed between memory systems. The distinction between memory for song and memory for spatial locations in birds, and between incremental habit formation and memory for unique episodes in humans and other primates provide examples. Not all memory systems are highly specialized in function, however, and the conditions under which memory systems could evolve to serve a wide range of functions are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing speed, speech rate, and memory.

In each of 2 studies, 24 9-yr-olds and 24 adults were administered measures of memory and measures of processing speed. In addition, in Study 2, articulation rate was measured. Age was correlated positively with memory but was correlated negatively with processing speed and articulation rate. The results of path analyses were consistent with the hypothesis that age and processing speed independently contribute to articulation rate, which determines memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing speed and memory mediate age-related differences in decision making.

Decision making under risk changes with age. Increases in risk aversion with age have been most commonly characterized, although older adults may be risk seeking in some decision contexts. An important, and unanswered, question is whether these changes in decision making reflect a direct effect of aging or, alternatively, an indirect effect caused by age-related changes in specific cognitive processes. In the current study, older adults (M = 71 years) and younger adults (M = 24 years) completed a battery of tests of cognitive capacities and decision-making preferences. The results indicated systematic effects of age upon decision quality—with both increased risk seeking and increased risk aversion observed in different tasks—consistent with prior studies. Path analyses, however, revealed that age-related effects were mediated by individual differences in processing speed and memory. When those variables were included in the model, age was no longer a significant predictor of decision quality. The authors conclude that the reduction in decision quality and associated changes in risk preferences commonly ascribed to aging are instead mediated by age-related changes in underlying cognitive capacities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive deficits in memory: Processing initiative and resource allocation.

P. T. Hertel and T. S. Hardin (see record 1990-27496-001) investigated the effects of depressed mood states on recognition memory in three experiments. They report that mood effects on memory depend on the subjects' awareness of the task. Four issues are considered in this article: natural and induced moods, processing initiative, initiative versus resource allocation, and strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental change in the acuity of the "number sense": The approximate number system in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds and adults.

Behavioral, neuropsychological, and brain imaging research points to a dedicated system for processing number that is shared across development and across species. This foundational Approximate Number System (ANS) operates over multiple modalities, forming representations of the number of objects, sounds, or events in a scene. This system is imprecise and hence differs from exact counting. Evidence suggests that the resolution of the ANS, as specified by a Weber fraction, increases with age such that adults can discriminate numerosities that infants cannot. However, the Weber fraction has yet to be determined for participants of any age between 9 months and adulthood, leaving its developmental trajectory unclear. Here we identify the Weber fraction of the ANS in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children and in adults. We show that the resolution of this system continues to increase throughout childhood, with adultlike levels of acuity attained surprisingly late in development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of 3- to 4-year-olds assessed at home and their interactions in preschool.

Assessed the characteristics of 24 male and 21 female 42-mo-olds in the UK using a semistructured maternal interview concerning behavior at home. Behavior in preschool was recorded by direct observation. The procedures were repeated for 21 of the males and 16 of the females 8 mo later. Results show that many of the characteristics assessed at home were related in a predictable way to behavior in preschool. For example, shy Ss interacted less with peers at 42 mo of age. At 50 mo of age they initiated fewer interactions with adults, but shy males played interactively with peers. Assertive Ss were involved in more interactions and controlled others at 42 mo of age. These Ss showed more interactive play, hostile interactions, and crying at age 50 mo. The characteristics Active, Moody, and Assertive produced at least twice as many significant correlations at 50 mo as at 42 mo of age. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subitizing and counting skills in 3-year-olds.

Investigated 2 quantification skills, subitizing and counting, in 32 3-yr-olds. Three set sizes were used—2, 3, and 4. Ss showed a strong predilection to count on the subitizing task. Few subitizing responses occurred when Ss were asked to count. An informational analysis indicated no clear-cut difference between subitizing and counting except when the upper limit of subitizing was taken to be 4, in which case counting was superior. Findings fail to support a developmental model of quantification proposed by D. Klahr and J. G. Wallace (see PA, Vol 57:2924). (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition of facial expressions of emotions by 3-year-olds.

Very few large-scale studies have focused on emotional facial expression recognition (FER) in 3-year-olds, an age of rapid social and language development. We studied FER in 808 healthy 3-year-olds using verbal and nonverbal computerized tasks for four basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, and fear). Three-year-olds showed differential performance on the verbal and nonverbal FER tasks, especially with respect to fear. That is to say, fear was one of the most accurately recognized facial expressions as matched nonverbally and the least accurately recognized facial expression as labeled verbally. Sex did not influence emotion-matching nor emotion-labeling performance after adjusting for basic matching or labeling ability. Three-year-olds made systematic errors in emotion-labeling. Namely, happy expressions were often confused with fearful expressions, whereas negative expressions were often confused with other negative expressions. Together, these findings suggest that 3-year-olds' FER skills strongly depend on task specifications. Importantly, fear was the most sensitive facial expression in this regard. Finally, in line with previous studies, we found that recognized emotion categories are initially broad, including emotions of the same valence, as reflected in the nonrandom errors of 3-year-olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)