In two studies, four- but not three-year olds understood that (1) of two characters who saw an object, the one who waited longer before attempting to find it would not remember where it was; and (2) of two objects seen by a character, the object seen long ago would be forgotten and the object seen recently would be remembered. (BC)

Four experiments investigated three- and four-year-old children's knowledge of projective size-distance and projective shape-orientation relationships. Results indicated that preschool children's understanding of these relationships seems at least partly cognitive rather than wholly perceptive, providing further evidence for the acquisition of…

Sixty young children were tested for their understanding that a person who is mentally focused on one thing devotes little or no simultaneous attention to another, totally irrelevant thing. Though most 6- and 8-year olds demonstrated an understanding that task-oriented thought and attention were selectively focused, most of the 4-year olds showed…

Three studies examined young children's understanding that, if one "remembers" or "forgets," one must have known something previously. The majority of four-year olds, but not three-year olds, understood that, when two characters currently knew something, the one with prior knowledge remembered and that, when neither character…

Three studies found that there was a marked increase with age from preschool to adulthood in individuals' tendency to say that persons always have some thoughts and ideas flowing through their minds. Four year olds tended to say that persons could keep their minds completely empty of ideas. (MDM)

Two studies showed preschoolers have little knowledge and awareness of inner speech. Study 1 showed that, compared to 6- to 7-year olds and adults, 4-year olds usually did not infer that persons silently engaged in verbal mental activities were saying things to themselves. Study 2 demonstrated that 4- and 5-year olds are much poorer than adults at…

Investigates the development of the appearance-reality distinction in 24 children of 5 years, 24 undergraduates, and 12 adults. Results suggest that there is a transitional period in the development of the distinction that begins around age 5 years. (RJC)

Children between three and five years of age were told or shown that story characters held beliefs that differed from their own beliefs concerning physical facts, moral values, social conventions, personal values, and ownership. Found that three year olds had difficulty attributing to others beliefs that differed from their own. (BC)

Children 3 1/2 and 5 years of age were tested for their intuitive knowledge of the psychological fact that one mental event may trigger or cue another related mental event. (JMB)

This study investigated the development of the concept of a critical search area by means of an action sequence in which a cartoon character loses his toy while walking through his house. The results showed that it is not until ages 7 or 8 that children readily make the inference that the critical area is the only plausible place to search for the…

Kindergartners and second graders evaluated the communicative clarity of brief oral instructions under three conditions: unambiguous, no closure, and closure. Results suggest that the growth of children's knowledge about communication includes the developing awareness that an ambiguous message is intrinsically unclear and remains a poor message…

Interviewed 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, and 10-year olds, and adults regarding their knowledge about primary-consciousness, reflective-consciousness, and control activities. Found that the recognition that people do not engage in conscious mental activities when unconscious is still developing during the late middle-childhood years. (Author/KB)

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…

Three studies used illustrated stories to examine preschoolers' understanding of emotional changes when memories of past events were cued by objects in the current environment. Found substantial development between 4 and 6 years in understanding the influence of mental activity on emotions. The strength and consistency of this knowledge was…