Preschool children ranging in age from three to five years were presented with an array of moral judgment tasks designed to assess their understanding of differing moral criteria. Results showed that older children correctly understood more criteria and that understanding of the relevant moral distinctions was developmentally ordered. (JMB)

Three-, four- and five-year-old children were presented an array of metamemory tasks designed to test their understanding of variables which affect the difficulty of memory performance. (JMB)

A conceptualization of intentional behavior is presented stressing the problem of diagnosis. Methodological requirements for the study of intentional memory development are used in a selective review of the literature. (MS)

Results of two studies indicated that three- and four-year-old children understood that, although perception is necessary for knowledge, it is irrelevant for imagination and that three year olds often claimed that imagination reflected reality. (MDM)

Recent research examining infants' understanding of intentional action claims to be studying the early origins or precursors of children's later theories of mind. If these infant understandings are continuous with later preschool achievements, there should be empirical connections between the two. We provide initial evidence that infants' social…

Analysis of natural language data from children up to six years of age revealed that by the third year, children clearly distinguished between reality and a variety of nonreal contrasts in their everyday speech. An experimental study in which children were questioned about the reality and appearance of a variety of items confirmed findings of the…

Conducted meta-analysis to examine empirical inconsistencies and theoretical controversies concerning false-belief tasks and understanding about mental states. Found that a combined model including age, country of origin, and four task factors accounted for 55 percent of the variance in false-belief performance. Findings are consistent with…

Investigated preschoolers' understanding of two distance principles: the direct-indirect and the same-plus principle. Children did better on tasks relevant to the principles than on principle-irrelevant tasks. Concluded that even young children conceive of distance as fixed intervals. (SKC)

Investigated 4-6 year olds' ability to compare the distances covered by a direct and an indirect route to a location. Although many children believed that both routes covered the same distance, about 40% of the four year olds could explain why the direct route was shorter. (MDM)

Two experiments on preschoolers' understanding of the effects of exposure on knowing-that and knowing-how were conducted with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children (N=388) in 2 locations: a small midwestern city in the United States and a suburban area of Hong Kong, China. By using both English- and Chinese-speaking samples, the authors examined…

Experiment one tested 9- and 16-month-old children on a modification of Piaget's Stage IV object permanence task, examining infants' use of information from previous experiences with an object and from a recent hiding to locate a hidden object. In experiment two, two-, two-and-a-half-, and four-year-old children additionally received verbal…

Mental state language was examined in Mandarin- speaking and Cantonese-speaking toddlers. Results suggested that theory-of-mind development was similar to that in English, with early use of desire terms followed by other mental state references. Much earlier emergence of desire terms and infrequent use of thinking terms suggests cultural…

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…

Assesses comprehension of the mental verbs "remember" and "forget" among three-, four-, five-, and seven-year-old children by having the child judge whether or not toy characters in different situations remembered or forgot. (Author/RH)

Examined in four studies whether and when infants connect information about an actor's affect and perception to their action. Found that 12-month-olds, but not 8-month-olds, recognized that an actor was likely to grasp the object she had visually regarded with positive affect. Replicated findings with 12- and 14-month-olds and with several…