We examine how understandings of ordinary and extraordinary communication develop. Three- to 10-year-old children and adults (N = 183) were given scenarios in which a protagonist wanted help from a human (their parent) or from God. Scenarios varied in whether protagonists expressed their desires aloud (by asking) or silently (by hoping), whether…

Individuals in many cultures believe in omniscient (all-knowing) beings, but everyday representations of omniscience have rarely been studied. To understand the nature of such representations requires knowing how they develop. Two studies examined the breadth of knowledge (i.e., types of knowledge) and depth of knowledge (i.e., amount of knowledge…

Achieving a sense of self is a crucial task of ordinary development. With which aspects of self do children with autism have particular difficulty? Two prior studies concluded that children with autism are unimpaired in delayed self-recognition; we confirm and clarify this conclusion by examining it in conjunction with another key aspect of self…

Theory of mind requires belief- "and" desire-understanding. Event-related brain potential (ERP) research on belief- and desire-reasoning in adults found mid-frontal activations for both desires and beliefs, and selective right-posterior activations "only" for beliefs. Developmentally, children understand desires before beliefs; thus, a critical…

Consecutive retestings of 92 U.S. preschoolers (n = 30), Chinese preschoolers (n = 31), and deaf children (n = 31) examined whether the sequences of development apparent in cross-sectional results with a theory-of-mind scale also appeared in longitudinal assessment. Longitudinal data confirmed that theory-of-mind progressions apparent in…

Temperament dimensions influence children's approach to and participation in social interactive experiences which reflect and impact children's social understandings. Therefore, temperament differences might substantially impact theory-of-mind development in early childhood. Using longitudinal data, we report that certain early temperament…

We examined deaf and hearing children's progression of steps in theory of mind (ToM) development including their understanding of social pretending. Ninety-three children (33 deaf; 60 hearing) aged 3-13 years were tested on a set of six closely matched ToM tasks. Results showed that deaf children were delayed substantially behind hearing children…

Reviews recent memory development research and general principles of memory strategy development: (1) almost continuous nature of strategy acquisition; (2 and 3) trainability and effectiveness of strategies in younger children; and (4) reversion to nonproduction after instructed use. Argues that training should address children's knowledge and…

This study found that 3-year-olds instructed to remember a particular location in a memory task engaged in deliberate behaviors which were positively related to later recall. This was not true for 3-year-olds instructed only to wait or for 2-year-olds in either instructional condition. (JMB)

One experiment examined two and one-half, three and one-half and four and one-half year olds' ability to conduct nonredundant comprehensive searches of small lidded trash cans. A second experiment examined three , four, and five year olds' ability to find Easter eggs hidden on a large playground. Results were discussed in relation to developmental…

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)

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)

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…

Presents a developmental study of children's knowledge and understanding of the interaction of variables which affect memory storage. The study focuses on the children's awareness of their own memory. Subjects were 40 five- and ten-year-old children. (BD)