Children are on a quest for knowledge. To achieve it, children must integrate separate but related episodes of learning. The theoretical model of memory integration posits that the process is supported by component cognitive abilities. In turn, memory integration predicts accumulation of a knowledge base. We tested this model in two studies (data…

Listening comprehension and word decoding are the two major determinants of the development of reading comprehension. The relative importance of different language skills for the development of listening and reading comprehension remains unclear. In this 5-year longitudinal study, starting at age 7.5 years (n = 198), it was found that the shared…

The present study explored the environmental and genetic etiologies of the longitudinal relations between prereading skills and reading and spelling. Twin pairs (n = 489) were assessed before kindergarten (M = 4.9 years), post-first grade (M = 7.4 years), and post-fourth grade (M = 10.4 years). Genetic influences on five prereading skills (print…

Third and sixth graders read an illustrated story and were presented with either a television or radio version of another story. Across a range of comprehension and memory measures, performance in the radio condition and reading were related, while performance in the television condition and reading were not. (Author/CB)

Examined comprehension of stories with and without obstacles to goal attainment among 16 second- and fifth-grade students and 16 adults. Results suggest that processing characteristics of a task, as well as prior knowledge of problem-solving behavior, affect story understanding. (Auhtor/RH)

Results of three studies suggest that, to notice inconsistencies in prose, children have to encode and store information, draw relevant inferences, retrieve and maintain inferred propositions in working memory, and compare them. Third through sixth graders do not spontaneously carry out those processes that they are capable of carrying out. (JMB)

Children's comprehension and memory for different kinds of information in prose was assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, 72 elementary school children listened to paragraphs and answered questions about explicit and implicit semantic relationships. The second experiment investigated the relationship between children's initial…

Argues that, although Piaget's seminal work on children's use of intention and consequence information to make moral evaluations has spawned a substantial amount of research, progress in this area has been hampered by serious conceptual and methodological problems. Offers some methodological guidelines for conducting research in this area.…

Examined concepts of mental activities involved in acts of knowing in 54 children of 8-10 years and adults. Ten-year-olds and adults judged memory involvement to be the most important relation among mental activities. Eight-year-olds judged comprehension and attention according to the involvement of visual or verbal information. (RJC)

Preschool children were tested for their understanding of the use of definite and indefinite articles in 2 kinds of story-telling tasks. (ST)

Examined young children's interpretations of the meanings of indirect speech acts (e.g. it's 10 o'clock) in paragraphs of a contextual type biasing a literal interpretation (time of day) or an extraliteral interpretation (time to prepare for bed). Memory for these meanings was also assessed. (Author/JMB)

Presents two experiments which examine fifth-grade children's memory for stereotypic and reverse stereotypic and sex role content in their reading material. (Author/JMB)

The dependence of immediate, short-term and long-term reproductive memory on operative understanding was studied in elementary school students. Results are interpreted in terms of Piaget's theory. (ST)

The role of reversibility in children's comprehension and memory for sequences of pictures was investigated for children in preschool, kindergarten, and first and second grades. Bidirectionality in the ability to remember and infer antecedents and consequences was assessed. (JMB)

Second, fifth, and eighth graders viewed one of four edited versions of a commercial action-adventure television program that varied in number of scenes and in degree of organization. Both recognition and recall measures were used to assess children's memory for central content, peripheral content, and implicit content. (Author/JMB)