Although some research has suggested that very young children are "immune" to functional fixedness (FF), other work has shown that young children form robust associations between objects and their prescribed functions. Across two studies, I investigated (a) the developmental trajectory of FF and (b) its relationship with executive function components (inhibitory control and working memory) in 3- to 6-year old children. Both older and younger children experience FF, but older children use familiar tools more flexibly than younger children (3- and 4-year olds). Furthermore, inhibitory control was related to overcoming FF, indicating that it may be an important cognitive capacity for creative problem-solving. Finally, in a third study, children were instructed to use mental imagery to help them solve the functional fixedness problems. However, these instructions were ineffective at reducing FF compared to a control condition, underscoring the robust nature of object-function relationships in early childhood. / by Sarah R. Bidmead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This thesis examined the developmental differences in inhibition and theory-of-mind of 4-8 year olds as a function of the suggested presence of a supernatural agent. All children played four games designed to assess their current level of inhibition and theory-of-mind performance; Children in the experimental condition, only, were also introduced to an invisible Princess Alice and were told that she was watching during the games. Following these measures, all children engaged in a resistance-to-temptation task to determine any differences in inhibition resulting from Princess Alice's suggested presence. I found that children exhibiting a well-developed theory-of-mind were more likely to express belief in Princess Alice than were children lacking this cognitive ability. This research provided support that cognitive maturity, rather than immaturity, may be necessary for children to express belief in novel supernatural agents, and highlighted the importance of context as a mediating factor in children's behavioral inhibition. / by Ashley King. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Growth is a property that is unique to living things. Studies demonstrate that even preschool children use growth to determine whether objects are alive. However, little identifies explanations that children use to attribute growth. The goal of the present study was to investigate how people reason about growth. We hypothesized that older children would outperform younger children in understanding that growth is inevitable for living things, while adults would consistently perform at ceiling levels. Our hypothesis was partially supported. Although adults consistently outperformed children, older children rarely outperformed younger children. Still, both younger and older children performed above chance in attributing growth. Moreover, all participants were more likely to use biological explanations to explain growth. Taken together, this research qualifies the early hypotheses of Piaget (1929) and Carey (1985) that children lack a well developed biological domain before age nine, but suggests that a biological domain, though less developed, is present. Based on these findings, implications for more efficient approaches to science education are discussed. / by Aquilla D. Copeland. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

One of the most fundamental functions of human cognition is to parse an otherwise chaotic world into different kinds of things. The ability to learn what objects are and how to respond to them appropriately is essential for daily living. The literature has presented contrasting evidence about the role of perpetual features such as artifact appearance versus causal or inductive reasoning in chldren's category distinctions (e.g., function). The present project used a child-initiated inquiry paradigm to investigate how children conceptualize artifacts, specifically how they prioritize different types of information that typify not only novel but also familiar objects. Results underscore a hybrid model in which perceptual features and deeper properties act synergistically to inform children's artifact conceptualization. Function, however, appears to be the driving force of this relationship. / by Patricia P. Schultz. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Prospective memory is remembering to perform an action in the future, such as attending a meeting (a time-based task) or picking up milk at the gas station (an eventbased task), and is crucial to achieving goal-directed activities in everyday life. Children who fail to develop prospective memory abilities are likely to experience difficulties interacting with parents, teachers, and peers. To date, research on prospective memory development has been primarily descriptive or focused on underlying executive functioning. This dissertation investigated the developmental relationship between metacognitive representation and prospective memory in preschool and elementary school children and adults. Findings from Study 1 indicated that individual differences in representational ability independently predicted individual differences in 3-year-olds' performance on event-based tasks that are of low-interest. Qualitative changes are important to consider when modeling prospective memory develop ment, as with episodic memory. Study 2 presents findings based on a study using the CyberCruiser 2.0, an Xbox-style racing game designed to assess time-based prospective memory. This study confirmed that kindergarten children are capable of completing this time-based prospective memory task but revealed that performance improved with age. Between kindergarten and 2nd grade, children become better aware of their own mental processes and abilities, allowing them to adjust their strategies and perform more comparable to adults. As a result, in this study, younger children tended to overestimate their prospective memory abilities and were less likely to monitor passing time, causing them to fail more time-based task trials than older children and adults. / Similarly, participants who underestimated the costs of prospective memory failed more time-based tasks relative to those who more accurately assessed these costs. Although this latter relationship was limited to adults, it suggests that a poor metacognitive understanding of the costs of prospective memory may result in missed opportunities to carry out a delayed intention if individuals fail to allocate attentional resources appropriately. These findings have theoretical implications for models of prospective memory and development. Practical implications for educating children are also discussed. / by Kayla B. Causey. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The present study extended the Lewis and Goldberg (1968) study and included the parameter of infant temperament as defined by Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn (1963). As in the Goldberg study, the index of response decrement was used as a measure of the infant’s development. It was hypothesized that response decrement would be positively correlated with high frequency of caregiver stimulation and negatively correlated with high infant intensity and activity ratings. Response decrement is the measured decrease in the amount of time an infant looks at a novel stimulus after several trials. It was computed by observing the infant’s fixation to a single blinking light over four trials, and subtracting the total amount of time looking on trial from trial one.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cognitive skills as measured by Piagetian tasks at approximately 2 years of age and expressive and receptive language scores from tests administered to the same children 2 years later. The questions this study sought to answer were: 1. Is there a significant difference in the performance of normal children and late-talking children on Piagetian cognitive assessment at age 2? 2. Is there a significant relationship between the cognitive scores at age 2 and language scores at age 4 in each of the two diagnostic groups? Sixty-four subjects participated in this study, 27 children with normal language and 37 children considered to be late talkers. These children are part of the Portland Language Development Project, a longitudinal study being conducted at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. The instruments used to gather data for this study were the Uzgiris-Hunt Scales of Infant Psychological Development, the Test of Language Development (TOLD), and the Developmental Sentence Score (DSS). No significant difference was found between normal children and late-talking children on Piagetian tasks. No significant correlation was found between cognitive scores at age 2 and language scores at age 4. The only significant difference found between the groups was in relation to expressive language. The DSS and the expressive language score on the TOLD were significantly different between the normal and late talkers.

An experimental comparison was made of two treatment conditions: a definition statement and a strategy statement, and a no treatment condition. The effect of these variables on the conceptual skills of economically deprived preschoolers was investigated using six geometric configurations. Twelve preschoolers were selected to participate in the study which was conducted in their Head Start classroom. The study utilized an Adapted Alternating Treatment Design with four experimental phases. Phase I was the no treatment condition, Phases II and III were the experimental conditions, and Phase IV was best treatment only condition. Graphic representations of subject performance data was used to portray intersubject and intrasubject variability.Results indicated that the performance of 10 out of 12 (83%) of the subjects improved with analytic assistance and 8 out of 12 (66%) improved using a strategy statement. A limited number (16%) improved using a definition or after receiving no treatment. The findings also demonstrated that the treatment condition producing the best performance in the presence of the other conditions, continued to produce the best performance in the absence of the other conditions.It was concluded that the use of analytic assistance with strategy statements proved most beneficial with economically deprived children. Additionally, the strategy condition caused increased response latency and reduced off task behavior (i.e. looking around the room or playing with test materials). The few children who performed best during the definition condition or no treatment condition made more errors and objected to using a strategy statement.In sum, this investigation demonstrated that while a small proportion of children responded to other conditions, the majority of the children's performance improved following analytic assistance using strategy statements. More specifically, most of the children performed best with strategy statement assistance; for some, however, such assistance appeared to interfere with the learning task.Perhaps the most important practical implication of the present study was that in teaching concepts, strategies and definitions should not be viewed so much as different types of analytic assistance, but as different amounts of prompting. Thus, teachers should fade from strategy to definition assistance and, finally, to no assistance.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-65).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.