Cognitive Development And Individual Variability

The standard cognitive developmental approach still consists of cross-sectional studies comparing different ages. However, it has long been shown, for instance, by means of longitudinal studies, that the results are rather different when viewed from a longitudinal perspective. Moreover, there are very few studies adopting a multivariate design rather than a univariate one. As a result, we know little about intraindividual variability across tasks. The focus has systematically been on groups and not on individuals. The necessity to focus on the individual has been repeatedly emphasized, most recently in very important papers by Nesselroade and Molenaar. However, results are systematically presented based on aggregated data. Anecdotic but very illustrative can be the following statement recently read in a review: "The findings make a compelling case that intraindividual variability exists but not such a strong case that it matters. Said another way, measuring such variability often increases the testing burden on participants and researchers alike, sometimes substantially. What deep theoretical insights are likely to justify the extra effort? Many readers may conclude something like, 'Yeah, interesting, but not worth the time, effort, and cost'." This Special Issue represents a collective effort by authors coming from different geographical and theoretical horizons to convince the skeptical developmentalist that the effort is justified.

The standard approach to cognitive development most frequently consists of cross-sectional studies comparing different ages and groups while restricted to a single task. The necessity to focus on the individual in an idiographic perspective, rather than on the task or the variable, has been repeatedly emphasized, most recently in several very important papers by Nesselroade and Molenaar. Variability has also emerged as a crucial characteristic. Moreover, understanding the developmental construction of a given cognitive achievement is imperative to understanding cognitive functioning in adulthood. The general objective of this book is to focus on the individual by studying intraindividual and interindividual variability in various cognitive tasks, that is, intraindividual variability across items of a given task (“inconsistency”), across various cognitive tasks (“dispersion”), and/or across years (“intraindividual change”), and of course, on interindividual differences in intraindividual variability. This book presents empirical studies that have been conducted by research groups in Europe and in North America, prominent in the field of variability and development or methodology. The 26 authors/co-authors include senior authors such as Lautrey, Schmiedek, Dauvier, van der Maas, Ghisletta, Stawski, MacDonald, and de Ribaupierre.

The Sixth Edition of David F. Bjorklund and Kayla B. Causey’s topically organized Children’s Thinking presents a current, comprehensive, and dynamic examination of cognitive development. The book covers individual children and their developmental journeys while also following the general paths of overall cognitive development in children. This unique and effective approach gives readers a holistic view of children’s cognitive development, acknowledging that while no two children are exactly alike, they tend to follow similar developmental patterns. Supported by the latest research studies and data, the Sixth Edition provides valuable insights for readers to better understand and work with children.

Over the past three decades mounting evidence has suggested that infants’ social perceptual and social cognitive abilities are considerably richer than was once thought. By the end of the second year of life, infants discriminate faces along various social dimensions, attend to and understand others’ goals and intentions, use the emotions of others to guide their learning and behavior, attribute dispositional characteristics to other agents, and make basic social evaluations. What has also become clear is that there is a great deal of variability in infants’ social perception and cognition. A critical, outstanding question concerns the nature and meaning of such variability. The proposed Research Topic welcomes papers addressing cutting-edge questions regarding variability and individual differences in early social perception and social cognition. The goal of these papers is to investigate overarching questions in this domain, which are necessary to move the field forward. Variability in early social perception and social cognition (among other domains) in infancy and early childhood is often attributed to noise, or overlooked in favor of focusing on age-related changes. Yet, recent work suggests that variability in social perceptual and social cognitive tasks reliably inter-relates, and predicts real-world social behaviors. For example, infants’ everyday experience with different face categories predicts individual differences in face processing, infants’ production of goal-directed actions predicts their simultaneous understanding of these actions, and variability in social attention during the second year of life is related to theory of mind during the preschool years. These findings suggest that variability in performance on social perception and social cognition tasks is not merely a nuisance variable, but, rather, may provide the key to addressing significant questions regarding the nature of infants’ social perception and social cognition, and the processes that underlie developmental change. Acknowledging and closely examining and investigating variability in early social perceptual and social cognitive abilities may represent a powerful approach for understanding development in (at least) two ways. First, variability can signal transitional points in the developmental onset of a given ability. Thus, such variability, and the extent to which variability relates to experience and/or other abilities, can be used to test hypotheses regarding mechanisms that underlie developmental changes. Second, variability can represent more enduring individual differences between infants. In this case, critical questions arise regarding the source of individual differences (that is, what factors shape the emergence of individual differences?) and whether such early individual differences contribute to the development of more advanced and sophisticated forms of social cognition and behavior. The goal of this Research Topic will be to encourage researchers to take variability in early social perception and cognition seriously. Papers that give variability center stage, and are aimed at addressing the value of variability for identifying developmental mechanisms, as well as investigating the existence, source, and antecedents of early individual differences in social perception and social cognition are welcomed. Taken together, the contributed papers will provide integral new information to the study of social perception and social cognition over the first three years of life.

This text integrates two related areas of developmental psychology: the study of cognitive development and the study of the individual differences in childrens' thinking.

The Sixth Edition of the topically organized Children’s Thinking presents a current, comprehensive, and dynamic examination of cognitive development. The book covers individual children and their developmental journeys while also following the general paths of overall cognitive development in children. This unique and effective approach gives readers a holistic view of children’s cognitive development, acknowledging that while no two children are exactly alike, they tend to follow similar developmental patterns. Supported by the latest research studies and data, the Sixth Edition provides valuable insights for readers to better understand and work with children.

Developmental changes in cognitive abilities in childhood have long been of interest to researchers across many fields, including behavioral sciences, communications, education, and medicine. With the publication of research findings showing individual differences in the development of children's learning skills has come the realization that models, methodologies, and analysis approaches that include consideration of individual differences are needed. It has brought an increase in research collaborations among experts in different fields who bring different approaches together in studies of cognitive abilities. This work has yielded a growing body of knowledge about how children with normal abilities and those with developmental disorders learn, gain skills in social competency, develop decision making and planning abilities, and acquire language skills and the skills needed for reading and writing. More recently, researchers have sought to use this body of knowledge as a basis for the early identification of children at risk for cognitive delays and for the development and evaluation of intervention approaches. The chapters in this book review literature in five areas of cognition, and provide theory- and research-based information on the applications of research findings and intervention approaches. Throughout the chapters, information on the interactions of different cognitive abilities and the role of individual differences in development that influences development assessments is included.

This eBook attempts to unify the contributions of different research groups investigating the sources of variability in executive functions, discussing the most recent developments and integrating the knowledge accumulated across different fields. It consists of a compilation of empirical, theoretical and review articles studying executive functions in both clinical and healthy human populations. Some of the key influences on intra- and inter-variability in executive functions discussed include the developmental trajectory of executive functions, healthy and pathological aging in executive functions, as well as the influence of environmental factors and intelligence on executive functions.