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The study examines the relationship between the development of logical processes required in deductive reasoning and their ocmsions of use. Verbal syllogism problems were presented to 4-to 5-year-old children. The problems were systematically varied in content (fantasy premises; premises incongruent with real-world events; premises congruent with real-world events), form, and order of presentation of problem types. Results indicate that young children are capable of making deductive inferences required in solving syllogism problems, and that these abilities are displayed in constrained conditions. The relationship of the problem content to realworld knowledge and the sequence of presentation of the problem types affected the display of logical abilities.

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A variety of claims has been made about the relationship between literacy and intellectual development. Many developmental psychologists hold that skills in reading and writing lead inevitably to major transformations in cognitive capacities. Drawing from their observations of unschooled but literate adults, Sylvia Scribner and Michael Cole have questioned some of the generalizations made about the consequences of literacy. Their research among the Vai of Liberia, a people who have invented a syllabic writing system to represent their own language,provides a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of becoming literate separtely from the effects of attending school.