This volume creates a bridge across cognitive development and cognitive aging. Pairs of researchers study the rise and fall of specific cognitive functions, such as attention, executive functioning, memory, working memory, representations, language, problem solving, intelligence, and individual differences to find ways in which the study of development and decline converge on common processes and mechanisms. The contributed chapters are framed by an introduction that sets out the problems to be discussed and a conclusion that extracts the common themes and speculates on the implications for theory building. The book is unique in offering a lifespan approach to cognition by experts in the individual facts of cognitive functioning from either the developmental or the aging perspective.

Bilingualism in Development describes research on the intellectual development of bilingual children, showing how it is different from that of monolingual children. The focus is on preschool children, examining how they learn language, how they acquire literacy skills, and how they develop problem-solving ability in different domains. It is unique in that it assembles a wide range of research on children's development and interprets it within an analysis of how bilingualism affects that development. It is the only book to interpret this large research from a single theoretical perspective, leading to coherent conclusions.

Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta view second-language acquisition as one way of coming to grips with the fundamental nature of language, mind, and brain. Although they have conducted some of the key research in the area of second-language acquisition, they also work more broadly in the fields of cognitive and language development as well as in education policy, and thus they are ideally suited to address this issue. Using an array of vivid illustrations, lively anecdotes, and fascinating research examples, they show how five elements - brain, language, mind, self, and culture - make up the complex ecology of language learning. The book considers vital questions: Is the brain "hard-wired" for language learning? Why are the mental operations that allow us to learn language different from those we use to solve math problems or play a musical instrument? How do differences between languages affect language learning? What are various cultures doing to encourage bilingualism?

Bilingualism in Development describes research on the intellectual development of bilingual children, showing how it is different from that of monolingual children. The focus is on preschool children, examining how they learn language, how they acquire literacy skills, and how they develop problem-solving ability in different domains. It is unique in that it assembles a wide range of research on children's development and interprets it within an analysis of how bilingualism affects that development. It is the only book to interpret this large research from a single theoretical perspective, leading to coherent conclusions.

This book is a collection of papers that explore the ways in which bilingual children cope with two language systems. The papers address issues in linguistics, psychology and education, that bear on the abilities that bilingual children use to understand language, to perform highly specialized operations with language, and to function in school settings. All of the papers provide detailed analysis about how specific problems are solved, how bilingualism influences those solutions, and how the social context affects the process. Finally, the implications of these findings for policy setting and the development of bilingual education programs are explored. This will be an important and useful volume at the forefront of current research in an area which is exciting increased interest among linguists and cognitive scientists.