Introduction to the Special Issue on Normal Neuropsychological Development in the School-Age Years

Abstract

In neuropsychological research on normal development relatively little interest has been devoted to age-related changes in school age. This is surprising in light of the significance of the changes that take place in this period of life, the availability of normative data, and the ongoing research on neural development. The studies included in this issue take a closer look at normative data from school-age children of various ages in performances of attention, language, sensorimotor functions, perceptual functions, memory and learning, and functional asymmetries. A finding evident in many of the studies is that age effects seem to be more accentuated below 9 to 10 years than after that age. It is hoped that this special issue will draw attention to the scarcity of data in this realm and to the possibilities of utilizing existing databases for study on normal development in school age.