Showing papers in "Journal of Cognition and Development in 2016"
TL;DR: Using recall as a measure of learning, whereas children typically failed to recall nonexplanations, their recall of explanatory information was consistently high and also varied appropriately across differing levels of information provided.
Abstract: Research with preschool children has shown that explanations are important to them in that they actively seek explanations in their conversations with adults. But what sorts of explanations do they prefer, and what, if anything, do young children learn from the explanations they receive? Following a preliminary study with adults (N = 67) to establish materials for use with children, we addressed this question using a seminaturalistic methodology. Four- and 5-year-olds (N = 69) were dissatisfied when receiving nonexplanations to their explanatory questions, but they were satisfied when receiving explanations, and their satisfaction varied appropriately across several levels of explanatory information. Moreover, using recall as a measure of learning, whereas children typically failed to recall nonexplanations, their recall of explanatory information was consistently high and also varied appropriately across differing levels of information provided. These results confirm that children not only actively seek ...
85 citations
TL;DR: The broader autism phenotype (BAP) is a term applied to individuals with personality and cognitive traits that are similar to but milder than those observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The broader autism phenotype (BAP) is a term applied to individuals with personality and cognitive traits that are similar to but milder than those observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Subtle autistic traits in the core diagnostic domains of social communication and rigid behavior were described in family members of people with an ASD even in the initial reports of ASD. In this article, we discuss the benefits and limitations of researching the BAP in typically developing individuals for understanding autism and development.
76 citations
TL;DR: The human pupil is a small opening in each eye that dilates in response not only to changes in luminance, but also to novel events as mentioned in this paper, and changes in pupil diameter are an attractive measure in studies on infants' and young children's physical and social cognition.
Abstract: The human pupil is a small opening in each eye that dilates in response not only to changes in luminance, but also to novel events. Therefore, changes in pupil diameter are an attractive measure in studies on infants’ and young children’s physical and social cognition. However, designing and interpreting pupillometry studies for developmental populations come with caveats. Here we give an overview of how psychologically induced changes in pupil diameter have been investigated and interpreted in developmental studies. We highlight the methodological challenges when designing experiments for infants and young children and provide several suggestions to address common problems. The fact that pupillometry provides a sensitive measure of the time course of responses to novelty extends the scope of possibilities for researchers studying infant cognition and development.
71 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, infants aged 14 and 18 months old were administered ToM tasks based on the violation-of-expectation paradigm which measured intention, true belief, desire, and false-belief understanding.
Abstract: The development of theory of mind (ToM) in infancy has been mainly documented through studies conducted on a single age group with a single task. Very few studies have examined ToM abilities other than false belief, and very few studies have used a within-subjects design. During 2 testing sessions, infants aged 14 and 18 months old were administered ToM tasks based on the violation-of-expectation paradigm which measured intention, true belief, desire, and false-belief understanding. Infants’ looking times at the congruent and incongruent test trials of each task were compared, and results revealed that both groups of infants looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the intention and true-belief tasks. In contrast, only 18-month-olds looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial of the desire task and neither age group looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the false-belief task. Additionally, intertask comparisons revealed only a significant relation between performa...
63 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that children were more likely to scale proportional components when being presented with part-whole as compared to part-part displays, suggesting that a sense of spatial proportions is associated with an un...
Abstract: Proportional reasoning involves thinking about parts and wholes (i.e., about fractional quantities). Yet, research on proportional reasoning and fraction learning has proceeded separately. This study assessed proportional reasoning and formal fraction knowledge in 8- to 10-year-olds. Participants (N = 52) saw combinations of cherry juice and water in displays that highlighted either part–whole or part–part relations. Their task was to indicate on a continuous rating scale how much each mixture would taste of cherries. Ratings suggested the use of a proportional integration rule for both kinds of displays, although more robustly and accurately for part–whole displays. The findings indicate that children may be more likely to scale proportional components when being presented with part–whole as compared with part–part displays. Crucially, ratings for part–whole problems correlated with fraction knowledge, even after controlling for age, suggesting that a sense of spatial proportions is associated with an un...
61 citations
TL;DR: This paper describes a simple method for creating cross-platform, interactive tablet experiments using open Web-based resources, and illustrates this method by collecting data from 1- to 4-year-old children in a word-recognition paradigm, using 3 different techniques.
Abstract: Mobile, touch-screen devices are increasingly ubiquitous in children’s lives. The extensive use of such devices presents an exciting opportunity for data collection. We describe a simple method for creating cross-platform, interactive tablet experiments using open Web-based resources. We illustrate this method by collecting data from 1- to 4-year-old children in a word-recognition paradigm, using 3 different techniques: tablets, eye tracking, and an in-person storybook paradigm. Both accuracy and reaction-time data from the tablet compared favorably with the other methods. Tablets should be considered as a viable method for collecting low-cost, well-controlled developmental data.
61 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of relational knowledge and executive function (EF) to preschoolers' understanding of ABBABB was examined and it was found that greater EF ability was beneficial to children's understanding of repeating pattern knowledge.
Abstract: Children’s knowledge of repeating patterns (e.g., ABBABB) is a central component of early mathematics, but the developmental mechanisms underlying this knowledge are currently unknown. We sought clarity on the importance of relational knowledge and executive function (EF) to preschoolers’ understanding of repeating patterns. One hundred twenty-four children aged 4 to 5 years old were administered a relational knowledge task, 3 EF tasks (working memory, inhibition, set shifting), and a repeating pattern assessment before and after a brief pattern intervention. Relational knowledge, working memory, and set shifting predicted preschoolers’ initial pattern knowledge. Working memory also predicted improvements in pattern knowledge after instruction. The findings indicated that greater EF ability was beneficial to preschoolers’ repeating pattern knowledge and that working-memory capacity played a particularly important role in learning about patterns. Implications are discussed in terms of the benefits of relat...
58 citations
TL;DR: The authors developed the IDAQ-Child Form (IDAQ-CF) and report on two studies, one for adults and one for children, where the adults (N = 304) and the children (n = 90) in 3 age groups (5, 7, and 9 years old) were administered with an Attribution Interview, which probed their conceptions of a robot and puppet.
Abstract: The study of anthropomorphism in adults has received considerable interest with the development of the Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism Questionnaire (IDAQ; Waytz, Cacioppo, & Epley, 2010). Anthropomorphism in children—its development, correlates, and consequences—is also of significant interest, yet a comparable measure does not exist. To fill this gap, we developed the IDAQ-Child Form (IDAQ-CF) and report on 2 studies. In Study 1A, adults (N = 304) were administered the IDAQ and IDAQ-CF to directly assess comparability between the measures. In Study 1B, an additional 350 adults were administered the IDAQ-CF to confirm that the new measure had the same underlying structure as the original IDAQ when the measures were not administered together. In Study 2, children (N = 90) in 3 age groups—5, 7, and 9 years old—were administered the IDAQ-CF and an Attribution Interview, which probed their conceptions of a robot and puppet. Results indicated the IDAQ-CF a) is comparable to the original IDAQ in adu...
56 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review of social categorization research on race and gender/sex is presented, focusing on the social categories that have received the most attention in the developmental literature.
Abstract: Developmental research on social categorization has overwhelmingly focused on perceptions about and experiences of individuals who are clear or prototypical members of discrete and usually dichotomous social categories. For example, studies of social categorization, stereotyping, prejudice, and social identity have generally explored how children reason about others who are gender-typical boys or girls or monoracial White or Black children. Similarly, research participants have generally been gender-typical and monoracial. However, our efforts to build theories that account for the true range of variation require acknowledging the increasing visibility of children who do not fit into these discrete categories and raise the question of whether existing theories can capture the dynamics that arise for them. Focusing on race and gender/sex, the social categories that have received the most attention in the developmental literature, we review research that has gone beyond simple dichotomies by including multi...
51 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that 3-year-olds used demonstration, whereas 4-and 5-year olds added verbal explanations and began to adapt contingently to the learners' changing knowledge level.
Abstract: The relations among children’s theory of mind (ToM), their understanding of the intentionality of teaching, and their own peer teaching strategies were tested. Seventy-five 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds completed 11 ToM and understanding-of-teaching tasks. Subsequently, 30 of the children were randomly chosen to teach a peer how to play a board game, and their teaching strategies and levels of contingent teaching were recorded. There were developmental changes in the children’s understanding of teaching as an intentional activity. When teaching their peers, 3-year-olds used demonstration, whereas 4- and 5-year-olds added verbal explanations and began to adapt contingently to the learners’ changing knowledge level. Relations among ToM, understanding of teaching, and teaching level were found. The results suggest that the development of children’s teaching strategies and their contingency are closely tied to the development of ToM.
46 citations
TL;DR: This study investigated when children first begin to understand shape names and how they apply those labels to unusual instances, and possible mechanisms driving this initial development of shape knowledge and implications of that development for school readiness are explored.
Abstract: How do toddlers learn the names of geometric forms? Past work suggests that preschoolers have fragmentary knowledge and that defining properties are not understood until well into elementary school. The current study investigates when children first begin to understand shape names and how they apply those labels to unusual instances. We tested 25- and 30-month-old children's (N = 30 each) understanding of names for canonical shapes (commonly-encountered instances, e.g., equilateral triangles), non-canonical shapes (more irregular instances, e.g., scalene triangles), and embedded shapes (shapes within a larger picture, e.g., triangular slices of pizza). At 25 months, children know very few names, including those for canonical shapes. By 30 months, however, children have acquired more shape names, and are beginning to apply them to some of the less typical instances of the shapes. Possible mechanisms driving this initial development of shape knowledge and implications of that development for school readiness are explored.
TL;DR: The findings suggest that social interactivity is critical to engaging attention and promoting learning from screen media up until a certain point, after which social stimuli may draw attention away from target images and impair children’s word learning.
Abstract: Television can be a powerful education tool; however, content makers must understand the factors that engage attention and promote learning from screen media Prior research has suggested that social engagement is critical for learning and that interactivity may enhance the educational quality of children’s media The present study examined the effects of increasing the social interactivity of television on children’s visual attention and word learning Three- to 5-year-old (Mage = 4;5, SD = 9 months) children completed a task in which they viewed videos of an actress teaching them the Swahili label for an on-screen image Each child viewed these video clips in 4 conditions that parametrically manipulated social engagement and interactivity We then tested whether each child had successfully learned the Swahili labels Though 5-year-old children were able to learn words in all conditions, we found that there was an optimal level of social engagement that best supported learning for all participants, defin
TL;DR: The authors examined the relative influence of the form and function of substitute objects and the age gap between pretense production and comprehension using a tightly controlled procedure, and investigated whether preschoolers' comprehension of substitute object pretense is predicted by a) theory of mind (ToM), because it involves reading pretender intent, and (b) executive function (EF) involves inhibiting the substitute object's identity.
Abstract: Substitute object pretense is one of the earliest-developing forms of pretense, and yet it changes considerably across the preschool years. By 3.5 years of age, children can pretend with substitutes that are highly dissimilar from their intended referents (Elder & Pederson, 1978), but even older children have difficulty understanding such pretense in others (Bigham & Bourchier-Sutton, 2007). The present studies had 3 aims: 1) to examine the relative influence of the form and function of substitute objects; 2) to replicate the age gap between pretense production and comprehension using a tightly controlled procedure; and 3) to investigate whether preschoolers’ comprehension of substitute object pretense is predicted by a) theory of mind (ToM), because it involves reading pretender intent, and (b) executive function (EF), because it involves inhibiting the substitute object’s identity. In Study 1, 3- to 5-year-old children performed at ceiling on a test of substitute object pretense production, whereas pret...
TL;DR: Results show children’s visual attention to relevant elements in dynamic events is influenced by their prior comparison experience, and they show that young children benefit from seeing similar events as they learn to compare events to each other.
Abstract: An important problem verb learners must solve is how to extend verbs. Children could use cross-situational information to guide their extensions, however comparing events is difficult. Two studies test whether children benefit from initially seeing a pair of similar events ('progressive alignment') while learning new verbs, and whether this influence changes with age. In Study 1, 2 ½- and 3 ½-year-old children participated in an interactive task. Children who saw a pair of similar events and then varied events were able to extend verbs at test, differing from a control group; children who saw two pairs of varied events did not differ from the control group. In Study 2, events were presented on a monitor. Following the initial pair of events that varied by condition, a Tobii x120 eye tracker recorded 2 ½-, 3 ½- and 4 ½-year-olds' fixations to specific elements of events (AOIs) during the second pair of events, which were the same across conditions. After seeing the pair of events that were highly similar, 2 ½-year-olds showed significantly longer fixation durations to agents and to affected objects as compared to the all varied condition. At test, 3 ½-year-olds were able to extend the verb, but only in the progressive alignment condition. These results are important because they show children's visual attention to relevant elements in dynamic events is influenced by their prior comparison experience, and they show that young children benefit from seeing similar events as they learn to compare events to each other.
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether preschoolers use social features (e.g., niceness) for making epistemic inferences and, conversely, whether they use intellectual features for making social inferences.
Abstract: In many ways, evaluating informants based on their features is a problem of induction: Children rely on the assumption that observable informant characteristics (e.g., traits, behaviors, social categories) will predict unobservable characteristics (e.g., future behavior, knowledge states, intentions). Yet to make sensible inferences, children must recognize what informant features are relevant for what types of inferences. The current research investigated whether preschoolers use social features (e.g., niceness) for making epistemic inferences and, conversely, whether they use intellectual features (e.g., expertise) for making social inferences. In the study, 96 preschoolers (Mage = 4.96 years) were asked to attribute knowledge and behaviors to a mean informant, a nice informant, and a neutral informant. Between subjects, we varied which informant had expertise. We found that when attributing knowledge, children used both features: attributing more knowledge to nicer informants, but also attributing more...
TL;DR: In this paper, a rethinking of the notion that performance inherently reflects disability, ability, or capacity in favor of a more nuanced story that involves an emphasis on styles and biases that reflect real-world attending is presented.
Abstract: Evidence from the study of attention among persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children suggests a rethinking of the notion that performance inherently reflects disability, ability, or capacity in favor of a more nuanced story that involves an emphasis on styles and biases that reflect real-world attending. We provide examples from behavioral and physiological research in which performance on attention tasks is not solely a function of abilities, or disabilities, per se but rather is also a function of the ways in which they are implemented. Thus, the study of attention both among persons with ASD and in typical development might best be recast in terms of the question of “how” rather than “how well.”
TL;DR: This article examined parent-child conversations about impossible and improbable events and links between parents' explanations about those events and children's possibility judgments in a reasoning task and found that parents' speculation about potential mechanisms for improbable events during a parent and child book-sharing activity predicted childrens possibility judgments for similar events in an individual task and accounted for more of the variance than children's age.
Abstract: Young children tend to judge improbable events to be impossible, yet there is variability across age and across individuals. Our study examined parent–child conversations about impossible and improbable events and links between parents’ explanations about those events and children’s possibility judgments in a reasoning task. Regression analyses revealed that parents’ speculation about potential mechanisms for improbable events during a parent–child book-sharing activity predicted children’s possibility judgments for similar events in an individual task and accounted for more of the variance than children’s age. Also, parents’ skepticism regarding mechanisms for impossible events was negatively correlated with children’s judgments about the possibility of improbable events. Additionally, children’s overall causal justifications for their judgments were correlated with parents’ talk about speculative mechanisms. Results suggest the importance of conversation with parents for young children’s developing unde...
TL;DR: The authors found that 4-year-old children had high levels of recall of the activities, the locations, and the conjunctions of activities and locations, implying that they had formed memory representations that featured activities bound in locations.
Abstract: Episodic memories are of specific events and experiences associated with particular times and places. Whereas memory for the temporal aspects of past events has been a focus of research attention, memory for the location in which events were experienced has been less fully investigated. The limited developmental research suggests that preschool-age children, in particular, may have difficulty remembering the location in which they experienced specific events. In 2 experiments, 4-year-old children engaged in 4 unique activities in 4 unique locations in and around a laboratory suite. In Experiment 1, the children had high levels of recall of the activities, the locations, and the conjunctions of activities and locations, implying that they had formed memory representations that featured activities bound in locations. In Experiment 2, we tested whether 1 element of the bound representation—the location of an activity—served as a reliable cue to recall of the other element—the activity itself. The test was po...
TL;DR: This paper found that children significantly improved their probability of answering correctly across sessions on trials on which numerosity conflicted with the total surface area of object sets significantly more than on trials in which total surface areas positively correlated with numerosity.
Abstract: Recent findings have suggested that adults’ and children’s approximate number system (ANS) acuity may be malleable through training, but research on ANS acuity has largely been conducted with adults and children who are from middle- to high-income homes. We conducted 2 experiments to test the malleability of ANS acuity in preschool-aged children from low-income homes and to test how non-numerical stimulus features affected performance. In Experiment 1, mixed-effects models indicated that children significantly improved their ratio achieved across training. Children’s change in probability of responding correctly across sessions was qualified by an interaction with surface area features of the arrays such that children improved their probability of answering correctly across sessions on trials in which numerosity conflicted with the total surface area of object sets significantly more than on trials in which total surface area positively correlated with numerosity. In Experiment 2, we found that children w...
TL;DR: The present data suggest that macaque infants possess both experience-independent and experientially tuned face biases; in human infants, early face skills may likewise be driven by both experience and evolutionary relevance; future studies should consider both of these factors.
Abstract: In human children and adults, familiar face types—typically own-age and own-species faces—are discriminated better than other face types; however, human infants do not appear to exhibit an own-age bias but instead better discriminate adult faces, which they see more often. There are two possible explanations for this pattern: Perceptual attunement predicts advantages in discrimination for the most experienced face types. Additionally or alternatively, there may be an experience-independent bias for infants to discriminate own-species faces, an adaptation for evolutionarily relevant faces. These possibilities have not been disentangled in studies thus far, and these studies did not control infants’ early experiences with faces. In the present study, we tested these predictions in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) reared under controlled environments, not exposed to adult conspecifics. We measured newborns’ (15–25 days; n = 27) and 6- to 7-month-olds’ (n = 35) discrimination of human and macaque faces at 3 a...
TL;DR: Preliminary support is provided for the hypothesis that underlying performance across these different tasks involves multiple—elemental—imitation mechanisms for learning and copying domain-specific information across tasks.
Abstract: During the first 5 years of life, the versatility, breadth, and fidelity with which children imitate change dramatically. Currently, there is no model to explain what underlies such significant changes. To that end, the present study examined whether task-independent but domain-specific—elemental—imitation mechanism explains performance across imitation tasks or domains. Preschool-age children (n = 156) were tested on 4 imitation tasks, 2 object-based (animal, puzzle box) and 2 computer-based (cognitive, motor-spatial). All tasks involved 3 serial actions. The animal task involved making an animal face, and the puzzle box task involved manipulating a box to retrieve a reward. The cognitive task involved responding to 3 different pictures in a specific picture order, and the motor-spatial task involved responding to 3 identical pictures in a specific spatial order. A principal component analysis including performance on all 4 tasks produced 2 components: “cognitive imitation” (cognitive and animal tasks) a...
TL;DR: This paper found that even 4-7-and 8-10-year-olds can distinguish works by artists from superficially similar works by children and animals when there are no labels to guide them.
Abstract: While it is sometimes claimed that abstract art requires little skill and is indistinguishable from the scribbles of young children, recent research has shown that even adults with no training in art can distinguish works by abstract expressionists from superficially similar works by children and even elephants, monkeys, and apes (Hawley-Dolan & Winner, 2011). We presented 4-7- and 8-10-year-olds with 18 paired images, one in each pair by an abstract expressionist and the other by a child or animal, and asked which they preferred and which was better. Each participant viewed the first third of the pairs unlabeled and the rest either with correct or reversed labels (artist, and child, monkey, or elephant). Three unexpected findings emerged. First, even 4-7-year-olds can distinguish works by artists from superficially similar works by children and animals when there are no labels to guide them. Second, children’s aesthetic responses are not aligned with those of adults: children often chose works labeled ch...
TL;DR: The authors found that children tend to inform the previously knowledgeable person rather than the previously ignorant person, when the knowledgeable person stated that she already knew the information the participant had to share, and in no case was the opposite pattern observed: children never chose to inform a person who had known less.
Abstract: Children recognize that people who know more are better informants than those who know less. How does an individual’s prior knowledge affect children’s decisions about whom to inform? In 3 experiments, 3- to 6-year-old children were invited to share a novel piece of information with 1 of 2 potential recipients who differed in their recent history of knowledge. Children tended to inform the previously knowledgeable person rather than the previously ignorant person. This same effect was observed in a 4th experiment when the knowledgeable person stated that she already knew the information the participant had to share. In no case was the opposite pattern observed: Children never chose to inform the person who had known less. These results seem to conflict with equity considerations and may reflect a preference to affiliate with competent social partners.
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found evidence that children misattribute affect elicited by attitudinally positive (e.g., cute animals) and negative primes to neutral stimuli (inkblots).
Abstract: In the current research, we examined whether the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) could be successfully adapted as an implicit measure of children’s attitudes. We tested this possibility in 3 studies with 5- to 10-year-old children. In Study 1, we found evidence that children misattribute affect elicited by attitudinally positive (e.g., cute animals) and negative (e.g., aggressive animals) primes to neutral stimuli (inkblots). In Study 2, we found that, as expected, children’s responses following flower and insect primes were moderated by gender. Girls (but not boys) were more likely to judge inkblots as pleasant when they followed flower primes. Children in Study 3 showed predicted affect misattribution following happy-face compared with sad-face primes. In addition, children’s responses on this child-friendly AMP predicted their self-reported empathy: The greater children’s spontaneous misattribution of affect following happy and sad primes, the more children reported feeling the joy and pain of ot...
TL;DR: This paper found that children whose 2nd-grade teachers included greater amounts of cognitive processing language during instruction showed greater growth in math fluency and calculation than did their peers whose teachers employed lower levels of CPL.
Abstract: Although high-quality early educational environments are thought to be related to the growth of children’s skills in mathematics, relatively little is known about specific aspects of classroom instruction that may promote these abilities. Data from a longitudinal investigation were used to investigate associations between teachers’ language while teaching mathematics and their students’ growth in mathematical skill during the 2nd grade. Specifically, the extent to which mathematics lessons included cognitive-processing language (CPL)—instruction that is rich in references to cognitive processes, metacognition, and requests for remembering—was related to changes in students’ math achievement. Demonstrating the role of the language of instruction, the findings indicated that children whose 2nd-grade teachers included greater amounts of CPL during instruction evidenced greater growth in math fluency and calculation than did their peers whose teachers employed lower levels of CPL.
TL;DR: Turnbull, Carpendale, and Racine as discussed by the authors examined siblings' knowledge about the teaching concept during naturalistic teaching contexts, wherein children's communicative interactions were used as a gateway to their social understanding.
Abstract: This study examined siblings’ knowledge about the teaching concept during naturalistic teaching contexts, wherein children’s communicative interactions were used as a gateway to their social understanding (Turnbull, Carpendale, & Racine, 2009). Participants included 39 sibling dyads (older age group, Mage = 6;4; younger age group, Mage = 4;5) observed for six 90-min sessions at home. Teaching episodes were identified and coded for: a) initiation of teaching (i.e., assumes role or learner requests teaching), b) knowledge states (i.e., knowledge, lack of knowledge, questioning knowledge), c) transfer of knowledge (i.e., learning), and d) teaching strategies (e.g., direct instruction). Children who assumed the teaching role referenced knowledge and questioning knowledge, whereas learners requested teaching by referencing a lack of knowledge. Firstborn learners were more likely to reference knowledge versus second-born learners who referenced a lack of knowledge. Transfer of knowledge occurred when teachers r...
TL;DR: Results revealed that children were able to evaluate the fit between the new information and their existing knowledge; this information then governed their decision regarding whether to seek testimony.
Abstract: In 2 studies, we attempted to capture the information-processing abilities underlying children’s reality-status judgments. Forty 5- to 6-year-olds and 53 7- to 8-year-olds heard about novel entities (animals) that varied in their fit with children’s world knowledge. After hearing about each entity, children could either guess reality status immediately or listen to testimony first. Informants varied in their expertise and in their testimony, which either supported or refuted the entities’ existence. Results revealed that children were able to evaluate the fit between the new information and their existing knowledge; this information then governed their decision regarding whether to seek testimony. Testimony had the strongest effect when new information did not conflict with, but was also not representative of, children’s knowledge.
TL;DR: The importance of conceptualizing both typical and atypical development as a notnecessarily linear, interconnected, and multifaceted set of individual trajectories embedded in real-world contexts is discussed in this paper.
Abstract: Various theorists have argued for the importance of a developmental approach to studying typical development (Karmiloff-Smith, 1998; Lerner, 1996; Lerner & Hood, 1986; Masten & Cicchetti, 2010; Overton, 2014; Overton & Lerner, 2012, 2014), and there are reasons to believe that this issue is even more critical to the study of atypical development (Thomas, 2016; Thomas et al., 2009). In this article, we bring together perspectives from a variety of theorists to outline the importance of conceptualizing both typical and atypical development as a not-necessarily-linear, interconnected, and multifaceted set of individual trajectories embedded in real-world contexts (Karmiloff-Smith, 1998; Masten & Cicchetti, 2010; Overton & Lerner, 2012). Using examples from studies of atypical brain and behavior, we describe 6 lenses that can be applied to developmental research.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the effects of pedagogical cues to an artist's referential intention on 2-and 2.5-year-old children's understanding of drawings in a matching task without verbal labels support.
Abstract: Three studies investigated the effects of pedagogical cues to an artist’s referential intention on 2- and 2.5-year-old children’s understanding of drawings in a matching task without verbal labels support. Results showed that pedagogical cues, the combination of the artist’s eye gaze while she was creating the drawings (nonlinguistic cues), and verbal descriptions about her graphic actions (linguistic cues) enabled 2-year-olds to match highly realistic line drawings with referents. However, 2-year-olds’ performance was not influenced to an equal degree by nonlinguistic and linguistic cues; verbal scripts appeared to be the critical aspect of pedagogical demonstration even with predrawn pictures. By contrast, at 2.5 years of age, children inferred the artist’s intention when comprehending drawings in the absence of pedagogical cues. This research illustrates the potential power of pedagogical demonstration to communicate referential intentions in the pictorial symbol domain.
TL;DR: This paper found that children across both cultures easily inferred basic personality traits, such as nice and mean, about unfamiliar peers from behavioral information, whether or not they were specifically prompted to do so, and children were able to identify peers they had seen before, to remember the traits associated with these peers, and to anticipate future behaviors consistent with the traits they had attributed.
Abstract: To adult humans, the task of forming an impression of another social being seems effortless and even obligatory. In 2 experiments, we offer the first systematic cross-cultural examination of impression formation in European American and East Asian preschool children. Children across both cultures easily inferred basic personality traits, such as nice and mean, about unfamiliar peers from behavioral information, whether or not they were specifically prompted to do so. Children were able to identify peers they had seen before, to remember the traits associated with these peers, and to anticipate future behaviors consistent with the traits they had attributed. Thus, for basic traits, the ability to make behavior-to-behavior predictions, via an intervening trait inference, is present in young children across diverse cultures.