Patricia J. Bauer , Katherine A. Lee , Jessica A. Dugan , Lucy M. Cronin-Golomb
{"title":"Longitudinal predictors of self-derivation through memory integration—A mechanism of knowledge accumulation","authors":"Patricia J. Bauer , Katherine A. Lee , Jessica A. Dugan , Lucy M. Cronin-Golomb","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106120","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106120","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Knowledge accumulates through direct instruction and as a consequence of productive memory processes. We report a longitudinal investigation of correlates of the specific productive process of self-derivation through memory integration, targeted because it is a compelling model of accumulation of semantic information. We sampled 148 children aged 8 to 12 years at enrollment. At each of two waves 1 year apart, children were tested on self-derivation through integration and on a battery of potential predictors thereof: cognitive abilities (recall of directly taught facts, verbal comprehension, visualization, visual–auditory learning, and working memory), educational experiences, and family socioeconomic status. Age-related variability was eclipsed by relatively stable individual variability. In both concurrent and longitudinal models, the only significant predictor of self-derivation was recall of directly taught facts. Together with prior research, the results suggest that self-derivation of new knowledge through integration is an individual trait not subsumed by general verbal and spatial skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"250 ","pages":"Article 106120"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142630646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is biology destiny? The coherence of children’s beliefs about physical and psychological traits","authors":"Léa Tân Combette, Deborah Kelemen","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106108","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106108","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In adults, biological causes are commonly associated with immutability. However, it remains unclear when during their development children coherently connect these ideas in relation to reasoning about physical and mental traits and whether children reason differently by domain. Understanding this is relevant to illuminating children’s conceptions about the body versus the mind. Prior work has suggested that a more sophisticated differentiated understanding of psychological traits may begin to emerge around 8 years of age. In Study 1a, therefore, we examined U.S. third graders’ reasoning about the inheritance and malleability of physical and mental traits and whether their ideas coherently covary within each domain. In Study 1b, we further investigated the robustness of this differentiated understanding by exploring whether participating in a curriculum that presented simplified information about physical traits affected thinking about mental traits. Results reveal that third graders display robust coherence in their reasoning about trait inheritance and malleability. Children consistently judged physical traits as more inherited and less malleable than mental traits, with children’s ideas about inheritability and malleability showing consistent connections within each domain. Moreover, exposure to science teaching about physical traits did not alter children’s perception that mental traits are less inherited and more malleable. By 8 years of age, therefore, children clearly distinguish body from mind in theoretically coherent ways. Nevertheless, the covariance between beliefs about inheritability and immutability should provoke caution when talking to children about parent–child resemblances in capacities like intelligence lest some children infer that their abilities cannot be improved through effort.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142630644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cross-linguistic relations of morphological awareness between Korean and English to language and reading skills for Korean adolescents","authors":"Joong won Lee , Young-Suk Grace Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106118","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106118","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we explored the cross-linguistic association of morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension between Korean and English for Korean-speaking adolescents who learn English as a foreign language. One hundred twenty-one Korean Grade 7 students were assessed on morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension in Korean and English. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that morphological awareness in Korean and English is best described by language—Korean and English, not a single factor across languages or factors by the type of morphology (inflection, derivation, or compound). Structural equation modeling showed that morphological awareness directly predicted reading comprehension both in Korean and English over and above vocabulary and word reading. There was also a cross-linguistic relation between Korean and English for morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension. Furthermore, Korean morphological awareness predicted English reading comprehension via Korean reading comprehension and English morphological awareness. These findings shed light on the importance of L1 morphological awareness in L1 and L2 reading development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106118"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142607094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social status is related to children’s responses to third-person inequalities","authors":"Tim Wei-Ting Chao, Junyi Mei, Michael T. Rizzo","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106117","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106117","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current study investigated how children’s experiences with advantaged or disadvantaged status within one inequality influence their responses to other inequalities that they are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by. Children (<em>N</em> = 161; 3–8 years of age; 80 girls and 81 boys; sampling population: 70% White, 16% African American, 10% Latine, and 4% Asian American; middle-income families) were first randomly assigned to an advantaged or disadvantaged status within a first-person, gender-based inequality and were then assessed on their allocations of new resources and judgments of rectifying, equal, and perpetuating allocations in response to a separate third-person, economic-based inequality between two other recipients. We found that children who were advantaged by the first-person inequality were less likely to rectify the third-person inequality, especially if they focused on the advantaged recipient’s perspective when reasoning about their allocation. Younger advantaged children were also less likely to judge rectifying the third-party inequality as fair. Taken together, these results demonstrate how children’s experiences with inequalities inform their responses to other third-person inequalities and conceptions of fairness more broadly.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106117"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142607096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gray Atherton , Lucy Robinson , Lucie Guy Smith , Liam Cross
{"title":"The wind in the willows effect: Does age affect human versus animal faux pas recognition?","authors":"Gray Atherton , Lucy Robinson , Lucie Guy Smith , Liam Cross","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children’s literature is rife with anthropomorphic or non-human characters that may be used as a scaffold to teach children about theory of mind (ToM) or the ways in which people think or feel about the social world. In this study, 107 typically developing U.K. school children in Years 1, 3, and 5 (5–10 years of age) completed a human and anthropomorphic ToM test that tested their understanding of faux pas. Specifically, children from these three age groups were given a human version of 20 faux pas stories and an identical animal version of the same stories 1 week apart (with counterbalancing between classes). Pairwise comparison showed that participants in Year 1 did significantly better on the animal ToM test compared with the human ToM test, matching ToM scores of children in Year 3. On the human version of the task, there was a clear progression in age-related ToM abilities, with older children outperforming younger children and improving when the stories were human rather than anthropomorphic. Implications and future directions are discussed, in line with theories of species specialization and the importance of anthropomorphism for children.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142569901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kimia Akhavein , Caron A.C. Clark , Jennifer Mize Nelson , Kimberly Andrews Espy , Jenna E. Finch
{"title":"Children’s arithmetic strategy use trajectories: Exploring the roles of executive functions and sociodemographic characteristics","authors":"Kimia Akhavein , Caron A.C. Clark , Jennifer Mize Nelson , Kimberly Andrews Espy , Jenna E. Finch","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106109","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106109","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although young children often use counting to solve arithmetic problems, over time they move toward more efficient strategies such as direct retrieval and decomposition. Strategy selection has longitudinal associations with children’s math achievement. Existing research indicates that children’s executive functions (EFs) support inhibiting unnecessary strategies and adaptively switching between strategies. Moreover, research has documented gender differences in strategy use, but prior literature does not account for the contributions of socioeconomic factors in children’s strategy trajectories. The current study examined the unique roles of preschoolers’ EFs, gender, household income, and maternal education for the trajectories of strategy use on arithmetic problems across early elementary school. Preschoolers’ EFs were assessed at 5 years 3 months of age, and children completed addition and subtraction problems in first, second, and third grades. Children’s strategies were categorized as retrieval, counting, decomposition, and sign flipping. Results indicated that children with higher EFs were more likely to use retrieval and sign flipping in first grade compared with children with lower EFs, and this advantage was maintained into third grade. Boys used more retrieval and decomposition, whereas girls used more counting strategies, in first grade, and this pattern held longitudinally. Finally, children whose mothers had more years of education were likely to use decomposition and sign flipping in first grade, with an advantage through third grade. Overall, the current study sheds light on how cognitive and sociodemographic factors differentially contribute to children’s accurate strategy use, with implications for how to best target early interventions to support children’s math achievement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106109"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142548378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Natalia Arias-Trejo , Armando Q. Angulo-Chavira , Kim Plunkett
{"title":"The effects of phonological and semantic similarity on early referent identification","authors":"Natalia Arias-Trejo , Armando Q. Angulo-Chavira , Kim Plunkett","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106112","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106112","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Language processing encompasses a sophisticated interplay of phonological (sound-based) and semantic (meaning-based) processes. This intricate interaction develops progressively during early language acquisition. It involves not only the addition of new words to the child’s vocabulary but also the evolving organization of lexico-semantic networks. The aim of the current research was to investigate how young children navigate the complexities of word relationships, with a focus on the interplay between phonological similarity and semantic relatedness. A preferential looking experiment was conducted involving 73 participants divided into two age groups, with 39 aged 18 months and 34 aged 24 months. The experimental design involved auditory presentation of target words together with pairs of target and distractor images that systematically varied the phonological and semantic similarity between the pairs. The results showed a significant developmental progression in young children’s phonological and semantic processing abilities. At 18 months, children predominantly responded to phonological cues, displaying challenges in distinguishing between phonologically similar words regardless of semantic context. By 24 months, there was an evident sensitivity to both phonological and semantic cues. This age group especially showed processing difficulties with words that were both phonologically similar and semantically related, suggesting a more complex integration of lexico-semantic networks. These findings underscore the pivotal role of phonological processing in early language acquisition and point to the gradual integration of semantic relationships into children’s lexicons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106112"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142540347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael T. Willoughby , Erich Lauff , W. Roger Mills-Koonce , Sarah J. Short , Cathi B. Propper
{"title":"The Early Motor Questionnaire facilitates the remote assessment of normative motor development in infancy and toddlerhood","authors":"Michael T. Willoughby , Erich Lauff , W. Roger Mills-Koonce , Sarah J. Short , Cathi B. Propper","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106114","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106114","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the utility of the Early Motor Skills Questionnaire–Extended Version (EMQ-X). Participants included 165 children who were participating in the Brain and Early Experience study, which is a prospective longitudinal study of children followed across the first 5 years of life. Parent-reported motor skills were moderately associated with other aspects of children’s development (temperament and gesture use) and experience (exposure to learning materials), with <em>r</em>s ≈ .25 to .45. Children’s gross motor, fine motor, and perception action subscales exhibited strong internal consistency and pronounced developmental changes across the first 3 years of life, with greater rates of linear change in infancy compared with toddlerhood. Longer gestational age was associated with higher initial levels of motor skills, and prenatal exposure to smoking was associated with slower rates of motor skill acquisition; these effects were comparable for the gross motor, fine motor, and perception action subscales. The EMQ-X is an efficient tool for measuring children’s motor skills and may be of special interest for use in studies where performance-based assessments are not feasible.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106114"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142540348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of ostracism on preschoolers’ over-imitation behaviors","authors":"Alessia Testa , Giada Basset , Chiara Turati , Hermann Bulf , Ermanno Quadrelli","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106110","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106110","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Overimitation represents an early developing behavior implicated in the emergence of learning, affective, and social competences. Adult overimitation is heavily affected by contextual variables such as social ostracism, the experience of being ignored by others in a social context, an experience that threatens several psychological needs, inducing the urge to reaffiliate with a social group to restore the original state of well-being. Yet, the impact of social ostracism on overimitation in children remains unclear. This study explored how a face-to-face triadic inclusive/ostracizing ball-tossing game affects overimitation in predominantly White 3-year-old children (<em>n</em> = 43, 53.4% boys) and 5-year-old children (<em>n</em> = 43, 41.8% boys). Results showed that preschoolers are highly affected by social ostracism experiences, with both age groups displaying decreased positive emotionality and heightened negative emotionality when ostracized. Despite this continuity in the affective and behavioral reactions toward social exclusion, imitation fidelity is differently affected by first-person ostracism; the 3-year-olds imitated more when ostracized, whereas the 5-year-olds did so when included, signaling a developmental difference between the strategy repertoire at different ages. Overall, the current findings shed light on the social influences driving preschoolers’ overimitation behaviors, emphasizing the importance of investigating social mechanisms underlying imitation and young children’s social cognition development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106110"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142510579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developmental trajectories of motor imagery in relation to physical fitness in children aged 7 to 14 years: A 1-year follow-up study","authors":"Luka Šlosar , Katarina Pus , Uros Marusic","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106115","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106115","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Motor imagery (MI) is fundamentally linked to the motor system. It improves motor learning and optimizes motor actions without physical execution, highlighting its unique role in rehabilitation programs and motor performance. Understanding the developmental trajectories of MI and the factors influencing its variability across ages could enable more effective, age-specific strategies for pediatric rehabilitation. This study assessed 65 children aged 7 to 14 years at two time points 1 year apart. MI ability was assessed using the Movement Imagery Questionnaire for Children, and physical fitness was evaluated using the SLOfit testing battery. Among the three perspectives assessed; internal visual imagery (IVI), external visual imagery (EVI), and kinesthetic imagery (KI), KI was unique in not correlating with age at both time points. The development of MI perspectives varied between athletes and non-athletes, with non-athletes showing a decline in IVI compared with athletes. This differential was further evidenced by significant differences in KI between the groups at the second assessment, with a similar trend observed at the first assessment. Of the physical fitness tests, only the 600-m run correlated consistently with KI at both assessments. Our findings suggest that regular participation in sports significantly affects KI performance, highlighting the importance of sports participation for the development of MI abilities in children. Future research should examine additional assessment points in different age groups and sport experience to better understand the development of MI and its potential implications for pediatric rehabilitation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"249 ","pages":"Article 106115"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142510577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}