Cognitive Development最新文献_第3页

Relations between morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge and word reading in different orthographies and scripts: Evidence from Africa and Asia 不同正字法和文字中词形意识、词汇知识和单词阅读的关系：来自非洲和亚洲的证据

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101698

Lieke Stoffelsma , Kelvin Fai Hong Lui , Catherine McBride , Isaac N. Mwinlaaru , Yanyan Ye

{"title":"Relations between morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge and word reading in different orthographies and scripts: Evidence from Africa and Asia","authors":"Lieke Stoffelsma , Kelvin Fai Hong Lui , Catherine McBride , Isaac N. Mwinlaaru , Yanyan Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101698","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101698","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the relations between morphological awareness (MA), vocabulary knowledge and word reading among first language learners of Akan, Chinese and Zulu, together representing two different scripts and three different morphological systems. By including three languages that are underrepresented in cross-linguistic literacy research, the study contributed to a more inclusive global research on child development. As the languages under study represent a unique set of linguistic features that are distinct from Indo-European languages, the study broadens our understanding of nuances in linguistic relations. Participants included native speakers of Akan (n = 217), Chinese (n = 275) and Zulu (n = 175) with a mean age of 13.0; 9.5; and 11.7 years respectively. Informed by the Lexical Quality Hypothesis (LQH), through path analysis, the study tested the relations between MA, vocabulary and word reading. The same model produced the best fit for all three languages, indicating that MA contributes directly to word reading and vocabulary in all three languages, thereby expanding support for the LQH. An indirect effect from MA to word reading via vocabulary was found for Chinese only. For languages that demand strong visual skills of their readers, i.e. Chinese and Zulu, a significant relation from vocabulary knowledge to word reading was confirmed, suggesting that readers partly depend on a lexical route for word reading. The study concludes that certain linguistic relations do not structurally differ across languages with different scripts and morphological systems, but relative contributions of each construct vary as a function of language features. Implications for practice are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101698"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Why copy faithfully? Examining the role of social affiliation and norms understanding in preschoolers’ overimitation 为什么要忠实地抄写？研究社会隶属关系和规范理解在学龄前儿童过度模仿中的作用

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-05-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101706

Marilyne Dragon , Brittany Montpetit, Diane Poulin-Dubois

{"title":"Why copy faithfully? Examining the role of social affiliation and norms understanding in preschoolers’ overimitation","authors":"Marilyne Dragon , Brittany Montpetit, Diane Poulin-Dubois","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101706","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101706","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children engage in social learning, for example through overimitation, defined as copying clearly causally redundant actions. The goal of the current set of experiments was to identify the mechanisms underlying overimitation. We tested the social affiliation and normative theoretical accounts to determine whether one better predicts overimitation and examined how overimitation relates to other socio-cognitive abilities. In Experiment 1, 4.5-year-old children (n = 80) completed an overimitation task, an in-group preference task (social affiliation account) and a selective trust task. Parents completed questionnaires assessing their authoritarian parenting values (normative account) and their child’s theory of mind. Results indicated a link between overimitation and in-group preference, consistent with the social affiliation account, but parenting values and overimitation were unrelated. Previous research showing a dissociation between overimitation and both selective trust and theory of mind was replicated. To further explore the relation between overimitation and social affiliation, and to measure normative tendencies with a laboratory-based task, Experiment 2 tested 4-year-old children (n = 73). The same overimitation and in-group preference tasks were administered, as well as a task measuring normative protest. Results showed no significant association among tasks, suggesting that the link between overimitation and social affiliation appears only when children have developed stronger in-group preferences. Overall, the findings provide stronger support for the social affiliation account than the normative account, at least in 4.5-year-old children. To our knowledge, this is the first study to document an association between overimitation and social affiliation using a separate, direct measure of in-group preference.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101706"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147849731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Seeing the big picture: How early-learned nouns and their referents co-occur in children’s picture books 看大局：早期学习的名词和它们的指涉物是如何在儿童绘本中共同出现的

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-09 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101676

Amanda Mankovich , Sumarga H. Suanda

{"title":"Seeing the big picture: How early-learned nouns and their referents co-occur in children’s picture books","authors":"Amanda Mankovich , Sumarga H. Suanda","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101676","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101676","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shared picture book reading is well established as an activity with potential to boost vocabulary acquisition. One way that cognitive and developmental scientists have sought to better understand the potential mechanisms by which reading picture books supports acquisition is through detailed examinations of the content of these books. Such analyses have revealed different ways in which the linguistic elements of children’s picture books are both rich and distinct from those observed in child-directed speech, raising the possibility that the linguistic environment promoted by shared book reading may be key to its power. The current study provides data to suggest that the <em>visual</em> elements of children’s picture books may also deserve some consideration. In an analysis of 128 picture books commonly read to children in North America, we found that the visual depictions of early-learned nouns are in line with research on what facilitates early word learning in three specific ways: (1) nouns and their referents co-occur at high rates, (2) noun-referent co-occurrence patterns are tightly aligned temporally, and (3) the referents of early-learned nouns were visually frequent. Further analyses reveal how some of these properties were more prominent for the earliest learned nouns and in books targeting the youngest of audiences. The implications of these findings for how children learn from picture books and for the learning environment that is cultivated by reading them are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101676"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Associations between infant multilingualism and language production and their effects on preschool-aged language development 幼儿多语能力与语言产生的关系及其对学龄前语言发展的影响

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-13 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101687

Jasmine Valenzuela , Su Hyun Kim , Paige Banducci , Claudia Bonaccorso , Sheila Degotardi , Emilia Djonov , Naomi Sweller

{"title":"Associations between infant multilingualism and language production and their effects on preschool-aged language development","authors":"Jasmine Valenzuela , Su Hyun Kim , Paige Banducci , Claudia Bonaccorso , Sheila Degotardi , Emilia Djonov , Naomi Sweller","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101687","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101687","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Multilingual status has been found to influence children’s language development, with language production differences emerging between monolingual and multilingual children. While multilingual children have been found to produce more gestures than monolingual children, the opposite has been shown for speech-based language. Although previous research established differences between monolingual and multilingual children’s language development, there is more limited research with infants exposed to varying levels of English at home. Further, early childhood education and care centres constitute an increasing influence on infants’ education and development. To date, studies have primarily used home or laboratory contexts, with minimal attention given to educational environments. The present study aimed to first examine whether monolingual and multilingual infants’ language production differed within an early childhood education context. Second, the impacts of infant language production on later language outcomes were assessed, as well as whether this effect was moderated by lingual status. Language production in 188 12–21-month-old infants was measured in three ways: solely speech production, solely gesture production, and gesture with speech production. Receptive vocabulary and narrative language production were measured for 175 of these children at 48 months of age. Results suggested that while frequency of language production in infancy did not affect later language outcomes, lingual status played an influential role in both infant language production and later preschool-aged receptive language. Monolingual infants produced greater speech quantity than their multilingual counterparts and presented with greater preschool-aged receptive, but not narrative, language skills, over and above gesture and speech production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101687"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Unlocking potentials: Impact of integrating scaffolded educational escape rooms on junior high school students’ motivation, creativity, and academic achievement in Chinese language instruction 释放潜能：整合架空式教育密室对初中生语文教学动机、创造力及学业成绩的影响

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101700

I-Hsuan Chen , Hsu-Chan Kuo , Chia-Hsin Chan , Estelle Linjun Wu

{"title":"Unlocking potentials: Impact of integrating scaffolded educational escape rooms on junior high school students’ motivation, creativity, and academic achievement in Chinese language instruction","authors":"I-Hsuan Chen , Hsu-Chan Kuo , Chia-Hsin Chan , Estelle Linjun Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101700","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101700","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Learning motivation and creative thinking are widely acknowledged as key competencies underpinning learners’ future competitiveness in rapidly evolving social systems. Yet, conventional Chinese language instruction in secondary schools remains predominantly characterized by rote memorization and literal comprehension, which may suppress motivation and restrict opportunities for higher-order cognitive engagement. To address such gap, this study designed and implemented an instructional intervention that integrates a scaffolded educational escape room (SEER) framework into Chinese language education. The intervention was theoretically grounded in Pintrich and Schunk’s motivational theory and Rhodes’ 4 P model of creativity. The ten-week program was structured into four instructional phases and implemented with a group of 38 seventh-grade students in a junior high school in Taiwan. Adopting a one-group pretest-posttest design with a mixed-methods approach, the study examined the effects of the intervention on students' learning motivation, academic achievement, and creativity. Results indicated significant improvements across all subcomponents of learning motivation and creativity. Although qualitative data reflected students’ perceived gains in comprehension and engagement, quantitative results showed a significant decline in posttest academic performance. Based on these findings, the study offers practical and research-oriented recommendations for future curriculum design and implementation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101700"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The influence of testimonial accuracy and witness authority on Chinese children's base rate use: A developmental investigation 证言准确性和证言权威性对中国儿童基准率使用的影响：一项发展性调查

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-05-05 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101711

Yi Li , Ronghuan Jiang , Yi Chen , Xiaodong Li

{"title":"The influence of testimonial accuracy and witness authority on Chinese children's base rate use: A developmental investigation","authors":"Yi Li , Ronghuan Jiang , Yi Chen , Xiaodong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101711","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101711","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examined how Chinese children aged 4–6 years integrated testimony and statistical information, focusing on testimony accuracy and witness authority in base rate use. Experiment 1 (n = 76) investigated testimony accuracy effects, while Experiment 2 (n = 116) examined witness authority (teacher vs. peer) effects on probabilistic reasoning. Results showed that children flexibly integrated multiple information sources. In conflict conditions, they trusted accurate over inaccurate testimony and increasingly relied on base rate when testimony was unreliable. A critical developmental threshold emerged at age 5;5 (65 months) for overriding inaccurate testimony. Authority can also influence children's choices; children favored teachers over peer testimony in conflict conditions, and this tendency strengthened with age. The threshold for using base rate over conflicting testimony was 6;0 (72 months) for teachers. Latent Class Analysis revealed that 64.47% demonstrated base rate sensitivity with appropriate testimony adjustment, while 25% showed testimony sensitivity without distinguishing accuracy. In the authority conflict condition, 76.73% showed teacher authority sensitivity, though 14.66% unexpectedly preferred peer testimony.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101711"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147849735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Non-symbolic probabilistic judgment in children: Intuitive biases, grade-level differences, and latent class analysis 儿童的非符号概率判断：直觉偏差、年级水平差异和潜在类别分析

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-06 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101691

Xianyue Cao , Xiaohuan Li , Jiaojian Dai , Ruonan Wang

{"title":"Non-symbolic probabilistic judgment in children: Intuitive biases, grade-level differences, and latent class analysis","authors":"Xianyue Cao , Xiaohuan Li , Jiaojian Dai , Ruonan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101691","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101691","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to explore children's performance in non-symbolic probabilistic judgment tasks, with a focus on grade-related differences in intuitive biases and potential individual differences. A total of 415 students from grades 2–5 completed a probability judgment task under two conditions: a congruent condition (the more targets, the higher probability) and an incongruent condition (the more targets, the lower probability). The results showed that children across all grade levels had higher accuracy in the congruent condition than in the incongruent condition. Grade-level differences were observed: fifth graders exhibited a significantly larger congruency advantage than second graders, driven primarily by their higher accuracy on the congruent condition. Furthermore, latent class analysis (LCA) identified four distinct subgroups: (1) a high-probability judgment ability group, (2) a group with high congruent accuracy but chance-level incongruent performance, (3) a low-ability group with a strong reversal bias, and (4) a low-ability group highly influenced by intuitive interference. These findings suggest that intuitive biases in children's probabilistic reasoning remain prevalent and manifest in distinct individual patterns. This study provides new evidence on grade-level differences in children's probabilistic reasoning and offers practical insights for mathematics education and probability cognition training.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101691"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147385652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Children’s and adults’ performance in Simon-like tasks with multiple spatial dimensions 儿童和成人在多空间维度simon类任务中的表现

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-04-28 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101709

Christina Bermeitinger , Pamela Baess , Petra Sandhagen

{"title":"Children’s and adults’ performance in Simon-like tasks with multiple spatial dimensions","authors":"Christina Bermeitinger , Pamela Baess , Petra Sandhagen","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101709","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For appropriate acting in the world, egocentric as well as allocentric interpretations and reference frames are necessary. By use of a specially designed variant of the Simon task, we were able to investigate the automatic activation of different reference frames simultaneously. We implemented two spatial congruencies, one based on the position of stick-figure manikins on the screen (i.e. an egocentric/self-centered reference frame), one based on the position of a ball in the manikin’s hand (i.e., an allocentric/object-centered reference frame), while the subjects had to respond to the ball’s color with a left vs. right button press. Additionally, we manipulated non-spatial visual information, either the number of manikins on the screen (Exp. 1) or whether the manikins are presented in back or front view (Exp. 2). In Experiment 1, adults and children from 5 to 10 years showed congruency effects based on the position of the manikin as well as the position of the ball at the same time. For children, the manikin position effect correlated with age. In contrast (Exp. 2), younger children (3–6 years) did not show a reliable congruency effect based on the ball’s position, but one based on the manikin’s position. Effects were modulated by the orientation of the manikin’s face. Results were discussed with respect to the automatic and simultaneous building of several reference frames, regarding the relationship of spatial and social perspective taking and developmental aspects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101709"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147797454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Low and high control working memory and counting skills in children 高低控制儿童的工作记忆和计数能力

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-06 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670

Diego Guerrero , Santiago Murillo Granada , Edward Alejandro Mejía Echeverry , Zuly García

{"title":"Low and high control working memory and counting skills in children","authors":"Diego Guerrero , Santiago Murillo Granada , Edward Alejandro Mejía Echeverry , Zuly García","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous studies have shown that working memory is a reliable predictor of children’s mathematical performance. However, the specific relationship between counting skills and WM capacity remains unclear. This study examined how domain-specific counting skills and domain-general WM resources contribute to preschool children’s understanding of counting principles and cardinality. Forty-eight children from a Colombian preschool completed tasks assessing stable-order knowledge, one-to-one correspondence, and cardinality, as well as WM measures spanning verbal, visual, and spatial modalities at both low- and high-control levels. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that knowledge of the counting sequence was the strongest and most consistent predictor of performance across tasks. One-to-one correspondence was explained primarily by children’s counting sequence knowledge, with minimal involvement of WM. By contrast, cardinal knowledge was predicted not only by sequence knowledge but also by high-control sequential verbal WM, highlighting the role of active manipulation of cardinal number words. Performance on the Counting span task was predicted mainly by age, with cardinal knowledge and WM contributing only marginally. Overall, these findings indicate that symbolic counting knowledge provides the core scaffolding for children’s developing understanding of natural numbers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101670"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Multimodal imitation reveals differences in typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders 多模态模仿揭示了正常发育儿童和神经发育障碍儿童的差异

IF 1.8 3区心理学

Cognitive Development Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-26 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101668

Júlia Florit-Pons , Mariia Pronina , Sara Coego , Pilar Prieto

{"title":"Multimodal imitation reveals differences in typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders","authors":"Júlia Florit-Pons , Mariia Pronina , Sara Coego , Pilar Prieto","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101668","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101668","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Imitation has been extensively studied in development, with most research examining either verbal/sentence imitation or gesture imitation in isolation. Despite the inherently multimodal nature of communication, very few studies have investigated how children imitate multiple communicative components simultaneously (such as gesture, sentence, and prosody). Moreover, little is known about how these multimodal imitation abilities develop across different populations. This study adopts a holistic multimodal approach to imitation, assessing the integrated imitation of gestures, sentences, and prosody in children with typical development (TD) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). A total of 290 Catalan-Spanish bilingual children (129 girls; 55 NDD) aged 3–7 years participated in a multimodal imitation task where they watched audiovisual stimuli of an actress interacting with a toy and then imitated what she did (gestures), what she said (sentences), and how she said it (prosody). Imitation accuracy for each component was assessed separately on a scale of 0–2. The results showed that the NDD group obtained significantly lower accuracy scores than the TD group. In both groups, all imitation scores were positively correlated. Moreover, a significant age-by-group interaction was found, indicating that only the TD group improved significantly with age in their overall multimodal imitation abilities. When assessing each multimodal imitation component separately, this result was only observed in gesture imitation. This study revealed distinct developmental trajectories of multimodal imitation in TD and NDD children, primarily characterized by persistent gesture imitation difficulties in the NDD group with the latter showing specific difficulties in multimodal imitation. These findings highlight the value of a holistic, multimodal approach to imitation assessment, with potential implications for both diagnosis and intervention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101668"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0