Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101748
Mako Okanda, Kosuke Taniguchi
{"title":"Do we see robots as male? Children’s and adults’ gender perceptions of robots","authors":"Mako Okanda, Kosuke Taniguchi","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study investigated the tendency of children aged 3-7 years and adults to assign gender to robots. In Study 1, we examined whether they would label robots and toys—including two humanoid robots and dolls, a doglike robot and a stuffed animal—boys or girls. In Study 2, we explored whether participants would attribute social gender to these entities or believe that humanoid and doglike robots, animals, and human boys and girls belong to specific gendered groups (e.g., that girls prefer to play with girls). The findings indicated that children as young as 4-years-old began labeling robots as boys. However, Study 2 suggested that children’s perception of robots as boys may reflect a superficial belief. Although they described the robots as boys, none of the children stated that robots prefer playing with boys. In contrast, 6- and 7-year-olds affirmed that such preferences exist among human boys and/or girls. Only adults believed that robots were boys and preferred to play with boys—yet this belief was exclusive to humanoid robots. The implications of gendering robots within educational contexts for children are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 101748"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148499478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-05-25DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101729
C. Lange-Küttner
{"title":"Editorial cognitive development: What a difference a month makes","authors":"C. Lange-Küttner","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101729","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101729","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"79 ","pages":"Article 101729"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148843658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101673
Jessica N. Steil, Claudia K. Friedrich
{"title":"Children increasingly associate nouns with their typical vertical space between 18 and 24 months","authors":"Jessica N. Steil, Claudia K. Friedrich","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101673","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101673","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous research showed that the processing of nouns with an implicit spatial position (“up words” such as “moon” or “down words” such as “shoe”) biases vertical responses in children from the age of two. “Up words” seem to direct looks upward (visuo-spatial bias) and facilitate the fixation of targets that appear at an upper position, while the opposite occurred for “down words”. In this preregistered study, we investigated when such language-space associations emerge. We tested children aged between 18 and 24 months (<em>n</em> = 30), and a group of young adults (<em>n</em> = 32). Participants heard “up words” and “down words” and then had to fixate on a target that appeared in an upper or lower screen position. The young adults showed robust language-space associations, which were reflected in a visuo-spatial bias and in the time to fixate on the target. For children, we included only words that were reported as understood by their caregivers. With increasing age, children’s visuo-spatial bias and their time to fixate on the target reflected increasing language-space associations. These age-related effects suggest that children between 18 and 24 months begin to associate nouns with their typical vertical space. Therefore, language-space associations seem to develop after children’s initial word learning which might question the functional relevance of the re-activation of sensorimotor experiences for their early words. We discuss possible consequences of children’s limited direct experience with noun’s referents (as reported by caregivers) and methodological limitations of the study on the tested language-space associations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101673"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146116423","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}
{"title":"Differential developmental trajectories of non-symbolic numerical comparison skill across congruency conditions: A two-year longitudinal study","authors":"Jingyi Zhang , Zhuo Shen , Yue Qi , Xiao Yu , Yinghe Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101699","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101699","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Non-symbolic numerical comparison is a fundamental and persistently developing mathematical skill in early childhood. This two-year longitudinal study examined two explanations of how nonsymbolic numerical precision improves in early childhood: the filtering hypothesis (that children learn to suppress irrelevant continuous cues such as dot area) and the sharpening hypothesis (that maturation of the approximate number system refines numerical representations). We tested these hypotheses by comparing developmental trajectories under congruent (CON) and incongruent (INC) conditions. Additionally, this study examined executive function predictors of the trajectories and how they related to mathematical outcomes. Ninety preschoolers (T1 <em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 5 years and 1 month old, <em>SD</em> = 11 months old) completed non-symbolic numerical comparison tasks (congruent/incongruent trials), working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility measures, along with mathematical assessments. Results revealed significant growth only for INC trials, supporting the filtering hypothesis. Two distinct trajectories emerged for both congruent and incongruent conditions: <em>CON low-steady</em>, <em>CON high-steady</em>, <em>INC high-increasing</em>, and <em>INC low-increasing</em> groups. Higher levels of cognitive flexibility were associated with decreased likelihood of <em>CON low-steady</em> group membership. Notably, <em>CON high-steady</em> and <em>INC high-increasing</em> groups demonstrated higher mathematical achievement, highlighting the educational implications of non-symbolic numerical development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101699"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147991844","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}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-12DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101685
Erinç Ergenekon , Nesrin Işıkoğlu
{"title":"Examining the impact of dialogic reading interventions with math picture books","authors":"Erinç Ergenekon , Nesrin Işıkoğlu","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101685","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101685","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to examine the effects of math storybooks read with different reading techniques on young children’s language and early math skills. Eighty-eight children, four teachers and twenty-two parents participated in the study. Four preschool classes from a public school were randomly assigned to different conditions: a dialogic reading class (DR-C), dialogic reading at home (DR-H), a traditional reading class (TR-C), and a control condition. Each of the eight math storybooks was read aloud three times per week, with one book assigned per week over the eight-week intervention period. The experimental groups participated in these readings, whereas the control group did not use math storybooks and instead read the books already available in their classrooms. The results revealed that reading math storybooks using a dialogic reading technique significantly increased children’s language and early math skills compared to the traditional and control conditions. These findings highlight the importance of integrating mathematical concepts into storybooks and advocates for the widespread adoption of dialogic reading strategies to optimize developmental benefits for children in both language and early math domains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101685"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146175014","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}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-18DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101688
Maylee Montagut Ascanio , Gillian E. Grose , Raychel Barkin , Geetha B. Ramani
{"title":"Adding on gestures: A brief video intervention for families on the benefits of gestures","authors":"Maylee Montagut Ascanio , Gillian E. Grose , Raychel Barkin , Geetha B. Ramani","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101688","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101688","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gestures support cognitive processing during learning, particularly in mathematics. This study investigates how parents and children use gestures during arithmetic activities and whether a brief video intervention could lead to differences in their communicative behaviors and gesture use. Fifty-one parent-child dyads (ages 3–5 years) were randomly assigned to view one of two videos: one highlighting the benefits of gestures (gesture-focused condition) or one about the benefits of talking during play (talk-focused condition). Compared to families who watched the video encouraging general talk, families who viewed the gesture-focused video showed distinct patterns in their math interactions. Children in the gesture condition used more gestures overall and, in particular, more math-related gestures. Moreover, both parents and children in this condition were more likely to produce the specific hold-up/down finger gestures targeted in the intervention. There were also condition differences with parents in the gesture-focused condition encouraging their children to use more gestures during math than those in the talk condition. These findings suggest that brief, targeted interventions can effectively influence the use of specific multimodal communication strategies in parent-child interactions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101688"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147385647","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}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-28DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101690
G. Paone , A.J. Davis , E. Cohen
{"title":"Social memory in children from urban and rural Mozambique: A pre-registered replication study","authors":"G. Paone , A.J. Davis , E. Cohen","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101690","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101690","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This Short Article reports a replication of prior research suggesting that children from high-stress environments may exhibit enhanced memory for social stimuli. We tested children from two Mozambican communities (<em>n</em> = 124): Nhandar, a rural area historically marked by poverty and paramilitary control, and Gorongosa, a comparatively lower-stress town. Using the same short-term and working memory tasks as the original study in Italy, we found that Nhandar children outperformed their peers on both tasks. These findings provide cross-cultural support for the idea that adversity may shape memory development in context-sensitive, adaptive ways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101690"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147385649","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}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-03-23DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101693
Elizabeth M. Wakefield , Alyssa J. Kersey , Cristina Carrazza , Katherine Mathias , Susan Goldin-Meadow
{"title":"Gesture in the eye of the beholder: Exploring how children interpret co-speech gesture instruction","authors":"Elizabeth M. Wakefield , Alyssa J. Kersey , Cristina Carrazza , Katherine Mathias , Susan Goldin-Meadow","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101693","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101693","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gestures are hand movements that naturally accompany speech and represent information. Decades of research show that incorporating gesture into instruction supports learning. But why does gesture help us learn? One possibility is that gesture provides a path to information that complements the path provided by speech. Researchers choose gestures for their studies that they think will provide meaningful information for learners. But no one has asked learners what <em>they</em> think of these gestures. We address this gap here. Children (<em>N</em> = 202; 8–10-year-olds) watched instructional videos teaching the concept of mathematical equivalence and answered questions about the purpose and content of the videos. They participated in either a gesture or action-on-objects condition. In both conditions, an instructor provided one strategy for solving math problems in her speech, and a second strategy using either gestures or actions-on-objects. Children also completed individual difference measures of math knowledge, general gesture processing, and working memory. We found that children were more likely to mention the strategy presented in the instructor’s hands (and not her words) if they thought her goal was to teach when they were in the gesture condition, not the action condition. In addition, they increased the number of manually produced strategies they mentioned from trial 1 to 2 in the gesture condition, but not the action condition. No effects were influenced by our individual difference measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101693"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599808","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}
{"title":"Gesture as a mechanism of change in the interface between spatial language and cognitive development","authors":"Dilay Z. Karadöller , Ercenur Ünal , Beyza Sümer , Demet Özer , Aslı Özyürek","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101694","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101694","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children often use gestures to express concepts before expressing them in speech, particularly in domains rich in visual-spatial information. For example, spatial relations such as left-right are cognitively and linguistically challenging for children. Consequently, 8-year-olds struggle to convey these complex relations verbally, but they frequently rely on gestures to describe these spatial concepts informatively. This study builds on this prior work on the descriptions of left-right relations to investigate further (1) the differing functions of gestures (complementary or redundant) in relation to speech in both children and adults; (2) the change in semantic information conveyed in both of these types of gestures in childhood to adulthood, aiming to shed light on the interaction between spatial language and spatial cognitive development. Eight-year-old and adult monolingual Turkish speakers described pictures of objects in left-right spatial relations shown among a quartet of other types of spatial relations between these objects. Results demonstrated that when describing left-right relations between objects, children, compared to adults, provided more under-informative descriptions (i.e., using “side” instead of “left-right”) in speech but used complementary gestures to convey missing information multimodally. Adults already used informative spatial terms in speech and used gestures mostly redundantly. Moreover, children showed a preference for iconic gestures depicting the relative locations of objects over directional pointing gestures indicating single locations, especially when gestures complemented speech. In contrast, adults showed no reliable preference for either gesture type. These results indicate the significance of gestures as mechanisms of change, alongside speech, in spatial language and cognition, particularly in the context of describing cognitively complex left-right spatial relations between objects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101694"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147599809","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}
Cognitive DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-23DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101689
Hui Qiao , Fang Tian
{"title":"The effect of home math activities on mathematical abilities in preschool children: The mediating effect of spontaneous focusing on numerosity","authors":"Hui Qiao , Fang Tian","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101689","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101689","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A substantial body of research has established a correlation between the early home math environment and children’s mathematical abilities, yet findings regarding its core component—home math activities—remain inconsistent. Furthermore, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this relationship, particularly concerning the potential role of domain-specific cognitive tendencies such as children’s spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON)—a specific propensity within numerical cognition. This study investigated the association between home math activities, SFON, and preschool children’s mathematical abilities, while also analyzing the mediating role of SFON in this relationship. A total of 133 preschoolers (M<sub>age</sub> = 4 years and 5 months, SD = 5 months) and their parents (85 % mothers) participated in this research. Parents reported the frequency of home math activities, and children completed assessments of SFON and mathematical abilities. Results showed that: (1) home math activities were positively associated with children’s mathematical abilities; (2) home math activities were positively associated with children’s SFON; (3) SFON was positively associated with mathematical abilities; and (4) SFON appeared to partially mediate the association between home math activities and mathematical abilities, with the indirect effect accounting for 23.08 % of the total association. This study examined the potential mediating role of SFON in the relation between home math activities and children’s mathematical abilities, suggesting an extension to the developmental model of how the home math environment relates to mathematical abilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101689"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147385648","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}