The role of prosody and long-term phonological knowledge in Japanese children's nonword repetition performance

This study investigated the effects of association values and the influences of prosodic information on Japanese children's repetition of nonwords with varying association values and with or without pitch accent. Fifteen 3- and 4-year-olds (mean age = 4.42 years, range: 3.9–4.9) and nineteen 5- and 6-year-olds (mean age = 5.71 years, range: 5.1–6.1) participated in this experiment. Concerning the nonword repetition scores, an effect of association value was found only in older children for consonants of nonwords only, whereas the effect of accent pattern was observed only in young children for both consonants and vowels of nonwords. The occurrences of both effects were connected to differences in the ages of the children and the types of phoneme in nonwords. We interpret these results in the context of the framework of phonological working memory.     

Reasoning about knowledge: Children’s evaluations of generality and verifiability

In a series of experiments, we examined 3- to 8-year-old children’s (N = 223) and adults’ (N = 32) use of two properties of testimony to estimate a speaker’s knowledge: generality and verifiability. Participants were presented with a “Generic speaker” who made a series of 4 general claims about “pangolins” (a novel animal kind), and a “Specific speaker” who made a series of 4 specific claims about “this pangolin” as an individual. To investigate the role of verifiability, we systematically varied whether the claim referred to a perceptually-obvious feature visible in a picture (e.g., “has a pointy nose”) or a non-evident feature that was not visible (e.g., “sleeps in a hollow tree”). Three main findings emerged: (1) young children showed a pronounced reliance on verifiability that decreased with age. Three-year-old children were especially prone to credit knowledge to speakers who made verifiable claims, whereas 7- to 8-year-olds and adults credited knowledge to generic speakers regardless of whether the claims were verifiable; (2) children’s attributions of knowledge to generic speakers was not detectable until age 5, and only when those claims were also verifiable; (3) children often generalized speakers’ knowledge outside of the pangolin domain, indicating a belief that a person’s knowledge about pangolins likely extends to new facts. Findings indicate that young children may be inclined to doubt speakers who make claims they cannot verify themselves, as well as a developmentally increasing appreciation for speakers who make general claims.     

The impact of object type on the spatial analogies in Korean preschoolers

We tested young children’s spatial reasoning in a match-to-sample task, manipulating the objects in the task (abstract geometric shapes, line drawings of realistic objects, or both). Korean 4- and 5-year-old children (N = 161) generalized the target spatial configuration (i.e., on, in, above) more easily when the sample used geometric shapes and the choices used realistic objects than the reverse (i.e., realistic-object sample to geometric-shape choices). With within-type stimuli (i.e., sample and choices were both geometric shapes or both realistic objects), 5-year-old, but not 4-year-old, children generalized the spatial relations more easily with geometric shapes than realistic objects. In addition, children who knew more locative terms (e.g., “in”, “on”) performed better on the task, suggesting a link to children’s spatial vocabulary. The results demonstrate an advantage of geometric shapes over realistic objects in facilitating young children’s performance on a match-to-sample spatial reasoning task.     

Counterfactual reasoning: From childhood to adulthood

The objective of this study was to describe the developmental progression of counterfactual reasoning from childhood to adulthood. In contrast to the traditional view, it was recently reported by Rafetseder and colleagues that even a majority of 6-year-old children do not engage in counterfactual reasoning when asked counterfactual questions (Child Development, 2010, Vol. 81, pp. 376–389). By continuing to use the same method, the main result of the current Study 1 was that performance of the 9- to 11-year-olds was comparable to that of the 6-year-olds, whereas the 12- to 14-year-olds approximated adult performance. Study 2, using an intuitively simpler task based on Harris and colleagues (Cognition, 1996, Vol. 61, pp. 233–259), resulted in a similar conclusion, specifically that the ability to apply counterfactual reasoning is not fully developed in all children before 12 years of age. We conclude that children who failed our tasks seem to lack an understanding of what needs to be changed (events that are causally dependent on the counterfactual assumption) and what needs to be left unchanged and so needs to be kept as it actually happened. Alternative explanations, particularly executive functioning, are discussed in detail.     

Younger apes and human children plan their moves in a maze task

Planning defined as the predetermination of a sequence of actions towards some goal is crucial for complex problem solving. To shed light on the evolution of executive functions, we investigated the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of planning. Therefore, we presented all four great apes species (N = 12) as well as 4- and 5-year-old human preschoolers (N = 24) with a vertical maze task. To gain a reward placed on the uppermost level of the maze, subjects had to move the reward to the bottom through open gaps situated at each level of the maze. In total, there were ten gaps located over three of the maze’s levels, and free passage through these gaps could be flexibly blocked using multiple traps. Due to the decision tree design of the maze, the subjects had to plan their actions depending on the trap configuration up to two steps ahead to successfully retrieve the reward. We found that (1) our measure of planning was negatively correlated with age in nonhuman apes, (2) younger apes as well as 5-year-old children planned their moves up to two steps ahead whereas 4-year-olds were limited to plan one step ahead, and (3) similar performance but different underlying limitations between apes and children. Namely, while all species of nonhuman apes were limited by a lack of motor control, human children exhibited a shortage in shifting their attention across a sequence of subgoals.     

Learning how to help others: Two-year-olds’ social learning of a prosocial act

Engaging in prosocial behaviors (acts that benefit others) is associated with many positive outcomes in children, including the development of positive peer relationships, academic achievement, and good psychological functioning. This study examined the social learning mechanisms toddlers use to acquire prosocial behaviors. This brief report presents a new experimental procedure in which 2-year-olds (28–32 months, N = 30) saw a video of an adult performing a novel prosocial behavior in response to another person’s distress. Children then had the opportunity to imitate and implement the behavior in response to their own parent’s physical distress. Children who saw the video were more likely to perform the novel action and to display non-demonstrated prosocial behaviors relative to (a) children who did not view the video but saw a parent in distress and (b) children who saw the video but witnessed their mother engage in a neutral activity. These results suggest that toddlers imitate and emulate prosocial behaviors for social interaction and that children can apply such behaviors in appropriate situations.     

Differences in children’s thinking and learning during attentional focus instruction

Considerable evidence supports the motor learning advantage associated with an external focus of attention; however, very few studies have investigated attentional focus effects with children despite individual functional constraints that have the potential to impact use of instructional content. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of attentional focus instruction on motor learning in children. Participants (n = 42) aged 9–11 years were randomly assigned to one of three gender-stratified groups: (1) control, (2) internal focus, or (3) external focus. Following initial instructions and task demonstration, participants performed 100 modified free throws over two days while receiving additional cues respective to their attentional focus condition and returned approximately 48 h later to perform 20 additional free throws. Results revealed no significant learning differences between groups. However, responses to retrospective verbal reports suggest that the use of external focus content during practice may have contributed to some participants’ superior performance in retention. Future research should continue to examine attentional focus effects across a variety of ages and incorporate retrospective verbal reports in order to examine children’s thoughts during attentional focus instruction.     

Cultural diversification of communicative gestures through early childhood: A comparison of children in English-, German-, and Chinese- speaking families

Previous literature has demonstrated cultural differences in young children’s use of communicative gestures, but the results were mixed depending on which gestures were measured and what age of children were involved. This study included variety of different types of gestures and examined whether children’s use of communicative gestures varies by their cultural backgrounds and ages. 714 parents of children (6–36 months old) from U.S.A. English-, German-, and Taiwan Chinese- speaking countries completed the questionnaire on their children’s use of each gesture described in the survey. We used logistic regressions to examine the effect of children’s culture and age, and the interaction effect (culture × age). Children were more likely to use all gestures except reaching, showing, and smacking lips for “yum, yum” as their age increases. In addition, there were gestures that showed significantly different probabilities across children’s cultural backgrounds. A significant interaction effect was shown for five gestures: reaching, showing, pointing, arms up to be picked up, and “quiet” gesture. Results suggest that the influence of culture on young children’s communication emerges from infancy.     

Life span changes: Performing a continuous 1:2 bimanual coordination task

The experiment was conducted to determine the influence of mirror movements in bimanual coordination during life span. Children, young adults, and older adults were instructed to perform a continuous 1:2 bimanual coordination task by performing flexion–extension wrist movements over 30 s where symmetrical and non-symmetrical coordination patterns alternate throughout the trial. The vision of the wrists was covered and Lissajous-feedback was provided online. All age groups had to perform 10 trials under three different load conditions (0 kg, .5 kg, 1.0 kg: order counterbalanced). Load was manipulated to determine if increased load increases the likelihood of mirror movements. The data indicated that the performance of the young adults was superior compared to the children and older adults. Children and older adults showed a stronger tendency to develop mirror movements and had particular difficulty in performing the non-symmetrical mode. This type of influence may be attributed to neural crosstalk.     

Effects of distraction and experience on situation awareness and simulated driving

This study examined the impact of cell phone conversation on situation awareness and performance of novice and experienced drivers. Driving performance and situation awareness among novice drivers ages 14–16 (n = 25) and experienced drivers ages 21–52 (n = 26) were assessed using a driving simulator. Performance was measured by the number of driving infractions committed: speeding, collisions, pedestrians struck, stop signs missed, and centerline and road edge crossings. Situation awareness was assessed through a query method and through participants’ performance on a direction-following task. Cognitive distractions were induced through simulated hands-free cell phone conversations. The results indicated that novice drivers committed more driving infractions and were less situationally aware than their experienced counterparts. However, the two groups suffered similar decrements in performance during the cell phone condition. This study provides evidence of the detrimental effects of cell phone use for both novice and experienced drivers. These findings have implications for supporting driving legislation that limits the use of cell phones (including hands-free) in motor vehicles, regardless of the driver’s experience level.     

Mechanisms underlying the self-talk–performance relationship: The effects of motivational self-talk on self-confidence and anxiety

ObjectivesThe present study examined the effects of motivational self-talk on self-confidence, anxiety, and task performance in young athletes.MethodsParticipants were 72 tennis players. The experiment was conducted in five sessions: baseline assessment, three training sessions, and final assessment. After the baseline assessment participants were divided and assigned randomly into experimental and control groups. The two groups followed the same training program with the experimental group practicing the use of self-talk. In the last session, the final assessment took place. A forehand drive test was used to evaluate task performance, and the Competitive Anxiety Inventory-2R was used to assess self-confidence and anxiety.ResultsA two-way mixed model MANOVA revealed that task performance improved for the experimental group (p < .01) and remained stable for the control group; self-confidence increased (p < .01) and cognitive anxiety decreased (p < .05) for the experimental group, whereas no changes were observed for the control group. Correlation analysis revealed that changes in task performance were moderately related to changes in self-confidence (p < .05).ConclusionsThe results of the study showed that self-talk can enhance self-confidence and reduce cognitive anxiety. Furthermore, it is suggested that increases in self-confidence can be regarded as a viable function explaining the facilitating effects of self-talk on performance.     

Developing motor planning over ages

Few studies have explored the development of response selection processes in children in the case of object manipulation. In the current research, we studied the end-state comfort effect, the tendency to ensure a comfortable position at the end rather than at the beginning of simple object manipulation tasks. We used two versions of the unimanual bar transport task. In Experiment 1, only 10-year-olds reached the same level of sensitivity to end-state comfort as adults, and 8-year-olds were less efficient than 6-year-olds. In each age group, children’s sensitivity did not increase during a session: i.e., either clearly showed the sensitivity or showed no sensitivity at all. Experiment 2 replicated these results when the bar was replaced by a pencil and when the task did not require much precision. However, when the task required more precision, 8-year-olds increased their level of sensitivity to the end-state comfort effect, whereas this was not the case for younger children. These results describe the development of advanced planning processes from 4 to 10 years of age as well as the positive effect of task constraints on the end-state comfort effect for 8-year-olds.     

L’utilisation précoce des écrans est-elle néfaste ? Une première réponse avec la cohorte Elfe

In France, a recent well-documented book by Desmurget (2019) severely condemned all use of screen by preschoolers. Desmurget speaks from a danger of decerebration leading to dumbass children. However, a critical analysis of his argumentation suggests that such a rejection could be an overly radical position. The French longitudinal study, Elfe, was initiated in 2011 on more than 18,000 newborns. Follow-up was intensive in the infancy and pre-school periods, including a telephone interview of the mother (or, if not available, the father) at age 3.5 years. In this interview, the mothers answered many questions about the use of screens (here limited to tablets, computers, and smartphones) by their children. The children were then tested in 2016, when they were in the nursery school (4- to 5-year-olds, 57 months in mean), with a large cognitive test, involving both literacy (n = 35) and numeracy (n = 24) items, and a visual attention test, the Teddy bears cancellation test. In the latter test, the participant is asked to cross out, with the pencil in his/her dominant hand, all the teddy bears (n = 15) distributed on the page among 60 distractors in one minute of time. Moreover, the teachers were asked to rate the children's competence in cognitive (language, maths, sciences) and non-cognitive (physical or musical activities) domains and their social behaviors (helping, sharing, and attention to others) on a 3 or 5-items Likert-scale. Regression analysis of the total cognitive test score on the screen use, adjusted for age, gender, mother's study level, family's income, and number of siblings, showed an association between computer use and cognitive performance in nursery school. Correlations between screen use and, respectively, the cognitive test score, the visual attention test, the teachers’ rating about the performance or behavior of their students was never significantly negative. In fact, some were even significantly positive, albeit low and non-conclusive due to the limitations of the study. The results, both of the regression and correlational analyses, are consistent with our suggestion that Desmurget's position is overly radical but do not exclude that, in the long term, the early use of screen can be the basis of a future addiction.     

Response inhibition and avoidance of virtual obstacles during gait in healthy young and older adults

Adjustments of preplanned steps are essential for fall avoidance and require response inhibition. Still, inhibition is rarely tested under conditions resembling daily living. We evaluated the ability of young and older adults to modify ongoing walking movements using a novel precision step inhibition (PSI) task combined with an auditory Stroop task.Healthy young (YA, n = 12) and older (OA, n = 12) adults performed the PSI task at 4 individualized difficulty levels, as a single and dual task (DT). Subjects walked on a treadmill by stepping on virtual stepping stones, unless these changed color during approach, forcing the subjects to avoid them. OA made more failures (40%) on the PSI task than YA (16%), but DT did not affect their performance. In combination with increased rates of omitted Stroop task responses, this indicates a “posture first” strategy. Yet, adding obstacles to the PSI task significantly deteriorated Stroop performance in both groups (the average Stroop composite score decreased by 13% in YA and 27% in OA). Largest deficit of OA was observed in rates of incorrect responses to incongruent Stroop stimuli (OA 35% and YA 12%), which require response inhibition. We concluded that the performance of OA suffered specifically when response inhibition was required.     

Habitual computer game playing at night is related to depressive symptoms

This study investigated whether the amount and circadian time of habitual computer game playing were related to depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults. We expected that habitual late playing relates to more depressive symptoms beyond the effect of the total time of computer game playing as playing at night may involve short, irregular, and disturbed sleep as well as misalignment of the circadian rhythm. 646 adolescents and young adults (ages 13–30; 90.9% males) who play the internet role-playing game World of Warcraft completed an online questionnaire. Habitual computer game playing between 10 pm and 6 am was related to an increased risk of high depression scores independent of the total amount of playing. Adolescents (ages 13–17 years) were most vulnerable when habitually playing during early night (i.e., 10–12 pm), while emergent adults (ages 18–22 years) showed more vulnerability when habitually playing late at night (i.e., after 2 am). The effect was partly mediated by daytime sleepiness but not by sleep loss or insomnia problems.     

Face and location processing in children with early unilateral brain injury

Human visuospatial functions are commonly divided into those dependent on the ventral visual stream (ventral occipitotemporal regions), which allows for processing the ‘what’ of an object, and the dorsal visual stream (dorsal occipitoparietal regions), which allows for processing ‘where’ an object is in space. Information about the development of each of the two streams has been accumulating, but very little is known about the effects of injury, particularly very early injury, on this developmental process. Using a set of computerized dorsal and ventral stream tasks matched for stimuli, required response, and difficulty (for typically-developing individuals), we sought to compare the differential effects of injury to the two systems by examining performance in individuals with perinatal brain injury (PBI), who present with selective deficits in visuospatial processing from a young age. Thirty participants (mean = 15.1 years) with early unilateral brain injury (15 right hemisphere PBI, 15 left hemisphere PBI) and 16 matched controls participated. On our tasks children with PBI performed more poorly than controls (lower accuracy and longer response times), and this was particularly prominent for the ventral stream task. Lateralization of PBI was also a factor, as the dorsal stream task did not seem to be associated with lateralized deficits, with both PBI groups showing only subtle decrements in performance, while the ventral stream task elicited deficits from RPBI children that do not appear to improve with age. Our findings suggest that early injury results in lesion-specific visuospatial deficits that persist into adolescence. Further, as the stimuli used in our ventral stream task were faces, our findings are consistent with what is known about the neural systems for face processing, namely, that they are established relatively early, follow a comparatively rapid developmental trajectory (conferring a vulnerability to early insult), and are biased toward the right hemisphere.     

The effect of exergames on functional strength,anaerobic fitness,balance and agility in children with and without motor coordination difficulties living in low-income communities

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are physically less active, preferring more sedentary behavior and are at risk of developing health problems or becoming overweight. 18 children (age 6–10 years) with lower levels of motor coordination attending a primary school in a low-income community in South Africa (score on Movement Assessment Battery for Children Second edition equal to or below the 5th percentile) were selected to participate in the study and were age-matched with typically developing peers (TD). Both groups of children engaged in 20 min of active Nintendo Wii Fit gaming on the balance board, twice a week for a period of five weeks. All children were tested before and after the intervention using the lower limb items of the Functional Strength Measurement, the 5 × 10 meter sprint test, the 5 × 10 meter slalom sprint test, and the Balance, Running speed and Agility subtest of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd edition (BOT-2).After intervention, both groups of children improved in functional strength and anaerobic fitness. The magnitude of these changes was not related to participant’s motor coordination level. However, differences in change between the TD and DCD group were apparent on the motor performance tests; children with DCD seemed to benefit more in balance skills of the BOT-2, while the TD children improved more in the Running speed and Agility component of the BOT-2. Compliance to the study protocol over 5 weeks was high and the effect on physical functioning was shown on standardized measures of physical performance validated for children with and without DCD.     

Postural control in children with and without neurofibromatosis type 1

Previous research has evaluated the motor proficiency of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and found delays on the balance subtest. However the balance subtest was found to have low sensitivity for identifying balance impairments. This study examines the differences in postural control between children with NF1 and peers with typical development using a force plate. A single limb stance test on a force plate was completed for all participants. The force plate variables, center of pressure maximum distance in the anterior/posterior direction (COPmax A/P) and center of pressure velocity (COPvel A/P) were compared between groups. The NF1 group’s performance was significantly poorer than the control group in both COPmax A/P (p = .01) and COPvel A/P (p = .01). When separated into specific age ranges, only the children in the NF1 group between 5 and 12 years of age demonstrated statistically significant differences in the COP variables. The COP variables for the 13- to 18-year-old group were not significantly different. These results indicate that young children with NF1 have poor postural control. However, postural control appears to improve with maturation.     

The effect of a motor skills training program in the improvement of practiced and non-practiced tasks performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD)

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of a group-based task oriented skills training program on motor and physical ability for children with DCD. It was also investigated if there was an effect on fine motor and handwriting tasks that were not specifically practiced during the training program. Forty-one children aged 6–10 years took part in this study. Children were assigned to three groups: an experimental training group consisting of 14 children with DCD, a control non-training group consisted of 13 children with DCD and a control non-training group consisting of 14 typically developed children. The measurements included were, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC), the Modified Agility Test (MAT), the Triple Hop Distance (THD), the 5 Jump-test (5JT) and the Handwriting Performance Test. All measures were administered pre and post an 8-week training program. The results showed that 10 children of the DCD training-group improved their performance in MABC test, attaining a score above the 15th percentile after their participation in the training program. DCD training-group showed a significant improvement on all cluster scores (manual dexterity (t (13) = 5.3, p < .001), ball skills (t (13) = 2.73, p < .05) and balance (t (13) = 5.13, p < .001). Significant performance improvements were also found in MAT, THD, 5JT (t (13) = –4.55; p < .01), handwriting quality (t (12) = –2.73; p < .05) and speed (t (12) = –4.2; p < .01) after the training program. In conclusion, improvement in both practiced and non-practiced skills, in the training program, may reflect improvement in motor skill but also transfer to other skills.     

Coaching Approach Behavior and Leading by Modeling: Rationale,Principles, and a Session-by-Session Description of the CALM Program for Early Childhood Anxiety

Whereas the cognitive-behavioral treatment of childhood anxiety has been well-researched and empirically supported over the last 20 years, interventions for anxiety in young children (ages 7 and below) have garnered little attention. Because young children generally lack the required developmental skills to effectively engage in cognitive-behavioral treatment, a simple downward extension of treatments used for older children is inappropriate. The CALM program (Coaching Approach behavior and Leading by Modeling) was developed as a developmentally compatible intervention to treat anxiety disorders in young children ages 3 to 7. The CALM program is an adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and an extension of Pincus, Eyberg, and Choate's (2000) adaptation of PCIT for young children with separation anxiety disorder. It is a parent-focused treatment that teaches parents skills to effectively reinforce their children's brave behavior and coaches the use of these skills during in-session parent-child interactions. The treatment emphasizes live, bug-in-the-ear coaching of parents during in vivo exposure sessions. This article describes the CALM program in detail.