Journal of Experimental Child Psychology最新文献

One way in which children can learn about probabilities of different outcomes before making a decision is from description, for instance, by observing graphical representations of frequency distributions. But how do repeated risky choices develop in early childhood when outcome probabilities are learned from description? Integrating previous findings from children's sampling processes in causal learning and adults' repeated choice behavior, we investigated repeated choices from 201 children aged 3 to 7 years and 100 adults in a child-friendly risky choice task. We expected young children to probability match and predicted that the perceived dependency between choices would shape the underlying choice process. However, the assumed cognitive processes derived from the causal learning and risky choice literature did not generalize to children's or adults' repeated risky choices when outcome probabilities were learned from graphical representations prior to making a decision. Moreover, choice behavior did not differ as a function of the perceived dependency between guesses. Instead, children broadly diversified choices, and switching between options dominated older children's choice behavior. Our results contribute to increasing evidence of childhood as a phase for heightened exploration and highlight the importance of considering the learning format when studying repeated choice across development.

Verbal and nonverbal skills significantly contribute to individual differences in children's numerical development at the group level. However, less is known about whether the nature of the relations between verbal and nonverbal systems and numerical cognition varies depending on the unique characteristics children bring into numerical learning. To better delineate these associations, we examined the association between verbal and nonverbal skills and symbolic numerical development in preterm-born (PTB; n = 93; <37 weeks of gestation) children and term-born children (n = 104). We showed that PTB preschoolers, as a group, were at a higher risk of falling behind on certain numerical tasks (cardinality) but not on others (counting). There was, however, significant individual variability within the groups. Verbal and nonverbal skills contributed to the variability of children's numerical performance but did so differentially across the full spectrum of gestational age. Specifically, verbal skills moderated the association between gestational age and symbolic number performance (cardinality). The relation between verbal and cardinality skills was stronger at higher gestational ages compared with lower gestational ages. In addition, at higher gestational ages, children more frequently used retrieval strategy and less often relied solely on finger counting for the cardinality task. Shifting the focus from group differences to understanding individuals and their unique developmental pathways may enhance our insight into the risk and protective factors underlying the variability observed in all children.

A common obstacle in cognitive development research is that many cognitive tasks can be long, repetitive, and hence seemingly boring for children. The current study examined whether incorporating gamification elements could make a classic mental rotation task more child-friendly and engaging for young children. A total of 100 children aged 6 to 9 years participated in two mental rotation tasks, where one included gamification elements and the other did not. Results showed that gamification indeed improved performance on the task. Furthermore, this effect did not vary as a function of age, gender, or task difficulty. However, it interacted with testing order, such that those children who received the baseline condition first improved their performance in the gamification condition later on, whereas those children who received the gamification condition first were able to maintain a good performance in the baseline condition later on. Lastly, although some personality factors (e.g., Agreeableness, Openness to Experience) correlated with the overall performance, they did not predict the gamification effects. Therefore, our results have practical implications for using gamification in designing cognitively demanding tasks for children. Theoretically, they help to further understand how gamification affects cognition.

The home learning environment (HLE) is an important context for fostering early development. Literature supports four subdomains of the HLE: home literacy, numeracy, executive function, and science environments. The current study examined the factor structure of the HLE with all four domain-specific established scales. Participants (N = 913) were caregivers (primarily White; 78.1%) of children aged 2 to 6 years (M = 4.28 years, SD = 1.25). Data were collected from an online platform. Results suggested that the most appropriate structure was a seven-factor model (code-based and oral language literacy, informal and formal numeracy, core and practice science, and executive function). Caregivers reported engaging in literacy practices the most and engaging in science and numeracy activities the least. This study demonstrates that the HLE is a multidimensional structure.

Math anxiety is a well-known predictor of mathematics skills, with its effects ranging from reducing performance in high-stakes tests to interfering with learning novel mathematics contents. Although the intergenerational transmission of generalized anxiety is well-documented, research on the associations between parents' math anxiety and children's math anxiety and mathematics outcomes is still limited. In this longitudinal study (N = 126), we investigated the associations between parents' math anxiety (as measured when children were 3 years of age) and children's math anxiety and math skills at 8 years of age. The development of children's mathematics skills from 3 to 8 years was also investigated. Results of longitudinal structural equation models revealed that parents' math anxiety was associated with children's mathematics skills in the preschool years even after controlling for parental education. In turn, children's mathematics skills in the preschool years were associated both with children's mathematics skills and their mathematics anxiety at age 8. In addition, there was an indirect link between parents' math anxiety, as measured when their children were age 3, and children's mathematics skills at age 8, which was mediated by children's early mathematics skills in the preschool years. In sum, these findings suggest that although parents' math anxiety is not directly related to the development of math anxiety in their children, it may be negatively related to the development of children's early mathematical skills, which are strong predictors not only of academic achievement but also of success and well-being in adulthood.

Across two experiments, we explored the conditions under which 4- to 11-year-old children (N = 138) were more likely to seek social cognitive helpers and whether they preferentially relied on help from those that had previously shown proficiency in a relevant cognitive context. Children completed a memory task with varying levels of difficulty, after which they were introduced to two characters that exhibited either a high memory ability (task-relevant) or a high motor skill ability (task-irrelevant) in a distinct context. Children then completed the memory task a second time with the option to choose one of the two characters to assist them. From 6 years of age, children preferentially offloaded memory demand onto the character that had previously demonstrated a high memory ability and were also more likely to ask for help on difficult trials compared with easy trials. Our results also indicated potential differences in factors influencing children's social and nonsocial cognitive offloading decisions.

It has been proposed that a childhood in a noisy household might lead to poor language skills and slow development of language areas of the brain. Notably, a direct link between noisy households and language development has not been confirmed. Households might have high levels of noise for a range of reasons, including situational (near a large road intersection or airport), family (large families), and cultural (differences in beliefs surrounding noise in the home, including media use). We argue that within the range of safety, noise itself is not problematic to language development if language is made accessible to children. To test this hypothesis, we used LENA (Language Enviromental Analysis) devices to record 3- to 5-year-old children's home environments. All children were living in Spanish-dominant households. Language skills were assessed in Spanish and English. In addition to overall noise levels in the home, we calculated speech-to-noise ratios as an index of access to speech in real-world conditions. There was no relationship between noise in the home and language outcomes. Instead, speech-to-noise ratio explained a significant proportion of variability in language outcomes. The results indicate that enhancing access to language, such as by speaking loudly or getting close to the child, plays a significant role in children's language development outcomes rather than noise per se.

Early computational capacity sets the foundation for mathematical learning. Preschool children have been shown to perform both non-symbolic addition and subtraction problems. However, it is still unknown how different operations affect the representational precision of the non-symbolic arithmetic solutions. The current study compared 83 4- and 5-year-olds' ability to solve non-symbolic addition and subtraction problems and examined the role of working memory underlying the two arithmetic processes. In the task, children were shown two sets of arrays that were sequentially occluded and were asked to either sum the arrays up (addition) or remove one array from the other (subtraction). The solution was then compared with a visible array. Children also completed two working memory tasks to measure their working memory storage and updating abilities. Results showed that children's representational precision in addition was higher than that in subtraction. Although children's performance in both arithmetic operations were associated with working memory updating, solving subtractive problems imposed additional cognitive resources in working memory updating. These findings reveal early developmental differences between addition and subtraction. Children's computational capacity in both addition and subtraction develops early in childhood, and the operation in subtraction demands more mental manipulation in working memory.

Numerous studies have reported benefits of music listening to support learning and motor rehabilitation. In the case of handwriting, previous studies suggested that musical background improves movement speed and fluency. Whether this benefit comes from the melody or is specifically related to the rhythmic cues provided by the music remains to be established. In addition, music can influence handwriting differently depending on the child's level of expertise. To disentangle these effects, we recorded graphic movement under different sound backgrounds in children of two different grades. In total, 44 s graders and 44 fifth graders needed to copy loops and isolated words under four sound conditions: silent, melodic without metronome, melodic with slow metronome (1.6 Hz), and melodic with faster metronome (2.2 Hz). The results revealed that listening to a pure melodic background reduced writing velocity, movement fluency, and loop size in both groups. In addition, the rhythmic cues influenced handwriting kinematics differently depending on grade and task. For the younger group, the two rhythms, and especially the slow rate, increased the loop copying velocity, whereas for the words the velocity and movement fluency were reduced by the fast rate. Conversely, for the older group, the two rhythmic conditions reduced writing velocity and movement fluency, and they increased the size of both the loops and the words. Finally, the effects also depend on handwriting level; poor writers seem to benefit more from the adding of rhythmic cues. These results raise interesting perspectives for learning to write and for the rehabilitation of handwriting difficulties.

Epistemic curiosity is considered indispensable in children's learning, but previous empirical research on children's curiosity-driven learning has been fragmented; separate research lines tend to focus on single learning outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed at integrating different research lines by adapting an existing paradigm to investigate not only the relation between children's state curiosity and their memory performance but also their desire to explore. In addition, this study examined a possible mechanism through which curiosity affects recall: increased attentional processes. Last, this study investigated the role of intelligence and perceived prior knowledge in the relation between curiosity and recall. We applied a within-participants design in which the Trivia task (N = 32) and Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices were administered to 10- to 12-year-olds. In the Trivia task, participants learn answers to trivia questions for which they have high and low curiosity, and subsequently recall is tested. Main findings include that children memorized trivia facts better when they were in a high-curious state rather than a low-curious state, and this positive relation may increase with intelligence. Importantly, the relation between curiosity and recall still held when taking into account perceived prior knowledge. Curiosity was positively related not only to recall but also to children's desire to further explore the concerning topic. Given that in some educational contexts promoting curiosity is not considered a priority and children express little school-related curiosity, an important value of this study for educational practice lies in the reinforcement of the notion of curiosity being a main driver of children's learning.