Pub Date : 2025-04-12DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106260
Rongzhi Liu , Gil Diesendruck , Fei Xu
The current study investigated how U.S. adults (N = 99) and 5- and 6-year-old children (N = 112) use statistical information in their social partner choices. We found that children integrated base rate information (the distribution of traits within groups) and individual-level statistical information (the frequency of an individual’s past behaviors) in their partner choices, but adults only relied on the individual-level statistical information and neglected base rate information. In addition, adults and children were affected by non-statistical information: Adults showed risk-seeking and risk-averse tendencies, and children showed only risk-seeking tendencies in their partner choices. These findings provide evidence that both statistical and non-statistical information affect social decisions, and adults and children are influenced by each type of information in distinct ways. The current study suggests future directions to further investigate the role of statistical learning in our social cognition and to develop a unifying account of how non-statistical information interacts with statistical information in our social decisions.
{"title":"Children’s and adults’ social partner choices are differently affected by statistical information","authors":"Rongzhi Liu , Gil Diesendruck , Fei Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106260","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106260","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current study investigated how U.S. adults (<em>N</em> = 99) and 5- and 6-year-old children (<em>N</em> = 112) use statistical information in their social partner choices. We found that children integrated base rate information (the distribution of traits within groups) and individual-level statistical information (the frequency of an individual’s past behaviors) in their partner choices, but adults only relied on the individual-level statistical information and neglected base rate information. In addition, adults and children were affected by non-statistical information: Adults showed risk-seeking and risk-averse tendencies, and children showed only risk-seeking tendencies in their partner choices. These findings provide evidence that both statistical and non-statistical information affect social decisions, and adults and children are influenced by each type of information in distinct ways. The current study suggests future directions to further investigate the role of statistical learning in our social cognition and to develop a unifying account of how non-statistical information interacts with statistical information in our social decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106260"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143823862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106255
Jernice S.Y. Tan , Coral B.S. Lim
This study investigated the gross motor skills (GMS) of 424 children aged 2.5 to 6 years with the Motor Assessment Test for Children (MATCH). Results from multivariate analysis of variance revealed (a) positive age effects in stability, locomotion, and object manipulation; (b) higher stability scores for girls than for boys and higher object manipulation scores for boys than for girls; and (c) GMS differences even within 6-month age intervals for some motor tasks. The positive age effect indicates that GMS proficiency changes with physical development, whereas gender effects may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors. We recommend that educators be aware of pronounced early childhood motor development and implement varied approaches that cater to diverse developmental levels. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, annual motor assessments are advised. Educators should acknowledge gender-type play behaviors with a naturalistic approach while advocating inclusive play opportunities.
{"title":"The development of gross motor skills in children: Insights from the Motor Assessment Test for Children","authors":"Jernice S.Y. Tan , Coral B.S. Lim","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the gross motor skills (GMS) of 424 children aged 2.5 to 6 years with the Motor Assessment Test for Children (MATCH). Results from multivariate analysis of variance revealed (a) positive age effects in stability, locomotion, and object manipulation; (b) higher stability scores for girls than for boys and higher object manipulation scores for boys than for girls; and (c) GMS differences even within 6-month age intervals for some motor tasks. The positive age effect indicates that GMS proficiency changes with physical development, whereas gender effects may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors. We recommend that educators be aware of pronounced early childhood motor development and implement varied approaches that cater to diverse developmental levels. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, annual motor assessments are advised. Educators should acknowledge gender-type play behaviors with a naturalistic approach while advocating inclusive play opportunities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106255"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143821158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-09DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106261
Marie Geurten , Laurence Picard
Recently, studies have revealed that parent–child interactions are one of the key drivers of children’s memory development. Here, we investigated whether some specific parental behaviors and characteristics—the richness of parents’ metamemory repertoire and their propensity to use metacognitive talk when interacting with their children—could mediate the well-known influence of parental education level on children’s memory performance. To do so, 54 parent–child dyads with children aged 24 to 46 months were recruited and tested at two time points. Parents’ metamemory repertoire was estimated using a questionnaire requiring the generation of as many different strategies as possible to solve various memory scenarios. The frequency of parents’ metacognitive comments during a standardized discussion about a past event with their children was used as a measure of metacognitive talk. An associative recognition memory task was used to assess children’s memory performance. Our results revealed that the effect of parental education level on children’s memory was serially mediated by children’s exposure to metacognitive talk via the richness of parents’ strategic memory repertoire. Specifically, parents with higher educational attainment were likely to nominate more memory strategies than parents with a lower level of education. In turn, having a rich metamemory repertoire increased the likelihood of being metacognitive when interacting with children, which has a positive effect on children’s memory performance. The importance of these findings for the sociocultural models of memory development is discussed.
{"title":"The serial mediation effect of parents’ metamemory repertoire and metacognitive talk on children’s associative memory","authors":"Marie Geurten , Laurence Picard","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recently, studies have revealed that parent–child interactions are one of the key drivers of children’s memory development. Here, we investigated whether some specific parental behaviors and characteristics—the richness of parents’ metamemory repertoire and their propensity to use metacognitive talk when interacting with their children—could mediate the well-known influence of parental education level on children’s memory performance. To do so, 54 parent–child dyads with children aged 24 to 46 months were recruited and tested at two time points. Parents’ metamemory repertoire was estimated using a questionnaire requiring the generation of as many different strategies as possible to solve various memory scenarios. The frequency of parents’ metacognitive comments during a standardized discussion about a past event with their children was used as a measure of metacognitive talk. An associative recognition memory task was used to assess children’s memory performance. Our results revealed that the effect of parental education level on children’s memory was serially mediated by children’s exposure to metacognitive talk via the richness of parents’ strategic memory repertoire. Specifically, parents with higher educational attainment were likely to nominate more memory strategies than parents with a lower level of education. In turn, having a rich metamemory repertoire increased the likelihood of being metacognitive when interacting with children, which has a positive effect on children’s memory performance. The importance of these findings for the sociocultural models of memory development is discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106261"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143799926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-09DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106257
Alanny Nunes de Santana , Antonio Roazzi , Alena Pimentel Mello Cabral Nobre
Executive functions (EFs) are the focus of interventions aimed at their development and subsequent improvement of indirectly trained skills such as academic performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of near-transfer effects (EFs improvement) and far-transfer effects (mathematics improvement) of the Cucca Curiosa intervention in Brazilian children aged 7 to 10 years, with 28 participants per age group. This stratified trial included 112 children randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG) or control group (CG). Child Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NEUPSILIN-Inf), Five-Digit Test (FDT), Day–Night Stroop task, and Mathematics Test (TEMA) were administered at pretest and posttest levels. The EG participated in the 1-week Cucca Curiosa program, consisting of five sessions (averaging 13 min, with a maximum of 26 min), whereas the CG remained in passive waiting. Data analysis revealed that the intervention significantly improved children’s executive and mathematics performance in the short term. The mediation analysis identified that EFs are essential mediators that explain how the intervention improves mathematical performance, reinforcing the importance of focusing on the development of EFs as a strategy to improve academic performance. Further studies are necessary to assess long-term effects, transfer to other skills, and potential benefits in reducing psychopathological symptoms.
{"title":"Game-based cognitive training and its impact on executive functions and math performance: A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Alanny Nunes de Santana , Antonio Roazzi , Alena Pimentel Mello Cabral Nobre","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106257","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106257","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Executive functions (EFs) are the focus of interventions aimed at their development and subsequent improvement of indirectly trained skills such as academic performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of near-transfer effects (EFs improvement) and far-transfer effects (mathematics improvement) of the <em>Cucca Curiosa</em> intervention in Brazilian children aged 7 to 10 years, with 28 participants per age group. This stratified trial included 112 children randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG) or control group (CG). Child Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NEUPSILIN-Inf), Five-Digit Test (FDT), Day–Night Stroop task, and Mathematics Test (TEMA) were administered at pretest and posttest levels. The EG participated in the 1-week Cucca Curiosa program, consisting of five sessions (averaging 13 min, with a maximum of 26 min), whereas the CG remained in passive waiting. Data analysis revealed that the intervention significantly improved children’s executive and mathematics performance in the short term. The mediation analysis identified that EFs are essential mediators that explain how the intervention improves mathematical performance, reinforcing the importance of focusing on the development of EFs as a strategy to improve academic performance. Further studies are necessary to assess long-term effects, transfer to other skills, and potential benefits in reducing psychopathological symptoms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106257"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143799925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-04DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106239
Brett W. Gelino , Bryant M. Stone , Geoffrey D. Kahn , Justin C. Strickland , Julia W. Felton , Brion S. Maher , Richard Yi , Jill A. Rabinowitz
Delay discounting (DD), which reflects a tendency to devalue rewards as the time to their receipt increases, is associated with health behaviors such as sleep disturbances, obesity, and externalizing behavior among adolescents. Response patterns characterized by inconsistent or unexpected reward valuation, called non-systematic responding (NSR), may also predict health outcomes. Many researchers flag and exclude NSR trials prior to analysis, which could lead to systematic bias if NSR (a) varies by demographic characteristics or (b) predicts health outcomes. Thus, in this study we characterized NSR and examined its potential beyond error by comparing it against DD with a secondary data analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study—a population-based study that tracked youths (N = 11,948) annually from 8 to 11 years of age over 4 years. We assessed DD and NSR using the Adjusting Delay Discounting Task when youths were approximately 9.48 years old (SD = 0.51). We also examined three maladaptive health outcomes annually: sleep disturbances, obesity, and externalizing psychopathology. Our analysis revealed variations in NSR across races, ethnicities, and body mass index categories, with no significant differences observed by sex or gender. Notably, NSR was a stronger predictor of obesity and externalizing psychopathology than DD and inversely predicted the growth trajectory of obesity. These findings suggest that removing NSR patterns could systematically bias analyses given that NSR may capture unexplored response variability. This study demonstrates the significance of NSR and underscores the necessity for further research on how to manage NSR in future DD studies.
{"title":"From error to insight: Removing non-systematic responding data in the delay discounting task may introduce systematic bias","authors":"Brett W. Gelino , Bryant M. Stone , Geoffrey D. Kahn , Justin C. Strickland , Julia W. Felton , Brion S. Maher , Richard Yi , Jill A. Rabinowitz","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106239","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106239","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Delay discounting (DD), which reflects a tendency to devalue rewards as the time to their receipt increases, is associated with health behaviors such as sleep disturbances, obesity, and externalizing behavior among adolescents. Response patterns characterized by inconsistent or unexpected reward valuation, called non-systematic responding (NSR), may also predict health outcomes. Many researchers flag and exclude NSR trials prior to analysis, which could lead to systematic bias if NSR (a) varies by demographic characteristics or (b) predicts health outcomes. Thus, in this study we characterized NSR and examined its potential beyond error by comparing it against DD with a secondary data analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study—a population-based study that tracked youths (<em>N</em> = 11,948) annually from 8 to 11 years of age over 4 years. We assessed DD and NSR using the Adjusting Delay Discounting Task when youths were approximately 9.48 years old (<em>SD</em> = 0.51). We also examined three maladaptive health outcomes annually: sleep disturbances, obesity, and externalizing psychopathology. Our analysis revealed variations in NSR across races, ethnicities, and body mass index categories, with no significant differences observed by sex or gender. Notably, NSR was a stronger predictor of obesity and externalizing psychopathology than DD and inversely predicted the growth trajectory of obesity. These findings suggest that removing NSR patterns could systematically bias analyses given that NSR may capture unexplored response variability. This study demonstrates the significance of NSR and underscores the necessity for further research on how to manage NSR in future DD studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106239"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143768544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Children’s executive functions (EFs) and family socioeconomic status (SES) play critical roles in the development of mathematical ability in early elementary education. However, the potential interplay between EFs and SES remains underexplored. This study addressed this gap by comprehensively investigating the moderating role of SES in the relationship between EF subcomponents (i.e., interference inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory) and children’s concurrent and future mathematical abilities (i.e., arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills). A total of 172 participants (Mage = 6.78 years; 107 boys) took part in the study at the beginning of first grade in elementary school (T1) and 20 months later (T2). We measured EFs, SES, and mathematical ability at T1 and mathematical ability at T2. Results from hierarchical linear regression models indicated that working memory was positively associated with T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills as well as with T2 arithmetic operations. Furthermore, family SES was positively associated with arithmetic operations at both T1 and T2. Notably, we found a significant interaction effect between interference inhibition and SES on T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills. Specifically, interference inhibition was positively related to T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills for children from low- and middle-SES families, but not for children from high-SES families. Our findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of how cognitive and environmental factors jointly influence mathematical development, underscoring the need for targeted interventions for children from different SES backgrounds to support their mathematical ability development.
{"title":"Executive functions and mathematical ability in early elementary school children: The moderating role of family socioeconomic status","authors":"Xiaoliang Zhu , Yixin Tang , Zhuoyue Pang , Xin Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children’s executive functions (EFs) and family socioeconomic status (SES) play critical roles in the development of mathematical ability in early elementary education. However, the potential interplay between EFs and SES remains underexplored. This study addressed this gap by comprehensively investigating the moderating role of SES in the relationship between EF subcomponents (i.e., interference inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory) and children’s concurrent and future mathematical abilities (i.e., arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills). A total of 172 participants (<em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 6.78 years; 107 boys) took part in the study at the beginning of first grade in elementary school (T1) and 20 months later (T2). We measured EFs, SES, and mathematical ability at T1 and mathematical ability at T2. Results from hierarchical linear regression models indicated that working memory was positively associated with T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills as well as with T2 arithmetic operations. Furthermore, family SES was positively associated with arithmetic operations at both T1 and T2. Notably, we found a significant interaction effect between interference inhibition and SES on T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills. Specifically, interference inhibition was positively related to T1 arithmetic operations and logical–visuospatial skills for children from low- and middle-SES families, but not for children from high-SES families. Our findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of how cognitive and environmental factors jointly influence mathematical development, underscoring the need for targeted interventions for children from different SES backgrounds to support their mathematical ability development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243
Madeline K. Maguire, Caitlin E.V. Mahy
Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to carry out future intentions, is an ability with which young children often struggle. Thus, it is crucial to determine how to best support the development of their PM skills. Reminders are often used to support PM, and previous research has found that reminders referencing both the PM cue and intended action can improve children’s and adults’ PM. To date, no studies have investigated the effect of verbal cue and action reminders on preschool children’s PM performance, a gap the current study intended to fill. A total of 88 North American children aged 3 to 6 years completed a PM task virtually. The PM task required children to interrupt a card-sorting task to wave at specific cards (those depicting elephants). Children were randomly assigned to receive one of the following: (a) three cue–action reminders, which referenced the PM cue (the elephants) and the intended action (waving); (b) three cue-only reminders, which referenced only the PM cue; (c) three action-only reminders, which referenced only the intended action; or (d) three irrelevant control reminders. The only significant predictor of PM performance was age, which became nonsignificant when the interaction terms were added in the model. Reminders did not have an effect on children’s PM. We consider how these findings may lend support to theories of PM development and discuss the implications of using verbal reminders to support children’s PM in everyday contexts.
{"title":"In one ear and out the other: Verbal reminders do not improve young children’s prospective memory performance on a virtual task","authors":"Madeline K. Maguire, Caitlin E.V. Mahy","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to carry out future intentions, is an ability with which young children often struggle. Thus, it is crucial to determine how to best support the development of their PM skills. Reminders are often used to support PM, and previous research has found that reminders referencing both the PM cue and intended action can improve children’s and adults’ PM. To date, no studies have investigated the effect of verbal cue and action reminders on preschool children’s PM performance, a gap the current study intended to fill. A total of 88 North American children aged 3 to 6 years completed a PM task virtually. The PM task required children to interrupt a card-sorting task to wave at specific cards (those depicting elephants). Children were randomly assigned to receive one of the following: (a) three cue–action reminders, which referenced the PM cue (the elephants) and the intended action (waving); (b) three cue-only reminders, which referenced only the PM cue; (c) three action-only reminders, which referenced only the intended action; or (d) three irrelevant control reminders. The only significant predictor of PM performance was age, which became nonsignificant when the interaction terms were added in the model. Reminders did not have an effect on children’s PM. We consider how these findings may lend support to theories of PM development and discuss the implications of using verbal reminders to support children’s PM in everyday contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106243"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106251
Meltem Yucel , Jessica A. Stern , Sierra L. Eisen , Angeline S. Lillard , Amrisha Vaish
Most research on the development of moral judgments has focused on children’s assessment of all-good or all-bad characters with little attention to the gray areas of morality. Yet real people’s behavior is often morally ambiguous, involving sometimes moral and sometimes immoral actions. In this study, we examined how 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old U.S. children (N = 72; 51% female) evaluate and respond to morally ambiguous characters. Children heard stories that each contained a purely moral character, a purely immoral character, and a morally ambiguous character. The 6- and 8-year-olds were more likely than the 4-year-olds to distinguish the ambiguous character from the moral and immoral characters. These age-related changes elucidate the development of children’s assessments of the “gray areas” of morality.
{"title":"Heroes, villains, and everything in between: Children’s assessment of morally ambiguous characters","authors":"Meltem Yucel , Jessica A. Stern , Sierra L. Eisen , Angeline S. Lillard , Amrisha Vaish","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106251","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106251","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Most research on the development of moral judgments has focused on children’s assessment of all-good or all-bad characters with little attention to the gray areas of morality. Yet real people’s behavior is often morally ambiguous, involving sometimes moral and sometimes immoral actions. In this study, we examined how 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old U.S. children (<em>N</em> = 72; 51% female) evaluate and respond to morally ambiguous characters. Children heard stories that each contained a purely moral character, a purely immoral character, and a morally ambiguous character. The 6- and 8-year-olds were more likely than the 4-year-olds to distinguish the ambiguous character from the moral and immoral characters. These age-related changes elucidate the development of children’s assessments of the “gray areas” of morality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 106251"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143715528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-22DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225
Noel Lam , Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas , Matthew H.C. Mak , Lisa-Marie Henderson
Theories of memory consolidation claim that new word learning is bolstered by existing semantic knowledge. However, when semantic knowledge exerts its effects (i.e., at encoding and/or consolidation) and whether semantic benefits change across development remain unclear. In total, 61 children (Experiment 1) and 63 adults (Experiment 2) learned novel word forms paired with pictures of (a) real but rare animals akin to existing animals (Highly Linkable to existing knowledge), (b) fictitious animals that were less clearly associated with familiar animals (Less Linkable), and (c) “name tags” written with unfamiliar symbols (Unlinkable). Word form and meaning recall were tested immediately, 1 day, and 1 week after learning. Children showed greater improvements across tests than adults despite comparable performance immediately after learning. Regardless of test sessions, semantic knowledge benefited adults’ recall of word form and meaning, with additional benefit from Highly Linkable versus Less Linkable knowledge. Children only showed semantic benefits in meaning (and not word form) recall, with additional benefits from Highly Linkable knowledge. Instead, children’s word form recall was more globally associated with receptive vocabulary and nonword repetition. These results suggest that, when present, the benefits of semantic information permeate across the timecourse of word learning; they also point to developmental differences in word learning mechanisms. Adults made clear use of associated semantic knowledge, whereas children showed more general associations between word learning and language abilities and greater benefit from offline consolidation. These results highlight the need for models of word learning and consolidation to incorporate developmental and individual differences.
{"title":"Developmental differences in the timecourse of word learning: Greater improvements for children, semantic benefits for adults","authors":"Noel Lam , Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas , Matthew H.C. Mak , Lisa-Marie Henderson","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Theories of memory consolidation claim that new word learning is bolstered by existing semantic knowledge. However, <em>when</em> semantic knowledge exerts its effects (i.e., at encoding and/or consolidation) and whether semantic benefits change across development remain unclear. In total, 61 children (Experiment 1) and 63 adults (Experiment 2) learned novel word forms paired with pictures of (a) real but rare animals akin to existing animals (Highly Linkable to existing knowledge), (b) fictitious animals that were less clearly associated with familiar animals (Less Linkable), and (c) “name tags” written with unfamiliar symbols (Unlinkable). Word form and meaning recall were tested immediately, 1 day, and 1 week after learning. Children showed greater improvements across tests than adults despite comparable performance immediately after learning. Regardless of test sessions, semantic knowledge benefited adults’ recall of word form and meaning, with additional benefit from Highly Linkable versus Less Linkable knowledge. Children only showed semantic benefits in meaning (and not word form) recall, with additional benefits from Highly Linkable knowledge. Instead, children’s word form recall was more globally associated with receptive vocabulary and nonword repetition. These results suggest that, when present, the benefits of semantic information permeate across the timecourse of word learning; they also point to developmental differences in word learning mechanisms. Adults made clear use of associated semantic knowledge, whereas children showed more general associations between word learning and language abilities and greater benefit from offline consolidation. These results highlight the need for models of word learning and consolidation to incorporate developmental and individual differences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":"255 ","pages":"Article 106225"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-22DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106221
Kate V. Luken Raz, Marley B. Forbes, Melanie Killen
Different forms of prejudice emerge in childhood, often referred to as direct and indirect bias. Little is known about children’s evaluations of whether certain forms of bias are more okay than others, particularly in the context of peer and parental messages about interracial social inclusion. To address this gap, the current study investigated how Black and White American children aged 6 to 12 years (N = 219; Mage = 9.18 years, SD = 1.90; 51% female) evaluate vignettes in which a Black or White peer opted to include a same-race peer due to indirect bias (preferences for in-group similarity) or direct bias (expressions of out-group dislike). Data were collected in 2021 and 2022. Children evaluated same-race inclusion due to expressions of out-group dislike more negatively than same-race inclusion due to in-group similarity preference. They also evaluated same-race inclusion due to a preference for in-group similarity stated by peers more negatively than when stated by parents. Children evaluated same-race inclusion due to parental preference more positively when the child who included a same-race peer was Black than when the child who included a same-race peer was White. Participants who negatively evaluated same-race inclusion due to parental preference were more likely to use moral reasoning to justify their evaluations, whereas participants who positively evaluated this inclusion were more likely to use non-moral reasoning. This study revealed novel insights about how Black and White American children evaluate forms of direct and indirect bias as justifications for same-race inclusion and how their reasoning relates to their evaluations.
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