Journal of Experimental Child Psychology最新文献

Children and adults can make more efficient use of their limited working memory capacity by reorganizing information based on prior knowledge or perceptual characteristics. The data compression approach has proven useful to relate both ways of reorganizing information because it can account for how patterns can be optimally recoded. However, this approach has never been applied to the study of how basic patterns are encoded by children. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a compressibility metric could predict working memory performance of children aged 3 to 5 years. We present one experiment in which the level of compressibility of a sequence of colors to remember was manipulated in an immediate serial recall task. Results from a large sample of 541 children suggest that young children reorganize information on the fly, but not entirely as predicted by a compressibility metric. We discuss how more general perceptual characteristics, such as symmetry and alternation, may complement formal complexity metrics in explaining children's recall patterns.

Language and executive function (EF) are correlated in preschool years. However, whether language plays a causal role in supporting EF development remains unclear given that language development cannot be experimentally manipulated. The present study recognizes that deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's language development represents a natural quasi-experimental proxy, in the common case where children's access to spoken language is delayed until they receive an assistive hearing device. We investigated whether DHH children's delayed EF development, relative to typically hearing (TH) children, is accounted for by DHH children's delayed access to spoken language. Preschoolers (n = 108, 38 oral DHH and 70 TH, 3.0-6.5 years) completed an EF task that primarily indexes inhibitory control and a standardized receptive language assessment. We also computed each DHH child's length of language access as the time that had elapsed since receiving their first assistive hearing device (at ages that varied widely from 1.5 months to 48 months). Replicating prior findings, TH children outperformed DHH children in EF (η²p = .17). Crucially, a mediation model revealed that length of language access fully mediated the link between DHH/TH status and EF. A second mediation model indicated that receptive vocabulary also fully mediated this link, further supporting the claim that EF delays among DHH children reflect delayed access to language rather than any cognitive deficit. Results provide strong evidence that language facilitates EF development and highlight the importance of early intervention to support language and EF. Theoretical implications for the nature and development of EF are discussed alongside practical implications for supporting DHH children.

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) experiences in middle childhood are linked to later STEM achievement and motivational beliefs, including the value that children place on STEM and their expectancy of pursuing a STEM career. Toy manufacturers often use gendered STEM product marketing, such as targeting puzzles or science experiment kits specifically to boys or girls. However, little is known about how children's STEM motivational beliefs intersect with girls' and boys' interest in gendered STEM toys. The present study used path analysis to empirically evaluate aspects of Situated Expectancy Value Theory (SEVT; Eccles & Wigfield, 2023) in 665 children (kindergarten to Grade 5; 356 girls; M = 8.18 years) and their interest in gendered and gender-neutral STEM toys. Girls' STEM value and career expectancy predicted their gender-congruent (i.e., girl-coded; pink magnet), gender-incongruent (i.e., boy-coded; Super Hero LEGO set), and gender-neutral (e.g., primary-colored blocks) toy ratings. In contrast, career expectancy did not relate to any of boys' toy ratings, although STEM value had similar predictive patterns for their gender-incongruent (i.e., girl-coded) and gender-neutral toy ratings. Findings support SEVT by showing that motivational beliefs such as self-concept and STEM value mediate links between boys' and girls' perceived ability and STEM toy preferences, with STEM career expectancy serving as an additional mediator for girls. Implications for understanding the mechanisms underpinning STEM engagement and considerations for aligning toy design with children's developing STEM beliefs are discussed.

Young children must determine from whom to seek help, yet little is known about how they weigh different social cues when forming expectations about others' help-seeking and how such weighting shifts during preschool years. The present research examined how children aged 4 to 6 years integrated relationship type (mother vs. unfamiliar adult) and competence cues in a third-party prediction task. In Study 1 (N = 194), 4-year-olds expected help-seekers to turn to mothers regardless of competence, whereas 5- and 6-year-olds increasingly incorporated competence when predicting help-seeking toward both mothers and unfamiliar adults. In Study 2 (N = 106), 5- and 6-year-olds expected help-seekers to prefer competent unfamiliar adults over incompetent mothers, while 4-year-olds showed no clear expectation preference. Together, these findings reveal a developmental shift in which competence cues gain increasing weight with age. More broadly, the results highlight how young children flexibly integrate multiple social cues when forming help-seeking expectations, underscoring the dynamic and context-sensitive nature of attachment representations as developing social-cognitive systems.