Pub Date : 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101672
Nur Elibol-Pekaslan , Basak Sahin-Acar , Michelle D. Leichtman
Memory functions––or the reasons people reminisce––have primarily been studied retrospectively using self-report. In the current study, memory functions were coded directly from emotionally charged conversations between mothers and their adolescents. One hundred and eight Turkish mother-adolescent pairs (M adolescent age 15 years; 1 month) talked about three one-point-in-time events they had experienced together, cued by distinct emotions (sadness, anger, happiness); each utterance was coded using a coding scheme reflecting known functions (social, self, directive). The frequency of memory functions was evaluated by conversation participant, emotion cue, and adolescents’ gender. Self-function was predominant among adolescents, with social and directive functions predominant among mothers. Different patterns of functions across emotions were apparent. Results are discussed in view of prior work on memory functions and cultural contexts of reminiscing.
{"title":"Functions of autobiographical memory in mother-adolescent reminiscing about emotionally charged events","authors":"Nur Elibol-Pekaslan , Basak Sahin-Acar , Michelle D. Leichtman","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101672","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101672","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Memory functions––or the reasons people reminisce––have primarily been studied retrospectively using self-report. In the current study, memory functions were coded directly from emotionally charged conversations between mothers and their adolescents. One hundred and eight Turkish mother-adolescent pairs (<em>M</em> adolescent age 15 years; 1 month) talked about three one-point-in-time events they had experienced together, cued by distinct emotions (sadness, anger, happiness); each utterance was coded using a coding scheme reflecting known functions (social, self, directive). The frequency of memory functions was evaluated by conversation participant, emotion cue, and adolescents’ gender. Self-function was predominant among adolescents, with social and directive functions predominant among mothers. Different patterns of functions across emotions were apparent. Results are discussed in view of prior work on memory functions and cultural contexts of reminiscing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101672"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146116422","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101673
Jessica N. Steil, Claudia K. Friedrich
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 (n = 30), and a group of young adults (n = 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.
{"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":"2026-02-04","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101674
Noa Golani Marcus , Meytal Nasie
Intergroup meta-perceptions are beliefs regarding views the out-group holds about one’s in-group. Although intergroup meta-perceptions may have a critical role in intergroup relations, their manifestations and implications have not been studied in children. This study examines the meta-perceptions of 108 Jewish-Israeli children (5–8- and 11-year-olds, 46 % females) about Arabs (“conflict” out-group) and about Scots (“neutral” out-group) and their association with intergroup attitudes. The findings revealed that already at age 5 children express meta-perceptions of different types and valence about out-groups, and with age, their amount and their complexity increase. In addition, children’s meta-perceptions, in the form of meta-stereotypes about out-groups, are correlated with intergroup attitudes. These findings reveal a divergence in children’s meta-perceptions of unfamiliar neutral versus familiar conflict out-groups (e.g., Scots and Arabs). Specifically, children tend to hold stable, stereotypical meta-perceptions about unfamiliar neutral groups, whereas their meta-perceptions about the familiar conflict out-group are more nuanced. Additionally, there is a developmental shift: younger children typically express negative, stereotypical meta-perceptions about both out-groups, while older children show increasingly positive meta-perceptions about unfamiliar neutral out-groups. Exploring children’s meta-perceptions allows us to identify misperceptions that may require early intervention.
{"title":"Children’s meta-perceptions about the out-group and their association with intergroup attitudes","authors":"Noa Golani Marcus , Meytal Nasie","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101674","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101674","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intergroup meta-perceptions are beliefs regarding views the out-group holds about one’s in-group. Although intergroup meta-perceptions may have a critical role in intergroup relations, their manifestations and implications have not been studied in children. This study examines the meta-perceptions of 108 Jewish-Israeli children (5–8- and 11-year-olds, 46 % females) about Arabs (“conflict” out-group) and about Scots (“neutral” out-group) and their association with intergroup attitudes. The findings revealed that already at age 5 children express meta-perceptions of different types and valence about out-groups, and with age, their amount and their complexity increase. In addition, children’s meta-perceptions, in the form of meta-stereotypes about out-groups, are correlated with intergroup attitudes. These findings reveal a divergence in children’s meta-perceptions of unfamiliar neutral versus familiar conflict out-groups (e.g., Scots and Arabs). Specifically, children tend to hold stable, stereotypical meta-perceptions about unfamiliar neutral groups, whereas their meta-perceptions about the familiar conflict out-group are more nuanced. Additionally, there is a developmental shift: younger children typically express negative, stereotypical meta-perceptions about both out-groups, while older children show increasingly positive meta-perceptions about unfamiliar neutral out-groups. Exploring children’s meta-perceptions allows us to identify misperceptions that may require early intervention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 101674"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146116421","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}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670
Diego Guerrero , Santiago Murillo Granada , Edward Alejandro Mejía Echeverry , Zuly García
Numerous studies have shown that working memory is a reliable predictor of children’s mathematical performance. However, the specific relationship between counting skills and WM capacity remains unclear. This study examined how domain-specific counting skills and domain-general WM resources contribute to preschool children’s understanding of counting principles and cardinality. Forty-eight children from a Colombian preschool completed tasks assessing stable-order knowledge, one-to-one correspondence, and cardinality, as well as WM measures spanning verbal, visual, and spatial modalities at both low- and high-control levels. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that knowledge of the counting sequence was the strongest and most consistent predictor of performance across tasks. One-to-one correspondence was explained primarily by children’s counting sequence knowledge, with minimal involvement of WM. By contrast, cardinal knowledge was predicted not only by sequence knowledge but also by high-control sequential verbal WM, highlighting the role of active manipulation of cardinal number words. Performance on the Counting span task was predicted mainly by age, with cardinal knowledge and WM contributing only marginally. Overall, these findings indicate that symbolic counting knowledge provides the core scaffolding for children’s developing understanding of natural numbers.
{"title":"Low and high control working memory and counting skills in children","authors":"Diego Guerrero , Santiago Murillo Granada , Edward Alejandro Mejía Echeverry , Zuly García","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101670","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Numerous studies have shown that working memory is a reliable predictor of children’s mathematical performance. However, the specific relationship between counting skills and WM capacity remains unclear. This study examined how domain-specific counting skills and domain-general WM resources contribute to preschool children’s understanding of counting principles and cardinality. Forty-eight children from a Colombian preschool completed tasks assessing stable-order knowledge, one-to-one correspondence, and cardinality, as well as WM measures spanning verbal, visual, and spatial modalities at both low- and high-control levels. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that knowledge of the counting sequence was the strongest and most consistent predictor of performance across tasks. One-to-one correspondence was explained primarily by children’s counting sequence knowledge, with minimal involvement of WM. By contrast, cardinal knowledge was predicted not only by sequence knowledge but also by high-control sequential verbal WM, highlighting the role of active manipulation of cardinal number words. Performance on the Counting span task was predicted mainly by age, with cardinal knowledge and WM contributing only marginally. Overall, these findings indicate that symbolic counting knowledge provides the core scaffolding for children’s developing understanding of natural numbers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101670"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939016","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}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101669
Brian Leahy , Michael Huemer , Katie Holmes , Susan Carey
Many studies find that young preschoolers do not deploy logical concepts like or or possibly in the 3- and 4-container tasks. Gautam et al. (2021) report a modified 4-container task, where children with an age range of 2;6–3;0 perform as well as 5-year-olds on previous studies. Performance demands of earlier implementations might have masked children’s logical competence. Here we replicate that result, but also find that it does not hold when the simpler 3-container task is implemented with the same modifications. When children are given more trials on the 4-container task, performance converges to that observed in all other implementations. The 3- and 4-container tasks equally test whether participants differentiate a container where a reward is from a container where a reward might or might not be. Their failure to deploy this distinction on the 3-container task speaks against the hypothesis that the modifications in Gautam et al. unmasked an ability to differentiate what is from what merely might be on the 4-container task.
{"title":"Do older 2-year-olds deploy explicit possibility concepts in action planning?","authors":"Brian Leahy , Michael Huemer , Katie Holmes , Susan Carey","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101669","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101669","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many studies find that young preschoolers do not deploy logical concepts like <span>or</span> or <span>possibly</span> in the 3- and 4-container tasks. Gautam et al. (2021) report a modified 4-container task, where children with an age range of 2;6–3;0 perform as well as 5-year-olds on previous studies. Performance demands of earlier implementations might have masked children’s logical competence. Here we replicate that result, but also find that it does not hold when the simpler 3-container task is implemented with the same modifications. When children are given more trials on the 4-container task, performance converges to that observed in all other implementations. The 3- and 4-container tasks equally test whether participants differentiate a container where a reward <em>is</em> from a container where a reward <em>might or might not be</em>. Their failure to deploy this distinction on the 3-container task speaks against the hypothesis that the modifications in Gautam et al. unmasked an ability to differentiate what <em>is</em> from what merely <em>might be</em> on the 4-container task.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101669"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939015","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}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101671
Yi Tong , Margarita Kaushanskaya , Haley A. Vlach
Little is known about language-dependent memory in bilingual children. The current study addresses this research gap by investigating the effect of changing language contexts on bilingual children’s word learning from storybooks using both immediate and delayed tests. Fifty-four Mandarin-English speaking children (Mage = 66.70 months; 22 females, 32 males; 88 % Asian, 12 % more than one race) in the United States read a storybook containing six novel words either in Mandarin or English. Memory was assessed either in the same (Nmatch = 28) or different language (Nmismatch = 26) both immediately and after ten minutes. When retrieval occurred in English, children who encountered a mismatch in language contexts between initial encoding and subsequent retrieval had poorer memory performance compared to those who learned and were tested in the same language. Our findings suggest that matching linguistic context might serve as a contextual cue that helps bilingual children retrieve newly acquired information. This study highlights the importance of considering the impact of instructional language on academic performance for learners of diverse linguistic backgrounds.
{"title":"Language context shapes bilingual children’s memory for newly encountered words","authors":"Yi Tong , Margarita Kaushanskaya , Haley A. Vlach","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101671","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2026.101671","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Little is known about language-dependent memory in bilingual children. The current study addresses this research gap by investigating the effect of changing language contexts on bilingual children’s word learning from storybooks using both immediate and delayed tests. Fifty-four Mandarin-English speaking children (<em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 66.70 months; 22 females, 32 males; 88 % Asian, 12 % more than one race) in the United States read a storybook containing six novel words either in Mandarin or English. Memory was assessed either in the same (<em>N</em><sub><em>match</em></sub> = 28) or different language (<em>N</em><sub><em>mismatch</em></sub> = 26) both immediately and after ten minutes. When retrieval occurred in English, children who encountered a mismatch in language contexts between initial encoding and subsequent retrieval had poorer memory performance compared to those who learned and were tested in the same language. Our findings suggest that matching linguistic context might serve as a contextual cue that helps bilingual children retrieve newly acquired information. This study highlights the importance of considering the impact of instructional language on academic performance for learners of diverse linguistic backgrounds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101671"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977431","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}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101666
Anais Cauna , Virginie Vézinet , Abdessadek el Ahmadi , Marion Tellier , Pascale Colé
In typically developing children, language and motor skills are closely interconnected, and gestures may support vocabulary acquisition. Previous research has demonstrated that iconic gestures—those illustrating part of a word's meaning—can enhance learning when observed or imitated. However, most studies have focused on second language (L2) or artificial language learning, with few examining first language (L1) vocabulary acquisition. This preliminary study investigates L1 word learning in French kindergarten children (ages 5–6), focusing on the impact of gestures compared to pictures. Using a within-subject design, 30 children learned 10 new words across two learning conditions: gesture reproduction and picture presentation. The main aim was to assess whether reproducing gestures during learning is more effective than viewing pictures, based on the idea that motor engagement could improve both phonological and semantic memory representations, thereby supporting both fast and slow mapping processes. To evaluate learning outcomes, children completed comprehension (word recognition), production (free recall and naming), and definition tasks to assess the depth of word knowledge. Additional measures included children’s initial vocabulary levels and manual dexterity to examine their potential influence on learning performance, particularly in the gesture condition. Findings revealed that the effectiveness of gesture-based learning varied depending on the task. Notably, for the definition task, the benefit of iconic gestures was influenced by the child’s initial vocabulary level. These results support the use of pedagogical iconic gestures as an effective teaching tool, while highlighting the importance of considering individual learner characteristics in educational practices.
{"title":"Iconic gestures on L1 vocabulary acquisition in kindergarteners: A preliminary study","authors":"Anais Cauna , Virginie Vézinet , Abdessadek el Ahmadi , Marion Tellier , Pascale Colé","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101666","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101666","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In typically developing children, language and motor skills are closely interconnected, and gestures may support vocabulary acquisition. Previous research has demonstrated that iconic gestures—those illustrating part of a word's meaning—can enhance learning when observed or imitated. However, most studies have focused on second language (L2) or artificial language learning, with few examining first language (L1) vocabulary acquisition. This preliminary study investigates L1 word learning in French kindergarten children (ages 5–6), focusing on the impact of gestures compared to pictures. Using a within-subject design, 30 children learned 10 new words across two learning conditions: gesture reproduction and picture presentation. The main aim was to assess whether reproducing gestures during learning is more effective than viewing pictures, based on the idea that motor engagement could improve both phonological and semantic memory representations, thereby supporting both fast and slow mapping processes. To evaluate learning outcomes, children completed comprehension (word recognition), production (free recall and naming), and definition tasks to assess the depth of word knowledge. Additional measures included children’s initial vocabulary levels and manual dexterity to examine their potential influence on learning performance, particularly in the gesture condition. Findings revealed that the effectiveness of gesture-based learning varied depending on the task. Notably, for the definition task, the benefit of iconic gestures was influenced by the child’s initial vocabulary level. These results support the use of pedagogical iconic gestures as an effective teaching tool, while highlighting the importance of considering individual learner characteristics in educational practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101666"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939017","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-27DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101667
Stephanie D. Baumann , Adrienne Wyble , Kay Lane , Şeyda Özçalışkan
Children are exposed to screen media at an early age. However, less is known about the relative effect of video instruction on learning as compared to live instruction, particularly in contexts where the instruction is accompanied by gesture. We know from earlier work that children benefit from observing gesture during live instruction—a positive gain that has not been fully examined in video instruction, particularly at the younger ages. In this study, we examined the relative benefits of using video-based instruction, compared to in-person instruction for young children within the domain of spatial language—a domain known to be closely associated with children’s later academic success. We asked whether children would learn as readily from video instruction as they do from in-person instruction, and whether we can improve children’s learning further by instructing them in both gesture and speech than in speech-alone. We predicted that children would show no effect of instruction medium (live, video) but an effect of modality (with gesture, without gesture), with better learning outcomes when instructed with gesture. We tested these predictions by examining the responses of 3- to 5-year-old children to questions about different spatial descriptions—half with gesture and half without gesture—using either a video or a live instruction. Our analysis showed no effect of instructional medium or modality, suggesting that children learn equally well in video and live instruction—whether it is presented with gesture or without gesture. Overall, our findings highlight how screen-based animated programs serve as equally efficient platforms in providing educational content as in-person instruction across modality types to young learners.
{"title":"Effect of instruction medium and modality on learning spatial concepts","authors":"Stephanie D. Baumann , Adrienne Wyble , Kay Lane , Şeyda Özçalışkan","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101667","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101667","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children are exposed to screen media at an early age. However, less is known about the relative effect of video instruction on learning as compared to live instruction, particularly in contexts where the instruction is accompanied by gesture. We know from earlier work that children benefit from observing gesture during live instruction—a positive gain that has not been fully examined in video instruction, particularly at the younger ages. In this study, we examined the relative benefits of using video-based instruction, compared to in-person instruction for young children within the domain of spatial language—a domain known to be closely associated with children’s later academic success. We asked whether children would learn as readily from video instruction as they do from in-person instruction, and whether we can improve children’s learning further by instructing them in both gesture and speech than in speech-alone. We predicted that children would show no effect of instruction medium (live, video) but an effect of modality (with gesture, without gesture), with better learning outcomes when instructed with gesture. We tested these predictions by examining the responses of 3- to 5-year-old children to questions about different spatial descriptions—half with gesture and half without gesture—using either a video or a live instruction. Our analysis showed no effect of instructional medium or modality, suggesting that children learn equally well in video and live instruction—whether it is presented with gesture or without gesture. Overall, our findings highlight how screen-based animated programs serve as equally efficient platforms in providing educational content as in-person instruction across modality types to young learners.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101667"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840933","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}
Imitation has been extensively studied in development, with most research examining either verbal/sentence imitation or gesture imitation in isolation. Despite the inherently multimodal nature of communication, very few studies have investigated how children imitate multiple communicative components simultaneously (such as gesture, sentence, and prosody). Moreover, little is known about how these multimodal imitation abilities develop across different populations. This study adopts a holistic multimodal approach to imitation, assessing the integrated imitation of gestures, sentences, and prosody in children with typical development (TD) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). A total of 290 Catalan-Spanish bilingual children (129 girls; 55 NDD) aged 3–7 years participated in a multimodal imitation task where they watched audiovisual stimuli of an actress interacting with a toy and then imitated what she did (gestures), what she said (sentences), and how she said it (prosody). Imitation accuracy for each component was assessed separately on a scale of 0–2. The results showed that the NDD group obtained significantly lower accuracy scores than the TD group. In both groups, all imitation scores were positively correlated. Moreover, a significant age-by-group interaction was found, indicating that only the TD group improved significantly with age in their overall multimodal imitation abilities. When assessing each multimodal imitation component separately, this result was only observed in gesture imitation. This study revealed distinct developmental trajectories of multimodal imitation in TD and NDD children, primarily characterized by persistent gesture imitation difficulties in the NDD group with the latter showing specific difficulties in multimodal imitation. These findings highlight the value of a holistic, multimodal approach to imitation assessment, with potential implications for both diagnosis and intervention.
{"title":"Multimodal imitation reveals differences in typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders","authors":"Júlia Florit-Pons , Mariia Pronina , Sara Coego , Pilar Prieto","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101668","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101668","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Imitation has been extensively studied in development, with most research examining either verbal/sentence imitation or gesture imitation in isolation. Despite the inherently multimodal nature of communication, very few studies have investigated how children imitate multiple communicative components simultaneously (such as gesture, sentence, and prosody). Moreover, little is known about how these multimodal imitation abilities develop across different populations. This study adopts a holistic multimodal approach to imitation, assessing the integrated imitation of gestures, sentences, and prosody in children with typical development (TD) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). A total of 290 Catalan-Spanish bilingual children (129 girls; 55 NDD) aged 3–7 years participated in a multimodal imitation task where they watched audiovisual stimuli of an actress interacting with a toy and then imitated what she did (gestures), what she said (sentences), and how she said it (prosody). Imitation accuracy for each component was assessed separately on a scale of 0–2. The results showed that the NDD group obtained significantly lower accuracy scores than the TD group. In both groups, all imitation scores were positively correlated. Moreover, a significant age-by-group interaction was found, indicating that only the TD group improved significantly with age in their overall multimodal imitation abilities. When assessing each multimodal imitation component separately, this result was only observed in gesture imitation. This study revealed distinct developmental trajectories of multimodal imitation in TD and NDD children, primarily characterized by persistent gesture imitation difficulties in the NDD group with the latter showing specific difficulties in multimodal imitation. These findings highlight the value of a holistic, multimodal approach to imitation assessment, with potential implications for both diagnosis and intervention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101668"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840934","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101663
Nick Mattox , Hannah Bowley , Vanessa Vieites , Yinbo Wu , Yvonne Ralph , Priscilla Lioi , Vianca Rodriguez , Katherine Saladrigas Olazabal , Melanie Rengel , Timothy Hayes , Anthony Steven Dick , Aaron Mattfeld , Shannon M. Pruden
Mental transformation is the ability to visualize, represent, and manipulate two- and three-dimensional objects. Two common types of mental transformations are rotations and translations. Prior studies show that the production of spatial language as well as the comprehension of specific types of spatial words, such as dimensional adjectives, are related to individual differences in mental transformation in early childhood. The present study aims to unpack this prior research by examining whether the relation is motivated by children's comprehension of overall relational language, or this effect is specific to spatial, quantity and/or other relational words. A total of 117 children aged 48–94 months (55 girls) completed 26 items on the Boehm-3 Preschool Test of Basic Concepts (Boehm-3) and 32 items on the Children's Mental Transformation Task (CMTT). The Boehm-3 was used to calculate a relational language comprehension variable and specific variables for spatial and quantity and/or other relational words. Mental transformation items were analyzed based on whether they required a translation or rotation. After controlling for child age, child gender, and parent education, analyses showed that children with greater relational language comprehension scores were more accurate across all mental transformation items. When assessing by type of transformation, spatial language comprehension was positively associated with individual differences in mental rotation but not mental translation. These findings suggest that task demands may influence how children's language knowledge supports their spatial thinking.
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