Cognitive Development最新文献

Accumulation of knowledge relies in part on self-derivation of new semantic knowledge through integration of separate yet related learning episodes. Prior research suggests that individual and developmental variability in self-derivation is due to differences in the precursor processes of encoding, reactivation, and integration. In the present research, we examined a fourth potential precursor process: selection of learning episodes most relevant to the target self-derived knowledge. In two experiments, we examined selection of information most relevant to self-derivation in 8-year-olds (Experiments 1 and 2) and 12-year-olds (Experiment 2). Both age groups self-derived even when there were several candidate facts from which to select. Older children had higher levels of self-derivation performance and made more correct selections than younger children. Within and across age groups, selection performance significantly predicted trial-level self-derivation success. These data provide evidence that selection of facts necessary for self-derivation contributes to the robust variability observed in self-derivation.

Several studies indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures it required (including social distancing, quarantine and school closure) had a significant impact on children’s mental health. The present study aimed to examine executive function difficulties at behavioural level in school children during the COVID-19 lockdown, and to analyze potential associations with home literacy environment, current reading and screen times. Data were collected from mothers of 210 children (9–12 years old) through an online survey. Incidence of EF issues was higher for fourth graders in the flexibility and working memory domains, possibly reflecting developmental differences. Significant increases in children screen times were observed, while most of them did not read for pleasure on a daily basis. Parents’ literacy beliefs and children’s current leisure reading times were negative predictors of executive function difficulties (with reading times partially mediating literacy beliefs’ effects), which increased with videogame times (particularly in 4th graders). Nevertheless, perceived changes on screen or reading times with respect to prepandemic levels were not associated with executive function scores. The results might indicate: 1) opposite effects of literacy and video game times over children’s executive functioning; 2) a preference for reading or screen recreational use according to their executive function profiles; or 3) a combination of both. Our findings highlight the relation of home literacy environment, reading and screen times with children’s cognitive development, and the importance of following their trajectory during postpandemic times.

Despite the often-reported finding that multilingual children may temporarily possess less advanced lexical or grammatical skills in at least one of their languages than monolingual peers, recent studies have found that exposure to multiple languages benefits children’s pragmatic development. To assess the generalizability of these findings, we conducted a meta-analysis of 29 studies that investigated various pragmatic abilities in both multilingual and monolingual children. In addition, we classified the investigated pragmatic abilities into three broad categories: (i) sensitivity to non-verbal information, (ii) understanding non-literal language, and (iii) informativeness in referencing. We found no effect of multilingualism on pragmatic abilities overall and also not in any of the categories separately. However, based on visual inspection of the effect sizes, we cannot rule out that multilingual children sometimes rely more on non-verbal cues during communication compared to their monolingual peers. We recommend future studies to formulate and test more specific hypotheses and to move away from the focus on a multilingual advantage.

This study examined whether the intensity of need and type of prosociality differentially predicted children’s and adolescents’ desirability, obligatoriness, and permissibility judgments of costly prosocial actions. A total of 165 8–10-year-old children and 13–15-year-old adolescents evaluated six hypothetical situations wherein one child needed to be helped, shared with, or comforted and another child decided whether or not to provide that assistance. Participants evaluated whether acting prosocially was desirable-obligatory, desirable-nonobligatory, undesirable-permissible, or undesirable-impermissible, and their reasoning was coded. Prosociality was evaluated as desirable-obligatory more in high-need situations. Overall, children more than adolescents evaluated prosociality as desirable. When the need was high, comforting more than helping and sharing was evaluated as desirable, whereas when the need was low, sharing was evaluated as particularly desirable. The reasoning underlying judgments differed across types of prosociality. Findings are discussed in relation to how varied types of need are related to children’s and adolescents’ prosocial judgments.

Executive functions (EFs) are linked to children’s overall math performance, although few studies have considered the joint role of prior math abilities for specific math subskills, such as arithmetic. The current study examined the longitudinal contributions of preschool EFs and early math abilities to children’s accuracy and reaction time on arithmetic problems. Two hundred and eighty-three children completed EF and numeracy assessments at 5.25 years old. Children completed an arithmetic problem task in first (M_age = 7.14), second (M_age = 8.09), and third grade (M_age = 9.08). Results indicated that preschool EFs and math abilities are uniquely linked to children’s accuracy and reaction time at age 7, whereas preschool EFs alone continue to predict accuracy at age 8 and reaction time at age 9, even after accounting for intervening arithmetic performance. The study highlights the sustained, unique importance of early EFs for children’s arithmetic acquisition.

Previous research has found that children can allocate resources according to competition outcomes (e.g., merit-based allocation) in interpersonal competitive contexts, but less research has investigated how children address merit-based allocations in the context of group-based competition, especially when influenced by intergroup familiarity. To address these issues, children (N = 374) aged 5–6 years old and 7–8 years old were asked to participate in an intergroup game with a familiar or unfamiliar group in the form of a competition (further divided into win and lose conditions) or noncompetition. They were then assessed on their resource allocation, reasoning and judgments of others’ allocations. We found that children as young as 5 years old can overcome group bias and adhere to allocating meritoriously in group-based competitive contexts. Furthermore, intergroup familiarity could decrease the effect of group bias on children’s merit-based allocation, but this tendency weakens with age. Finally, children consistently judged equal allocations positively regardless of actual allocation. The results indicated that with age, children were better able to weigh the moral concerns of merit and the social concerns of intergroup familiarity when determining the allocation of resources in group-based competition.

Children tend to prioritize whole number information over relational information in proportional reasoning tasks, such that they judge a spinner with $4/10$ red pieces as more likely to land on red than a spinner with $2/3$ red pieces, because 4 > 2 (e.g., Hurst & Cordes, 2018a; Jeong et al., 2007). This whole number bias is hypothesized to be a driven by fluency in verbal counting in early childhood, which is thought to promote attention to whole number information. In this study, we explored (1) the relation between verbal counting abilities and whole number biases and (2) whether distinct framing contexts – either encouraging children to maximize the number of stickers won, or minimizing the number of stickers lost - differentially impact children’s proportional reasoning. Three- to nine-year olds (N = 210, M_age = 5.7 years) chose which of two spinners they preferred to spin. Children in the Gain condition learned that if the spinner landed on red, they would win a sticker and if it landed on blue, nothing would happen; children in the Loss condition learned that if the spinner landed on red, nothing would happen, but if it landed on blue, they would lose a sticker. Counter to prior work, performance of both older (6–9 year olds) and younger (3–5 year olds) children revealed whole number biases. Notably, whole number biases were not related to counting abilities. Importantly, we find framing the task in a Loss scenario lessened whole number biases, suggesting that task framing can alter children’s attention to whole number information in a proportional reasoning context.

Can moral rules change? We tested 129 children from the United States to investigate their beliefs about whether God could change widely shared moral propositions (e.g., “it’s not okay to call someone a mean name”), controversial moral propositions (e.g., “it’s not okay to tell a small lie to help someone feel happy”), and physical propositions (e.g., “fire is hotter than snow”). We observed an emerging tendency to report that God's ability to change morality is limited, suggesting that children across development find some widely shared aspects of morality to be impossible to change. Some beliefs did shift over development, however: 4- to 6-year-olds did not distinguish among God’s ability to change widely shared moral, controversial moral, and physical propositions, whereas 7- to 9-year-olds became increasingly confident that God could change physical and controversial moral propositions. Critically, however, younger children and older children alike reported that widely shared aspects of morality could not be altered. According to participants, not even God could change fundamental moral principles.

False belief understanding (FBU), a core component of Theory of Mind (ToM), refers to the capacity to understand that other individuals act according to their beliefs even when those beliefs are inaccurate. FBU is an important aspect of socio-cognitive development in early childhood. A range of sociodemographic, temperamental, cognitive, and family factors are known to contribute separately to individual differences in FBU; however, these domains are typically studied in silos. This longitudinal study aimed to examine which of these factors are associated with FBU around the time of school entry. We evaluated 102 typically developing children at 2–5.5 years (predictive factors) and then at 4–7.5 years of age (FBU). The findings indicate that cognitive and family factors during the preschool years are associated with FBU at school entry. Specifically, child vocabulary and parent-child interaction quality were significant independent predictors of FBU.

When encountered with a novel illness, children often ask for information about the illness and its impact on health from their parents. Although prior studies have explored how parents generally described the coronavirus to their children, there is an ambiguity in whether parents’ explanations about the coronavirus were about the coronavirus itself or about the pandemic more generally. Furthermore, it remains to be explored how parents responded to questions about the impact of the coronavirus on health. So, the current study explored how parents (N = 425) responded to specific questions that sought out information about the coronavirus and its impact. The results suggest that parents use their child’s specific questions as an opportunity to foster their child’s understanding about an illness. At the same time, parents also use their responses to shield their child from potential upsetting information about the impact of the coronavirus on health and well-being.