Developmental Psychology

Schreiner, Melanie S.; van Schaik, Johanna E.; Sučević, Jelena; Hunnius, Sabine; Meyer, Marlene

doi: 10.1037/dev0001079pmid: 32700945

Parents modulate their speech and their actions during infant-directed interactions, and these modulations facilitate infants’ language and action learning, respectively. But do these behaviors and their benefits cross these modality boundaries? We investigated mothers’ infant-directed speech and actions while they demonstrated the action-effects of 4 novel objects to their 14-month-old infants. Mothers (N = 35) spent the majority of the time either speaking or demonstrating the to-be-learned actions to their infant while hardly talking and acting at the same time. Moreover, mothers’ infant-directed speech predicted infants’ action learning success beyond the effect of infant-directed actions. Thus, mothers’ speech modulations during naturalistic interactions do more than support infants’ language learning; they also facilitate infants’ action learning, presumably by directing and maintaining infants’ attention toward the to-be learned actions.

Lee, Yune S.; Ahn, Sanghoon; Holt, Rachael Frush; Schellenberg, E. Glenn

doi: 10.1037/dev0000969pmid: 32700950

Scholars debate whether musical and linguistic abilities are associated or independent. In the present study, we examined whether musical rhythm skills predict receptive grammar proficiency in childhood. In Experiment 1, 7- to 17-year-old children (N = 68) were tested on their grammar and rhythm abilities. In the grammar-comprehension task, children heard short sentences with subject-relative (e.g., “Boys that help girls are nice”) or object-relative (e.g., “Boys that girls help are nice”) clauses, and determined the gender of the individual performing the action. In the rhythm-discrimination test, children heard two short rhythmic sequences on each trial and decided if they were the same or different. Children with better performance on the rhythm task exhibited higher scores on the grammar test, even after holding constant age, gender, music training, and maternal education. In Experiment 2, we replicated this finding with another group of same-age children (N = 96) while further controlling for working memory. Our data reveal, for the first time, an association between receptive grammar and rhythm perception in typically developing children. This finding is consistent with the view that music and language share neural resources for rule-based temporal processing.

Singh, Leher; Wewalaarachchi, Thilanga D.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001041pmid: 32551720

Most children learn a language such as Mandarin Chinese that uses lexical tone to communicate meaning. This study aimed to examine the phonological specificity of tone representations in monolingual and bilingual learners of Mandarin. Two age-groups were tested: toddlers (2.5 to 3.5 years) and preschoolers (4 to 5 years; N = 80). Using a preferential looking paradigm, children were presented with correct and mispronounced (Cantonese or Mandarin tone substitutions) forms of familiar words. In the aggregate, participants demonstrated preferential fixation to visual targets (naming effects) for correctly pronounced words, words mispronounced with native (Mandarin) tone substitutions, and for words mispronounced with nonnative (Cantonese) tone substitutions. However, naming effects were greater for correct pronunciations and for Cantonese tone mispronunciations relative to Mandarin tone mispronunciations. There were no interactions of responses to each trial type with age or with language exposure. Results are discussed in terms of possible determinants of tone sensitivity in early childhood.

Labotka, Danielle; Gelman, Susan A.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001078pmid: 32628028

Although children’s use of speech registers such as Baby Talk is well documented, little is known about their understanding of Foreigner Talk, a register addressed to non-native speakers. In Study 1, 4- to 8-year-old children and adults (N = 125) heard 4 registers (Foreigner Talk, Baby Talk, Peer Talk, and Teacher Talk) and predicted who would receive each. By 5 years, children selected the target addressee of Foreigner Talk above chance. In Study 2, 5- to 8-year-old children and adults (N = 94) completed a register match task manipulating 3 addressee cues: language, appearance, and origin. Prior to 7–8 years of age, children did not use the language cue alone when identifying the addressee of Foreigner Talk, and at no age did children use one cue more than another. In contrast, adults made use of language and appearance more than the origin cue. These findings suggest that an understanding of Foreigner Talk emerges by school age yet also undergoes developmental change.

Ordonez Magro, Laura; Majerus, Steve; Attout, Lucie; Poncelet, Martine; Smalle, Eleonore H. M.; Szmalec, Arnaud

doi: 10.1037/dev0001043pmid: 32614211

There is increasing evidence for an association between both serial order short-term memory (STM) and the long-term learning (LTL) of serial order information and reading abilities. In this developmental study, we examined the hypothesis that STM for serial order supports online grapheme-to-phoneme conversion processes during the initial stages of reading acquisition, whereas the LTL of serial order serves reading abilities at later stages, when reading starts to rely on more stable, long-term orthographic representations. We followed a sample of 116 French-speaking children from first (Time 1 [T1]) grade of primary school through second (Time 2 [T2]) and third (Time 3 [T3]) grade. Their serial order STM and LTL abilities as well as their reading abilities were assessed. Overall, we observed that early reading abilities were only predicted by serial order STM performance, while more advanced reading abilities were predicted by both serial order STM and LTL performance. These results point toward a predictive role of serial order memory performance in reading acquisition and suggest that serial order STM and LTL support reading at different stages of acquisition. We further discuss our findings in the light of advancing knowledge about the relationship between memory and reading.

Blankenship, Tashauna L.; Strong, Roger W.; Kibbe, Melissa M.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001064pmid: 32614210

Multifocal attention is the ability to simultaneously attend to multiple objects, and is critical for typical functioning. Although adults are able to use multifocal attention, little is known about the development of this ability. In two experiments, we investigated multifocal attention in 6–8-year-old children and adults using a child-friendly, computerized multiple object tracking task designed to encourage the use of multifocal attention. We also investigated whether multifocal attention in children is deployed independently across left and right hemifields of vision, as in adults. Our results suggest that children’s capacity for multifocal attention increases significantly across middle childhood. We also found evidence that at least one signature of hemifield-independent multifocal attention, the bilateral field advantage, can be observed in children.

van der Kaap-Deeder, Jolene; Soenens, Bart; Mouratidis, Athanasios; De Pauw, Sarah; Krøjgaard, Peter; Vansteenkiste, Maarten

doi: 10.1037/dev0001048pmid: 32614208

This study examined the role of parents’ reminiscing style in preschoolers’ memory-related functioning and general emotion regulation. In 87 families, each parent rated their child’s (Mage = 4.07 years, SD = 0.80) emotion regulation and discussed a positive and a negative memory with their child (resulting in 275 conversations). Multilevel analyses showed that children’s rated engagement during the conversation was higher when parents were observed to use autonomy-supportive, elaborative, and positive evaluative reminiscing, while children’s rated disaffection was predicted by low autonomy support, low elaboration, and negative evaluation. Parental positive evaluation also related positively to children’s memory performance. With respect to emotion regulation, only parents’ negative evaluation when talking about negative memories related to higher emotional lability.

Van Lissa, Caspar J.; Keizer, Renske

doi: 10.1037/dev0001042pmid: 32614207

This longitudinal study of Australian families (n = 1,884, from age 6–12) examined how fathers’ and mothers’ quantitative involvement (time spent on childcare) and qualitative involvement (specific parenting behaviors) relate to children’s emotional adjustment development. We used dynamic structural equation modeling to disentangle stable between-family differences from within-family fluctuations in qualitative parenting and emotional adjustment, allowing us to investigate the direction of effects between parents and children. Because fathers have been theorized to contribute uniquely to emotional adjustment development, we examined differences between mothers and fathers and the interplay between parent and child sex. We further examined whether between-family differences in quantitative involvement, operationalized as joint (total) and relative (one parent does more) involvement, predict qualitative parenting behaviors and emotional adjustment and moderate the within-family interplay between them. Results revealed between-family correlations of qualitative involvement with emotional adjustment. Evidence for significant average within-family effects was limited to a parenting effect of maternal warmth, and several child effects, which indicated that emotional adjustment evokes changes in parenting. However, parenting effects varied substantially across families, especially for fathers. Between-family differences in quantitative involvement explained some of these differences. When joint quantitative involvement was higher, both parents engaged in more desirable qualitative parenting. When mothers were relatively more involved than fathers, fathers displayed less desirable qualitative parenting, and children were less well adjusted. There was some limited evidence that within-family predictive effects were moderated by quantitative involvement, particularly relative involvement. These findings suggest that all family members benefit from a more equal childcare distribution.

Wiedermann, Wolfgang; Reinke, Wendy M.; Herman, Keith C.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001087pmid: 32700944

Direction dependence analysis (DDA) is a recently developed method that addresses the need for more sophisticated tools to evaluate causal mechanisms of developmental processes and interventions. The present study applied DDA to evaluate the hypothesized mediators of a classroom behavior management training program on student academic competence. The study involved a group randomized controlled trial with 105 teachers and 1,818 students (K−3rd grade) in a large urban school district in the United States. Analyses revealed only student prosocial skill development causally mediated the intervention’s effects on student academic competence. The findings support the importance of explicit instruction and coaching of student social skills as part of classroom behavior management programs and confirm the causal link between prosocial skills and academic success. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for future applications of DDA in developmental research.

Zhang, Liwei

doi: 10.1037/dev0001075pmid: 32658500

Developmental studies have consistently argued for consideration of contextual influences on children’s socioemotional well-being. This is particularly true among children of immigrants, who have highly diverse social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten, this study disentangled the variation of socioemotional well-being among children of immigrants in the United States by looking at country of origin and their multifaceted economic experiences. The study first examined the economic lives of children of immigrants by conducting a latent class analysis with 3 dimensions—depth, duration, and income volatility from kindergarten to fifth grade. It further investigated how multifaceted economic experiences shaped the socioemotional perceptions of children of immigrants by considering country of origin. Findings from this study support both the immigrant risk and immigrant paradox perspectives, depending on country of origin, patterns of economic experiences, and the examined socioemotional domain. Children of immigrants generally perceived themselves to have a worse locus of control, self-concept, and internalizing symptoms at eighth grade than their peers of native-born parents. After considering the economic circumstances of these families, the picture was no longer straightforward. Children of South East Asian and East Asian origins reported worse socioemotional well-being than their White peers of native-born parents in chronic near-poor circumstances. Otherwise, most children of immigrants fared as well as their White children of native-born parents under similar economic conditions. Findings underscore the importance of country of origin and economic experiences in accounting for the variations of socioemotional well-being among children of immigrants.