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Madhavan R, Malem B, Ackermann L, Mundry R, Mani N. An examination of measures of young children's interest in natural object categories. Cortex 2024; 175:124-148. [PMID: 38553356 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Developmental research utilizes various different methodologies and measures to study the cognitive development of young children; however, the reliability and validity of such measures have been a critical issue in all areas of research practices. To address this problem, particularly in the area of research on infants' interests, we examined the convergent validity of previously reported measures of children's interests in natural object categories, as indexed by (1) parents' estimation of their child's interest in the categories, (2) extrinsic (overt choices in a task), (3) intrinsic (looking time toward objects), and (4) physiological (pupil dilation) responses to objects of different categories. Additionally, we also examined the discriminant validity of all the aforementioned measures against the well-established and validated measure of parents' estimations of children's vocabulary knowledge. Children completed two tasks: (a) an eye-tracking task, where they were presented with images from a range of defined categories, which collected indices of looking time and pupillary activity; (b) a sticker-choice task, where they were asked to choose between two sticker-images from two different categories belonging to the range of categories assessed in the previous task. Parents completed two questionnaires to estimate (i) their child's interests and (ii) vocabulary knowledge in the categories presented. We first analyzed the discriminant validity between the two parent measures, and found a significant positive association between them. Our successive analyses showed no strong or significant associations between any of our measures, apart from a significant positive association between children's looking time and parents' estimations of children's vocabulary knowledge. From our findings, we conclude that measures of infants' interests thus far may not have sufficient reliability to adequately capture any potential relationship between these measures, or index different components of interest in young children. We suggest next steps for further validation studies in infant research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajalakshmi Madhavan
- Psychology of Language Department, University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073, Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany; University of Göttingen, Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Ben Malem
- Psychology of Language Department, University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Lena Ackermann
- German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany; University of Göttingen, Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Roger Mundry
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany; Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen; Department for Primate Cognition, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany
| | - Nivedita Mani
- Psychology of Language Department, University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073, Göttingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany; University of Göttingen, Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
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Holmes CA, Cooney SM, Dempsey P, Newell FN. Developmental changes in the visual, haptic, and bimodal perception of geometric angles. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105870. [PMID: 38354447 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
Geometrical knowledge is typically taught to children through a combination of vision and repetitive drawing (i.e. haptics), yet our understanding of how different spatial senses contribute to geometric perception during childhood is poor. Studies of line orientation suggest a dominant role of vision affecting the calibration of haptics during development; however, the associated multisensory interactions underpinning angle perception are unknown. Here we examined visual, haptic, and bimodal perception of angles across three age groups of children: 6 to 8 years, 8 to 10 years, and 10 to 12 years, with age categories also representing their class (grade) in primary school. All participants first learned an angular shape, presented dynamically, in one of three sensory tracing conditions: visual only, haptic only, or bimodal exploration. At test, which was visual only, participants selected a target angle from four possible alternatives with distractor angle sizes varying relative to the target angle size. We found a clear improvement in accuracy of angle perception with development for all learning modalities. Angle perception in the youngest group was equally poor (but above chance) for all modalities; however, for the two older child groups, visual learning was better than haptics. Haptic perception did not improve to the level of vision with age (even in a comparison adult group), and we found no specific benefit for bimodal learning over visual learning in any age group, including adults. Our results support a developmental increment in both spatial accuracy and precision in all modalities, which was greater in vision than in haptics, and are consistent with previous accounts of cross-sensory calibration in the perception of geometric forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corinne A Holmes
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Sarah M Cooney
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Paula Dempsey
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Fiona N Newell
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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Hawkins L, Nyman TM, Wilcox T. Infant's recognition of three‐dimensional form: Mirror image and structurally distinct objects. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Hawkins
- Psychological & Brain Sciences Texas A&M University College Station Texas USA
| | - Tristin M. Nyman
- Psychological & Brain Sciences Texas A&M University College Station Texas USA
| | - Teresa Wilcox
- Department of Psychology Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton Florida USA
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Ralph YK, Berinhout K, Maguire MJ. Gender differences in mothers' spatial language use and children's mental rotation abilities in Preschool and Kindergarten. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e13037. [PMID: 32931085 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2019] [Revised: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 08/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Mental rotation has emerged as an important predictor of success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). By the age of 4.5 years, boys outperform girls in these abilities. Because parents use less spatial language with girls at this age (Pruden and Levine, 2017), the amount of spatial language that children are exposed to at home is believed to be one potential contributor to this disparity in preschool age children. To date, it is unclear if this gender difference continues when children enter school. To address this question in this study, children not yet in kindergarten (PreK) and kindergarten and first grade children (K+) were recorded playing with their mothers using magnetic tile toys followed by children's completion of a mental rotation task. As expected, mothers used more spatial language with PreK boys than girls; however, this relationship reversed in K+, with mothers using significantly more spatial language with girls than boys. Surprisingly, despite this, boys outperformed girls on the mental rotation task. These findings suggest that although girls' exposure to spatial language is higher after entry into school, this language difference is not reflected in increases in mental rotation abilities. Thus, earlier exposure to spatial language may be vital for the development of mental rotation abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne K Ralph
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Kate Berinhout
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Mandy J Maguire
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, USA
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Begum Ali J, Thomas RL, Mullen Raymond S, Bremner AJ. Sensitivity to Visual-Tactile Colocation on the Body Prior to Skilled Reaching in Early Infancy. Child Dev 2020; 92:21-34. [PMID: 32920852 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Two experiments examined perceptual colocation of visual and tactile stimuli in young infants. Experiment 1 compared 4- (n = 15) and 6-month-old (n = 12) infants' visual preferences for visual-tactile stimulus pairs presented across the same or different feet. The 4- and 6-month-olds showed, respectively, preferences for colocated and noncolocated conditions, demonstrating sensitivity to visual-tactile colocation on their feet. This extends previous findings of visual-tactile perceptual colocation on the hands in older infants. Control conditions excluded the possibility that both 6- (Experiment 1), and 4-month-olds (Experiment 2, n = 12) perceived colocation on the basis of an undifferentiated supramodal coding of spatial distance between stimuli. Bimodal perception of visual-tactile colocation is available by 4 months of age, that is, prior to the development of skilled reaching.
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Bremner AJ, Doherty MJ, Caparos S, de Fockert J, Linnell KJ, Davidoff J. Effects of Culture and the Urban Environment on the Development of the Ebbinghaus Illusion. Child Dev 2016; 87:962-81. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Begum Ali J, Cowie D, Bremner AJ. Effects of posture on tactile localization by 4 years of age are modulated by sight of the hands: evidence for an early acquired external spatial frame of reference for touch. Dev Sci 2014; 17:935-43. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2013] [Accepted: 01/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jannath Begum Ali
- Sensorimotor Development Research Unit; Department of Psychology; Goldsmiths; University of London; UK
| | | | - Andrew J. Bremner
- Sensorimotor Development Research Unit; Department of Psychology; Goldsmiths; University of London; UK
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Möhring W, Frick A. Touching up mental rotation: effects of manual experience on 6-month-old infants' mental object rotation. Child Dev 2013; 84:1554-65. [PMID: 23432700 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In this study, 6-month-olds' ability to mentally rotate objects was investigated using the violation-of-expectation paradigm. Forty infants watched an asymmetric object being moved straight down behind an occluder. When the occluder was lowered, it revealed the original object (possible) or its mirror image (impossible) in one of five orientations. Whereas half of the infants were allowed to manually explore the object prior to testing, the other half was only allowed to observe the object. Results showed that infants with prior hands-on experience looked significantly longer at the mirror image, while infants with observational experience did not discriminate between test events. These findings demonstrate that 6-month-olds' mental rotations benefit from manual exploration, highlighting the importance of motor experience for cognitive performance.
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Infants lost in (peripersonal) space? Trends Cogn Sci 2008; 12:298-305. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2008] [Revised: 04/30/2008] [Accepted: 05/02/2008] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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