1
|
Ling R, Matsunaka R, Hiraki K. 11-month-olds recognize the teacher-student relationship. Sci Rep 2024; 14:20389. [PMID: 39322658 PMCID: PMC11424641 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-70828-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 08/21/2024] [Indexed: 09/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding how preverbal infants perceive and differentiate the roles of teachers and students can provide profound insights into the early stages of human learning and cognition. We thus developed a paradigm based on the task order and the interactive position to determine if infants understand teacher-student relationships. Five experiments (N = 104), reveal that, after watching the teacher agent instruct the student agent from failure to success, 11-month-old infants looked at the teacher for a longer time when they watched a new naïve agent seek information in a new ambiguous scenario. Three additional control experiments excluded alternative interpretations of infants' selective looking, suggesting that agents' order-related actions influenced infants' identification. Another control experiment demonstrated the importance of the position when the teacher and the student had interactive exchanges. These findings indicate that preverbal infants can recognize the teacher-student relationship, which is crucial to accessing effective information in early life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ruolan Ling
- Department of General System Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan.
| | - Reiko Matsunaka
- Department of General System Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan
| | - Kazuo Hiraki
- Department of General System Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wright BC. Language can obscure as well as facilitate apparent-Theory of mind performance: part 1 - An exploratory study with 4 year-Olds using the element of surprise. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2022.2111838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Barlow C Wright
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Huang Y, Wong MKY, Lam WY, Cheng CH, So WC. What affects gestural learning in children with and without Autism? The role of prior knowledge and imitation. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2022; 129:104305. [PMID: 35868200 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The present study examined whether prior knowledge to the learning target and imitation during learning affected learning outcomes in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, N = 22) compared to their typically developing (TD, N = 15) peers. Children's gestural skills in recognizing and producing the target gestures before and after the training, as well as their imitative behavior during the training were coded. Results showed that consistent prior knowledge benefited gestural learning in both groups. Besides, only children with ASD were hindered by inconsistent prior knowledge. Notably, the effect of imitation was not significant in the ASD group. In conclusion, the learning process in children with ASD may differ from those with typical development, suggesting special-designed interventions are required.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ying Huang
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
| | - Miranda Kit-Yi Wong
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
| | - Wan-Yi Lam
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
| | - Chun-Ho Cheng
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
| | - Wing-Chee So
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Ye NN, Heyman GD, Ding XP. Linking young children's teaching to their reasoning of mental states: Evidence from Singapore. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 209:105175. [PMID: 34000589 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2020] [Revised: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
To fully participate in the human information-sharing ecosystem that allows for efficient knowledge dissemination and creation, children need to be able to teach others effectively. The current research is the first to investigate links between children's teaching abilities and their developing theory of mind abilities in a non-Western sample. In a sample of 4- to 6-year-old Singaporean children (N = 49), we examined relations between specific components of theory of mind abilities and teaching ability on a social cognitive task. We found that both false belief understanding and the ability to make mental state inferences in a teaching context were associated with effective teaching even after controlling for age and language ability. These findings provide a nuanced picture of the links between mental state reasoning and teaching ability. More broadly, they provide evidence that these links extend beyond Western cultures and generalize to social-cognitive teaching contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nina Ni Ye
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Gail D Heyman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Huang Y, Wong MKY, Lam WY, Cheng CH, So WC. Gestures in Storytelling by Preschool Chinese-Speaking Children With and Without Autism. Front Psychol 2020; 11:573212. [PMID: 33013608 PMCID: PMC7506162 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous findings on gestural impairment in autism are inconsistent, while scant evidence came from Chinese-speaking individuals. In the present study, preschool Chinese-speaking children with typical development and with autism were asked to generate stories from a set of wordless Cartoon pictures. Two groups were matched in chronological age and language developmental age. Their speech and gestures were coded. Compared to children with typical development, children with autism produced fewer gestures and showed lower gesture rate. Besides, children with autism produced fewer emblems and fewer supplementary gestures compared to their TD peers. Unlike children with typical development, children with autism tend to produce emblems for reinforcing, rather than supplementing information not conveyed in speech. Results showed the impairments in integrating the cross-modal semantic information in children with autism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ying Huang
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Miranda Kit-Yi Wong
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Wan-Yi Lam
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Chun-Ho Cheng
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Wing-Chee So
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Vivanti G, Hamner T, Lee NR. Neurodevelopmental Disorders Affecting Sociability: Recent Research Advances and Future Directions in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Williams Syndrome. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2018; 18:94. [DOI: 10.1007/s11910-018-0902-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
|
7
|
Vivanti G, Hamner T, Lee NR. Neurodevelopmental Disorders Affecting Sociability: Recent Research Advances and Future Directions in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Williams Syndrome. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2018. [PMID: 30328520 DOI: 10.1007/s11910–018–0902-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW In this review, we summarize current knowledge and hypotheses on the nature of social abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS). RECENT FINDINGS Social phenotypes in ASD and WS appear to reflect analogous disruptions in social cognition, and distinct patterns of social motivation, which appears to be reduced in ASD and enhanced in WS. These abnormalities likely originate from heterogeneous vulnerabilities that disrupt the interplay between domain-general and social domain-specific cognitive and motivational processes during early development. Causal pathways remain unclear. Advances and research gaps in our understanding of the social phenotypes in ASD and WS highlight the importance of (1) parsing the construct of sociability, (2) adopting a developmental perspective, (3) including samples that are representative of the spectrum of severity within ASD and WS in neuroscientific research, and (4) adopting transdiagnostic treatment approaches to target shared areas of impairment across diagnostic boundaries.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Vivanti
- A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, 3020 Market Street, Suite 560, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3734, USA. .,Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3734, USA.
| | - Taralee Hamner
- A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, 3020 Market Street, Suite 560, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3734, USA.,Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3734, USA
| | - Nancy Raitano Lee
- Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-3734, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
|
9
|
Vivanti G, Hocking DR, Fanning P, Dissanayake C. Verbal labels increase the salience of novel objects for preschoolers with typical development and Williams syndrome, but not in autism. J Neurodev Disord 2017; 8:46. [PMID: 28050217 PMCID: PMC5203722 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-016-9180-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Early research has documented that young children show an increased interest toward objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label. It is unclear whether the same phenomenon occurs in neurodevelopmental disorders affecting social development, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS). METHODS The present study used a novel eye-tracking paradigm to determine whether hearing a verbal label increases the salience of novel objects in 35 preschoolers with ASD, 18 preschoolers with WS, and 20 typically developing peers. RESULTS We found that typically developing children and those with WS, but not those with ASD, spent significantly more time looking at objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label. CONCLUSIONS In children without ASD, information accompanied by the speaker's verbal label is accorded a "special status," and it is more likely to be attended to. In contrast, children with ASD do not appear to attribute a special salience to labeled objects compared to non-labeled objects. This result is consistent with the notion that reduced responsivity to pedagogical cues hinders social learning in young children with ASD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Vivanti
- A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, 3020 Market Street, Suite 560, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3734 USA ; Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Darren R Hocking
- Developmental Neuromotor and Cognition Lab, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Peter Fanning
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Cheryl Dissanayake
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| |
Collapse
|