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Meunier B, Barbu S, Rabiller A, Dollion N, Lemasson A, Durier V. Of the importance to reconsider individual variability in infant studies: Family traits do impact turn-taking perception in 6-month-olds. INFANCY 2024; 29:894-907. [PMID: 39024125 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Turn-taking is a universal pattern of human conversations characterized by a fast exchange of turns between speakers and an avoidance of overlaps. Language is embedded in this conversational skill acquired well before it during infancy, through everyday interactions with caregivers. The earliness of this skill and its link with language allows us to test whether social environment shapes early language development. We therefore study turn-taking perception of 6-month-old infants by measuring their gazes during video presentation of three different conversational situations where the turn is explicitly given, normally taken or taken with an overlap. We studied 51 infants to cover several family and infant characteristics: infants' sex, presence of siblings, and family socioeconomic status (SES). We found that infants looked more at the second speaker when she overlapped the first speaker than in the other situations, but not all infants were equally sensitive. Indeed, infants from high-SES families reacted differently to the three situations, while infants from the two lower SES categories did not. Also, only singletons reacted differently by looking more at the second speaker after the overlapping and turn-giving situations, and not after the turn-taking situation. Our results emphasize the importance of early social experiences on language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastien Meunier
- UMR 6552 Laboratoire Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Université de Rennes, Université de Normandie, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Stéphanie Barbu
- UMR 6552 Laboratoire Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Université de Rennes, Université de Normandie, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Alice Rabiller
- UMR 6552 Laboratoire Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Université de Rennes, Université de Normandie, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Nicolas Dollion
- EA 6291 Laboratoire C2S (Cognition Santé Société), Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes, Reims, France
| | - Alban Lemasson
- UMR 6552 Laboratoire Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Université de Rennes, Université de Normandie, CNRS, Rennes, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Virginie Durier
- UMR 6552 Laboratoire Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Université de Rennes, Université de Normandie, CNRS, Rennes, France
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Hagihara H, Zaadnoordijk L, Cusack R, Kimura N, Tsuji S. Exploration of factors affecting webcam-based automated gaze coding. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:7374-7390. [PMID: 38693440 PMCID: PMC11362184 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02424-1] [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] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
Online experiments have been transforming the field of behavioral research, enabling researchers to increase sample sizes, access diverse populations, lower the costs of data collection, and promote reproducibility. The field of developmental psychology increasingly exploits such online testing approaches. Since infants cannot give explicit behavioral responses, one key outcome measure is infants' gaze behavior. In the absence of automated eyetrackers in participants' homes, automatic gaze classification from webcam data would make it possible to avoid painstaking manual coding. However, the lack of a controlled experimental environment may lead to various noise factors impeding automatic face detection or gaze classification. We created an adult webcam dataset that systematically reproduced noise factors from infant webcam studies which might affect automated gaze coding accuracy. We varied participants' left-right offset, distance to the camera, facial rotation, and the direction of the lighting source. Running two state-of-the-art classification algorithms (iCatcher+ and OWLET) revealed that facial detection performance was particularly affected by the lighting source, while gaze coding accuracy was consistently affected by the distance to the camera and lighting source. Morphing participants' faces to be unidentifiable did not generally affect the results, suggesting facial anonymization could be used when making online video data publicly available, for purposes of further study and transparency. Our findings will guide improving study design for infant and adult participants during online experiments. Moreover, training algorithms using our dataset will allow researchers to improve robustness and allow developmental psychologists to leverage online testing more efficiently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiromichi Hagihara
- Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University 1-2 Yamadaoka, Suita-shi Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
- The Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan.
| | - Lorijn Zaadnoordijk
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Rhodri Cusack
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Nanako Kimura
- Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan
| | - Sho Tsuji
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
- The Institute for AI and Beyond, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan
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Kiseleva A, Rekow D, Schaal B, Leleu A. Olfactory facilitation of visual categorization in the 4-month-old brain depends on visual demand. Dev Sci 2024:e13562. [PMID: 39188074 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 08/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
To navigate their environment, infants rely on intersensory facilitation when unisensory perceptual demand is high, a principle known as inverse effectiveness. Given that this principle was mainly documented in the context of audiovisual stimulations, here we aim to determine whether it applies to olfactory-to-visual facilitation. We build on previous evidence that the mother's body odor facilitates face categorization in the 4-month-old brain, and investigate whether this effect depends on visual demand. Scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in two groups of 4-month-old infants while they watched 6-Hz streams of visual stimuli with faces displayed every 6th stimulus to tag a face-selective response at 1 Hz. We used variable natural stimuli in one group (Nat Group), while stimuli were simplified in the other group (Simp Group) to reduce perceptual categorization demand. During visual stimulation, infants were alternatively exposed to their mother's versus a baseline odor. For both groups, we found an occipito-temporal face-selective response, but with a larger amplitude for the simplified stimuli, reflecting less demanding visual categorization. Importantly, the mother's body odor enhances the response to natural, but not to simplified, face stimuli, indicating that maternal odor improves face categorization when it is most demanding for the 4-month-old brain. Overall, this study demonstrates that the inverse effectiveness of intersensory facilitation applies to the sense of smell during early perceptual development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Intersensory facilitation is a function of unisensory perceptual demand in infants (inverse effectiveness). This inverse relation between multisensory and unisensory perception has been mainly documented using audiovisual stimulations. Here we show that olfactory-to-visual facilitation depends on visual demand in 4-month-old infants. The inverse effectiveness of intersensory facilitation during early perceptual development applies to the sense of smell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kiseleva
- Development of Olfactory Communication and Cognition Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UBFC, CNRS, INRAe, Institut Agro, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Diane Rekow
- Development of Olfactory Communication and Cognition Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UBFC, CNRS, INRAe, Institut Agro, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Benoist Schaal
- Development of Olfactory Communication and Cognition Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UBFC, CNRS, INRAe, Institut Agro, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Arnaud Leleu
- Development of Olfactory Communication and Cognition Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UBFC, CNRS, INRAe, Institut Agro, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
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Jones IT, Kucker SC, Perry LK, Grice JW. Capturing the Heterogeneity of Word Learners by Analyzing Persons. Behav Sci (Basel) 2024; 14:708. [PMID: 39199104 PMCID: PMC11351650 DOI: 10.3390/bs14080708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2024] [Revised: 08/06/2024] [Accepted: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Accurately capturing children's word learning abilities is critical for advancing our understanding of language development. Researchers have demonstrated that utilizing more complex statistical methods, such as mixed-effects regression and hierarchical linear modeling, can lead to a more complete understanding of the variability observed within children's word learning abilities. In the current paper, we demonstrate how a person-centered approach to data analysis can provide additional insights into the heterogeneity of word learning ability among children while also aiding researchers' efforts to draw individual-level conclusions. Using previously published data with 32 typically developing and 32 late-talking infants who completed a novel noun generalization (NNG) task to assess word learning biases (i.e., shape and material biases), we compare this person-centered method to three traditional statistical approaches: (1) a t-test against chance, (2) an analysis of variance (ANOVA), and (3) a mixed-effects regression. With each comparison, we present a novel question raised by the person-centered approach and show how results from the corresponding analyses can lead to greater nuance in our understanding of children's word learning capabilities. Person-centered methods, then, are shown to be valuable tools that should be added to the growing body of sophisticated statistical procedures used by modern researchers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian T. Jones
- Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;
| | - Sarah C. Kucker
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75205, USA;
| | - Lynn K. Perry
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA;
| | - James W. Grice
- Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;
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Ganea N, Addyman C, Yang J, Bremner A. Effects of multisensory stimulation on infants' learning of object pattern and trajectory. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 39105480 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/07/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated whether infants encode better the features of a briefly occluded object if its movements are specified simultaneously by vision and audition than if they are not (data collected: 2017-2019). Experiment 1 showed that 10-month-old infants (N = 39, 22 females, White-English) notice changes in the visual pattern on the object irrespective of the stimulation received (spatiotemporally congruent audio-visual stimulation, incongruent stimulation, or visual-only;η p 2 $$ {\eta}_{\mathrm{p}}^2 $$ = .53). Experiment 2 (N = 72, 36 female) found similar results in 6-month-olds (Test Block 1,η p 2 $$ {\eta}_{\mathrm{p}}^2 $$ = .13), but not 4-month-olds. Experiment 3 replicated this finding with another group of 6-month-olds (N = 42, 21 females) and showed that congruent stimulation enables infants to detect changes in object trajectory (d = 0.56) in addition to object pattern (d = 1.15), whereas incongruent stimulation hinders performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nataşa Ganea
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
| | - Caspar Addyman
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jiale Yang
- School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Andrew Bremner
- Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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Schreiner MS, Zettersten M, Bergmann C, Frank MC, Fritzsche T, Gonzalez-Gomez N, Hamlin K, Kartushina N, Kellier DJ, Mani N, Mayor J, Saffran J, Shukla M, Silverstein P, Soderstrom M, Lippold M. Limited evidence of test-retest reliability in infant-directed speech preference in a large preregistered infant experiment. Dev Sci 2024:e13551. [PMID: 39036879 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2022] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Test-retest reliability-establishing that measurements remain consistent across multiple testing sessions-is critical to measuring, understanding, and predicting individual differences in infant language development. However, previous attempts to establish measurement reliability in infant speech perception tasks are limited, and reliability of frequently used infant measures is largely unknown. The current study investigated the test-retest reliability of infants' preference for infant-directed speech over adult-directed speech in a large sample (N = 158) in the context of the ManyBabies1 collaborative research project. Labs were asked to bring in participating infants for a second appointment retesting infants on their preference for infant-directed speech. This approach allowed us to estimate test-retest reliability across three different methods used to investigate preferential listening in infancy: the head-turn preference procedure, central fixation, and eye-tracking. Overall, we found no consistent evidence of test-retest reliability in measures of infants' speech preference (overall r = 0.09, 95% CI [-0.06,0.25]). While increasing the number of trials that infants needed to contribute for inclusion in the analysis revealed a numeric growth in test-retest reliability, it also considerably reduced the study's effective sample size. Therefore, future research on infant development should take into account that not all experimental measures may be appropriate for assessing individual differences between infants. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We assessed test-retest reliability of infants' preference for infant-directed over adult-directed speech in a large pre-registered sample (N = 158). There was no consistent evidence of test-retest reliability in measures of infants' speech preference. Applying stricter criteria for the inclusion of participants may lead to higher test-retest reliability, but at the cost of substantial decreases in sample size. Developmental research relying on stable individual differences should consider the underlying reliability of its measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie S Schreiner
- Psychology of Language Department, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
| | - Martin Zettersten
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | | | - Michael C Frank
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Tom Fritzsche
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | | | - Kiley Hamlin
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Natalia Kartushina
- Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Danielle J Kellier
- Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Nivedita Mani
- Psychology of Language Department, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julien Mayor
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jenny Saffran
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Mohinish Shukla
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Università di Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Priya Silverstein
- Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Psychology, Ashland University, Ashland, USA
| | - Melanie Soderstrom
- Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | - Matthias Lippold
- Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Economic and Social Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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7
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Diaz AA, Hernández-Pacheco R, Rosati AG. Individual differences in sociocognitive traits in semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Am J Primatol 2024:e23660. [PMID: 38961748 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Characterizing individual differences in cognition is crucial for understanding the evolution of cognition as well as to test the biological consequences of different cognitive traits. Here, we harnessed the strengths of a uniquely large, naturally-living primate population at the Cayo Santiago Biological Field Station to characterized individual differences in rhesus monkey performance across two social cognitive tasks. A total of n = 204 semi-free-ranging adult rhesus monkeys participated in a data collection procedure, where we aimed to test individuals on both tasks at two time-points that were one year apart. In the socioemotional responses task, we assessed monkeys' attention to conspecific photographs with neutral versus negative emotional expressions. We found that monkeys showed overall declines in interest in conspecific photographs with age, but relative increases in attention to threat stimuli specifically, and further that these responses exhibited long-term stability across repeated testing. In the gaze following task we assessed monkeys' propensity to co-orient with an experimenter. Here, we found no evidence for age-related change in responses, and responses showed only limited repeatability over time. Finally, we found some evidence for common individual variation for performance across the tasks: monkeys that showed greater interest in conspecific photographs were more likely to follow a human's gaze. These results show how studies of comparative cognitive development and aging can provide insights into the evolution of cognition, and identify core primate social cognitive traits that may be related across and within individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis A Diaz
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA
| | | | - Alexandra G Rosati
- Departments of Psychology and Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Bornstein MH, Mash C, Arterberry ME, Gandjbakhche A, Nguyen T, Esposito G. Visual stimulus structure, visual system neural activity, and visual behavior in young human infants. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302852. [PMID: 38889176 PMCID: PMC11185452 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
In visual perception and information processing, a cascade of associations is hypothesized to flow from the structure of the visual stimulus to neural activity along the retinogeniculostriate visual system to behavior and action. Do visual perception and information processing adhere to this cascade near the beginning of life? To date, this three-stage hypothetical cascade has not been comprehensively tested in infants. In two related experiments, we attempted to expose this cascade in 6-month-old infants. Specifically, we presented infants with two levels of visual stimulus intensity, we measured electrical activity at the infant cortex, and we assessed infants' preferential looking behavior. Chromatic saturation provided a convenient stimulus dimension to test the cascade because greater saturation is known to excite increased activity in the primate visual system and is generally hypothesized to stimulate visual preference. Experiment 1 revealed that infants prefer (look longer) at the more saturated of two colors otherwise matched in hue and brightness. Experiment 2 showed increased aggregate neural cortical excitation in infants (and adults) to the more saturated of the same pair of colors. Thus, experiments 1 and 2 taken together confirm a cascade: Visual stimulation of relatively greater intensity evokes relatively greater levels of bioelectrical cortical activity which in turn is associated with relatively greater visual attention. As this cascade obtains near the beginning of life, it helps to account for early visual preferences and visual information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc H. Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, United Kingdom
- United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Clay Mash
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | | | - Amir Gandjbakhche
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Thien Nguyen
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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Marcet L, Birulés J, Bosch L, Pons F. Who spoke that language? Assessing early face-language associations in monolingual and bilingual infants. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1393836. [PMID: 38813567 PMCID: PMC11133666 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction In bilingual communities, knowing the language each speaker uses may support language separation and, later, guide language use in a context-appropriate manner. Previous research has shown that infants begin to form primary associations between the face and the language used by a speaker around the age of 3 months. However, there is still a limited understanding of how robust these associations are and whether they are influenced by the linguistic background of the infant. To answer these questions, this study explores monolingual and bilingual infants' ability to form face-language associations throughout the first year of life. Methods A group of 4-, 6-, and 10-month-old Spanish and/or Catalan monolingual and bilingual infants were tested in an eye-tracking preferential-looking paradigm (N = 156). After the infants were familiarized with videos of a Catalan and a Spanish speaker, they were tested in two types of test trials with different task demands. First, a Silent test trial assessed primary face-language associations by measuring infants' visual preference for the speakers based on the language they had previously used. Then, two Language test trials assessed more robust face-language associations by measuring infants' ability to match the face of each speaker with their corresponding language. Results When measuring primary face-language associations, both monolingual and bilingual infants exhibited language-based preferences according to their specific exposure to the languages. Interestingly, this preference varied with age, with a transition from an initial familiarity preference to a novelty preference in older infants. Four-month-old infants showed a preference for the speaker who used their native/dominant language, while 10-month-old infants preferred the speaker who used their non-native/non-dominant language. When measuring more robust face-language associations, infants did not demonstrate signs of consistently matching the faces of the speakers with the language they had previously used, regardless of age or linguistic background. Discussion Overall, the results indicate that while both monolingual and bilingual infants before the first year of life can form primary face-language associations, these associations remain fragile as infants seemed unable to maintain them when tested in a more demanding task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laia Marcet
- Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Joan Birulés
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Laura Bosch
- Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ferran Pons
- Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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10
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Sen U, Gredebäck G. Methodological considerations for more robust and reliable developmental science: How historical conventions bias behavioral measurements. Child Dev 2024; 95:e164-e169. [PMID: 38069520 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/19/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Umay Sen
- Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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11
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Fu X, Platt E, Shic F, Bradshaw J. Infant Social Attention Associated with Elevated Likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Multi-Method Comparison. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06360-z. [PMID: 38678515 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06360-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The study aimed to compare eye tracking (ET) and manual coding (MC) measures of attention to social and nonsocial information in infants with elevated familial likelihood (EL) of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and low likelihood of ASD (LL). ET provides a temporally and spatially sensitive tool for measuring gaze allocation. Existing evidence suggests that ET is a promising tool for detecting distinct social attention patterns that may serve as a biomarker for ASD. However, ET is prone to data loss, especially in young EL infants. METHODS To increase evidence for ET as a viable tool for capturing atypical social attention in EL infants, the current prospective, longitudinal study obtained ET and MC measures of social and nonsocial attention in 25 EL and 47 LL infants at several time points between 3 and 24 months of age. RESULTS ET data was obtained with a satisfactory success rate of 95.83%, albeit with a higher degree of data loss compared to MC. Infant age and ASD likelihood status did not impact the extent of ET or MC data loss. There was a significant positive association between the ET and MC measures of attention, and separate analyses of attention using ET and AC measures yielded comparable findings. These analyses indicated group differences (EL vs. LL) in age-related change in attention to social vs. nonsocial information. CONCLUSION Together, the findings support infant ET as a promising approach for identifying very early markers associated with ASD likelihood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxue Fu
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Emma Platt
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Frederick Shic
- Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jessica Bradshaw
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
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12
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Nguyen DKL, Fitzpatrick N, Floccia C. Adapting language development research paradigms to online testing: Data from preferential looking, word learning and vocabulary assessment in toddlers. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2024:1-33. [PMID: 38433469 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000924000035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
During the recent pandemic, it became necessary to adapt lab-based studies to online experiments. To investigate the impact of online testing on the quality of data, we focus on three paradigms widely used in infant research: a word recognition task using the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm, a word learning task using the Switch task, and a language assessment tool (WinG) where children identify a target word amongst a set of picture cards. Our results for synchronous and asynchronous studies provide support for the robustness of online testing. In Experiment 1, robust word recognition was found in 24-month-old toddlers. In Experiment 2, 17-month-old infants consistently learned a new word. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that 19- to 26-month-old children performed well on a language assessment test administered online. Overall, effect sizes or language scores were found to be higher than in lab-based studies. These experiments point to promising possibilities for reaching out to families around the world.
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Wu Y, Merrick M, Gweon H. Expecting the Unexpected: Infants Use Others' Surprise to Revise Their Own Expectations. Open Mind (Camb) 2024; 8:67-83. [PMID: 38435704 PMCID: PMC10898783 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Human infants show systematic responses to events that violate their expectations. Can they also revise these expectations based on others' expressions of surprise? Here we ask whether infants (N = 156, mean = 15.2 months, range: 12.0-18.0 months) can use an experimenter's expression of surprise to revise their own expectations about statistically probable vs. improbable events. An experimenter sampled a ball from a box of red and white balls and briefly displayed either a surprised or an unsurprised expression at the outcome before revealing it to the infant. Following an unsurprised expression, the results were consistent with prior work; infants looked longer at a statistically improbable outcome than a probable outcome. Following a surprised expression, however, this standard pattern disappeared or was even reversed. These results suggest that even before infants can observe the unexpected events themselves, they can use others' surprise to expect the unexpected. Starting early in life, human learners can leverage social information that signals others' prediction error to update their own predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Wu
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Megan Merrick
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Hyowon Gweon
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
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14
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Van den Berghe P, Derie R, Gerlo J, Bonnaerens S, Fiers P, Van Caekenberghe I, De Clercq D, Segers V. Learning effects in over-ground running gait retraining: A six-month follow-up of a quasi-randomized controlled trial. J Sports Sci 2024; 42:475-482. [PMID: 38678312 DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2024.2323849] [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: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024]
Abstract
This study evaluated learning and recall effects following a feedback-based retraining program. A 6-month follow-up of a quasi-randomized controlled trial was performed with and without recall. Twenty runners were assigned to experimental or control groups and completed a 3-week running program. A body-worn system collected axial tibial acceleration and provided real-time feedback on peak tibial acceleration for six running sessions in an athletic training facility. The experimental group received music-based biofeedback in a faded feedback scheme. The controls received tempo-synchronized music as a placebo for blinding purposes. The peak tibial acceleration and vertical loading rate of the ground reaction force were determined in a lab at baseline and six months following the intervention to assess retention and recall. The impacts of the experimental group substantially decreased at follow-up following a simple verbal recall (i.e., run as at the end of the program): peak tibial acceleration:-32%, p = 0.018; vertical loading rate:-34%, p = 0.006. No statistically significant changes were found regarding the retention of the impact variables. The impact magnitudes did not change over time in the control group. The biofeedback-based intervention did not induce clear learning at follow-up, however, a substantial impact reduction was recallable through simple cueing in the absence of biofeedback.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter Van den Berghe
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Rud Derie
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Joeri Gerlo
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Senne Bonnaerens
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Pieter Fiers
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ine Van Caekenberghe
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dirk De Clercq
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Veerle Segers
- Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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15
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Ragamin A, Schappin R, de Graaf M, Tupker RA, Fieten KB, van Mierlo MMF, Bronner MB, Romeijn GLE, Sloot MM, Boesjes CM, van der Rijst LP, Arents BWM, Rustemeyer T, Schuttelaar MLA, Pasmans SGMA. Effectiveness of antibacterial therapeutic clothing vs. nonantibacterial therapeutic clothing in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis: a randomized controlled observer-blind pragmatic trial (ABC trial). Br J Dermatol 2024; 190:342-354. [PMID: 37936331 DOI: 10.1093/bjd/ljad437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Increased Staphylococcus aureus (SA) colonization is considered an important factor in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD). Antibacterial therapeutic clothing aims to reduce SA colonization and AD inflammation; however, its role in the management of AD remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effectiveness of antibacterial therapeutic clothing + standard topical treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe AD vs. standard therapeutic clothing + standard topical treatment; and, if effectiveness was demonstrated, to demonstrate its cost-effectiveness. METHODS A pragmatic double-blinded multicentre randomized controlled trial (NCT04297215) was conducted in patients of all ages with moderate-to-severe AD. Patients were centrally randomized 1 : 1 : 1 to receive standard therapeutic clothing or antibacterial clothing based on chitosan or silver. The primary outcome was the between-group difference in Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) measured over 52 weeks. Secondary outcomes included patient-reported outcomes (PROs), topical corticosteroid (TCS) use, SA colonization, safety and cost-effectiveness. Outcomes were assessed by means of (generalized) linear mixed-model analyses. RESULTS Between 16 March 2020 and 20 December 2021, 171 patients were enrolled. In total, 159 patients were included (54 in the standard therapeutic clothing group, 50 in the chitosan group and 55 in the silver group). Adherence was high [median 7 nights a week wear (interquartile range 3-7)]. Median EASI scores at baseline and at 4, 12, 26 and 52 weeks were 11.8, 4.3, 4.6, 4.2 and 3.6, respectively, in the standard therapeutic clothing group vs. 11.3, 5.0, 3.0, 3.0 and 4.4, respectively, in the chitosan group, and 11.6, 5.0, 5.4, 4.6 and 5.8, respectively, in the silver group. No differences in EASI over 52 weeks between the standard therapeutic clothing group, the chitosan group [-0.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.3 to 0.2; P = 0.53] or the silver group (-0.1, 95% CI -0.3 to 0.2; P = 0.58) were found. However, a small significant group × time interaction effect between the standard and silver groups was found (P = 0.03), in which the silver group performed worse after 26 weeks. No differences between groups were found in PROs, TCS use, SA skin colonization and healthcare utilization. No severe adverse events or silver absorption were observed. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest no additional benefits of antibacterial agents in therapeutic clothing in patients with moderate-to-severe AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aviël Ragamin
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Department of Dermatology, Center of Pediatric Dermatology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Renske Schappin
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Department of Dermatology, Center of Pediatric Dermatology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Marlies de Graaf
- Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Ron A Tupker
- Department of Dermatology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands
| | - Karin B Fieten
- Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich, Davos Wolfgang, Switzerland
- Dutch Asthma Center Davos, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Minke M F van Mierlo
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Madelon B Bronner
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Geertruida L E Romeijn
- Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Manon M Sloot
- Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Celeste M Boesjes
- Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Lisa P van der Rijst
- Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Bernd W M Arents
- Dutch Association for People with Atopic Dermatitis, Nijkerk, the Netherlands
| | - Thomas Rustemeyer
- Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Marie L A Schuttelaar
- Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Suzanne G M A Pasmans
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Department of Dermatology, Center of Pediatric Dermatology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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16
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Russo S, Carnovalini F, Calignano G, Arfé B, Rodà A, Valenza E. Linking vestibular, tactile, and somatosensory rhythm perception to language development in infancy. Cognition 2024; 243:105688. [PMID: 38101080 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105688] [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: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
First experiences with rhythm occur in the womb, with different rhythmic sources being available to the human fetus. Among sensory modalities, vestibular, tactile, and somatosensory perception plays a crucial role in early processing. However, a limited number of studies so far have specifically focused on VTS rhythms in language development. The present work investigated VTS rhythmic abilities and their role in language acquisition through two experiments with 45 infants (21 females, sex assigned at birth; M age = 661.6 days, SD = 192.6) with middle/high socioeconomic status. Specifically, 37 infants from the original sample completed Experiment 1, assessing VTS rhythmic abilities through a vibrotactile tool for music perception. In Experiment 2, linguistic abilities were evaluated in 40 participants from the same cohort, specifically testing phonological and prosodic processing. Discrimination abilities for rhythmic and linguistic stimuli were inferred from changes in pupil diameter to contingent visual stimuli over time, through a Tobii X-60 eye-tracker. The predictive effect of VTS rhythmic abilities on linguistic processing and the developmental changes occurring across ages were explored in the 32 infants who completed both Experiments 1 and 2 by means of generalized, additive and linear, mixed-effect models. Results are discussed in terms of cross-sensory (i.e., haptic to hearing) and cross-domain (i.e., music to language) effects of rhythm on language acquisition, with implications for typical and atypical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Russo
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
| | - Filippo Carnovalini
- Department of Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
| | - Giulia Calignano
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
| | - Barbara Arfé
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
| | - Antonio Rodà
- Department of Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
| | - Eloisa Valenza
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
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17
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Vizmathy L, Begus K, Knoblich G, Gergely G, Curioni A. Better Together: 14-Month-Old Infants Expect Agents to Cooperate. Open Mind (Camb) 2024; 8:1-16. [PMID: 38419792 PMCID: PMC10898613 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans engage in cooperative activities from early on and the breadth of human cooperation is unparalleled. Human preference for cooperation might reflect cognitive and motivational mechanisms that drive engagement in cooperative activities. Here we investigate early indices of humans' cooperative abilities and test whether 14-month-old infants expect agents to prefer cooperative over individual goal achievement. Three groups of infants saw videos of agents facing a choice between two actions that led to identical rewards but differed in the individual costs. Our results show that, in line with prior research, infants expect agents to make instrumentally rational choices and prefer the less costly of two individual action alternatives. In contrast, when one of the action alternatives is cooperative, infants expect agents to choose cooperation over individual action, even though the cooperative action demands more effort from each agent to achieve the same outcome. Finally, we do not find evidence that infants expect agents to choose the less costly alternative when both options entail cooperative action. Combined, these results indicate an ontogenetically early expectation of cooperation, and raise interesting implications and questions regarding the nature of infants' representations of cooperative actions and their utility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liza Vizmathy
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Katarina Begus
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gunther Knoblich
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - György Gergely
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Arianna Curioni
- Institute of Computer Technology, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
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18
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Liu S, Li X, Sun R. The effect of masks on infants' ability to fast-map and generalize new words. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2024:1-19. [PMID: 38189211 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000923000697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Young children today are exposed to masks on a regular basis. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how masks may affect word learning. The study explored the effect of masks on infants' abilities to fast-map and generalize new words. Seventy-two Chinese infants (43 males, Mage = 18.26 months) were taught two novel word-object pairs by a speaker with or without a mask. They then heard the words and had to visually identify the correct objects and also generalize words to a different speaker and objects from the same category. Eye-tracking results indicate that infants looked longer at the target regardless of whether a speaker wore a mask. They also looked longer at the speaker's eyes than at the mouth only when words were taught through a mask. Thus, fast-mapping and generalization occur in both masked and not masked conditions as infants can flexibly access different visual cues during word-learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siying Liu
- Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xun Li
- Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Renji Sun
- East China University of Political Science and Law, China
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19
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Gomes J, Begum M, Kumarathasan P. Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) exposure and adverse maternal and infant health outcomes: Systematic review. CHEMOSPHERE 2024; 347:140367. [PMID: 37890790 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140367] [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: 10/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardants found in ambient environment and are measured in humans. There are reports on general PBDE toxicity, including endocrine disrupting properties. Studies on adverse maternal and infant outcomes and underlying toxicity mechanisms needs to be understood. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to examine the state of science on the relationship between PBDE and adverse maternal/infant health outcomes and related maternal biomarker changes. This literature review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science for published articles from January 2005-February 2022. Article quality was assessed using Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Of the 1518 articles, only 54 human observational studies were screened in for this review. A second reviewer examined the validity of these articles. Reports on associations between PBDE and maternal health outcomes included gestational hypertension/preeclampsia (N = 2) and gestational diabetes mellitus/glycemic index (N = 6). Meanwhile, reports on PBDE and infant outcomes (N=32) included effects on infant birth weight, birth length and cephalic perimeter, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction and APGAR scores. Although findings on PBDE exposure and adverse infant outcomes showed inconsistencies across studies, in general, negative correlations between maternal PBDEs and infant birth weight, birth length and cephalic perimeter were seen, in few cases, after stratification by sex. Association between maternal PBDE and maternal biomarkers (N=18) suggested negative impact of PBDE exposure on markers relevant to neuro-endocrine system and inflammatory processes. The review findings identified potential associations between maternal PBDE and adverse maternal/infant health outcomes. Furthermore, PBDE-related biomarker changes suggest disturbances in maternal mechanisms relevant to endocrine disrupting properties of PBDEs. The observed study heterogeneity can be attributed to factors namely, sample size, study design and statistical analysis. Overall review findings imply the necessity for further research to validate PBDE exposure-related adverse maternal/infant health effects and to validate underlying toxicity mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Gomes
- Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
| | - M Begum
- Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - P Kumarathasan
- Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, HECS, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
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20
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Kosie JE, Lew-Williams C. Open Science Considerations for Descriptive Research in Developmental Science. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2024; 33:e2377. [PMID: 38389731 PMCID: PMC10881201 DOI: 10.1002/icd.2377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Descriptive developmental research seeks to document, describe, and analyze the conditions under which infants and children live and learn. Here, we articulate how open-science practices can be incorporated into descriptive research to increase its transparency, reliability, and replicability. To date, most open-science practices have been oriented toward experimental rather than descriptive studies, and it can be confusing to figure out how to translate open-science practices (e.g., preregistration) for research that is more descriptive in nature. We discuss a number of unique considerations for descriptive developmental research, taking inspiration from existing open-science practices and providing examples from recent and ongoing studies. By embracing a scientific culture where descriptive research and open science coexist productively, developmental science will be better positioned to generate comprehensive theories of development and understand variability in development across communities and cultures.
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21
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Li W, Germine LT, Mehr SA, Srinivasan M, Hartshorne J. Developmental psychologists should adopt citizen science to improve generalization and reproducibility. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2024; 33:e2348. [PMID: 38515737 PMCID: PMC10957098 DOI: 10.1002/icd.2348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Widespread failures of replication and generalization are, ironically, a scientific triumph, in that they confirm the fundamental metascientific theory that underlies our field. Generalizable and replicable findings require testing large numbers of subjects from a wide range of demographics with a large, randomly-sampled stimulus set, and using a variety of experimental parameters. Because few studies accomplish any of this, meta-scientists predict that findings will frequently fail to replicate or generalize. We argue that to be more robust and replicable, developmental psychology needs to find a mechanism for collecting data at greater scale and from more diverse populations. Luckily, this mechanism already exists: Citizen science, in which large numbers of uncompensated volunteers provide data. While best-known for its contributions to astronomy and ecology, citizen science has also produced major findings in neuroscience and psychology, and increasingly in developmental psychology. We provide examples, address practical challenges, discuss limitations, and compare to other methods of obtaining large datasets. Ultimately, we argue that the range of studies where it makes sense *not* to use citizen science is steadily dwindling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Li
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
| | - Laura Thi Germine
- McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA
| | - Samuel A. Mehr
- Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | - Joshua Hartshorne
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
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22
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Nakashima Y, Kanazawa S, Yamaguchi MK. Metacontrast masking is ineffective in the first 6 months of life. Cognition 2024; 242:105666. [PMID: 37984131 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105666] [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: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Metacontrast masking is one of the most widely studied types of visual masking, in which a visual stimulus is rendered invisible by a subsequent mask that does not spatially overlap with the target. Metacontrast has been used for many decades as a tool to study visual processing and conscious perception in adults. However, there are so far no infant studies on metacontrast and it remains unknown even whether it occurs in infants. The present study examined metacontrast masking in 3- to 8-month-old infants (N = 168) using a habituation paradigm. We found that metacontrast is ineffective for infants under 7 months and that younger infants can perceive a masked stimulus that older infants cannot. Our results suggest that metacontrast is distinct from other simple types of masking that occur in early infancy, and would be consistent with the idea that metacontrast results from the disruption of recurrent processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Nakashima
- Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashinakano, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0393, Japan.
| | - So Kanazawa
- Department of Psychology, Japan Women's University, 2-8-1 Mejirodai, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8681, Japan
| | - Masami K Yamaguchi
- Department of Psychology, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashinakano, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0393, Japan
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23
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Liu Y, Park CW, Pholprajug P, Suvithayasiri S, Kim JH, Lee C, Kim E, Kim JS. Efficacy of Allograft Versus Bioactive Glass-Ceramic Cage in Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Randomized Controlled Study. Global Spine J 2023:21925682231219225. [PMID: 38030132 DOI: 10.1177/21925682231219225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
STUDY DESIGN A randomized controlled trial. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of allografts and bioactive glass-ceramic (BG) cages for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in treating cervical degenerative disc disease. METHODS We conducted a single-center, randomized controlled trial between August 2017 and August 2022. Participants were randomized into two groups, and consecutive patients requiring ACDF were randomly assigned to receive either the allograft cage or the BG cage. The surgical outcomes measured included pain levels, neck disability, surgical details, and radiological assessments. RESULTS Of the 45 assessed, 40 participants were included, with 18 in the allograft cage group and 22 in the BG cage group. By the 12-month follow-up, both groups exhibited significant improvements in pain levels and disability scores, with no notable intergroup differences. Over 85% of patients in both groups were satisfied with their outcomes. Radiological assessments revealed stability in the cervical spine with both cage types post intervention. Although both materials showed a trend toward increased subsidence over time, the difference between them was not statistically significant. Fusion rates were comparable between the groups at 12 months, with BG cage showing a slightly higher early fusion rate at 6 months. No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of complications. CONCLUSIONS Both allograft and BG cages are effective in ACDF surgeries for cervical degenerative disc disease, with both contributing to substantial postoperative improvements. Differences in disc height, interspinous motion, and subsidence were not significant in the last follow-up, indicating both materials' suitability for clinical use. Future research with a larger cohort and longer follow-up is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanting Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chan Woong Park
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Phattareeya Pholprajug
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Orthopedics, Rayong hospital, Rayong, Thailand
| | - Siravich Suvithayasiri
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Orthopedics, Chulabhorn Hospital, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Jung Hoon Kim
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chorong Lee
- The Team of Clinical Research, Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Eun Kim
- The Team of Clinical Research, Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jin-Sung Kim
- Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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24
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Nakashima Y, Kanazawa S, Yamaguchi MK. Recognition of humans from biological motion in infants. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:2567-2576. [PMID: 36859538 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02675-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
Infant studies have suggested that the detection of biological motion (BM) might be an innate capacity, based on newborns' spontaneous preference for BM. However, it is unclear if, like adults, infants recognize humans from BM and are able to build the representation of bodies and faces. To address this issue, we tested whether exposure to BM influences subsequent face recognition in 3- to 8-month-old infants. After familiarization with a point-light walker (PLW) of either a female or a male, the infant's preference for female and male faces was measured. If infants can build the representation of not only the body but also the face from PLWs, the familiarization effect of gender induced by the PLW might be generalized to faces. We found that infants at 7 to 8 months looked for longer at the face whose gender was opposite to that of the PLW, whereas 3- to 4- and 5- to 6-month-old infants did not. These results suggest that infants can access the representation of humans from BM and extract gender, which is shared across bodies and faces, from at least 7 to 8 months of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Nakashima
- Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashinakano, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, 192-0393, Japan.
| | - So Kanazawa
- Department of Psychology, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan
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Geraci A, Franchin L, Benavides-Varela S. Evaluations of pro-environmental behaviors by 7-month-old infants. Infant Behav Dev 2023; 72:101865. [PMID: 37480716 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
Environmental morality is the foundation of a sustainable future, yet its ontogenetic origin remains unknown. In the present study, we asked whether 7-month-olds have a sense of 'environmental morality'. Infants' evaluations of two pro-environmental actions were assessed in both visual and reaching preferential tasks. In Experiment 1, the overt behavior of protecting (i.e., collecting artificial objects spread on a lawn) was compared with the action of harming the environment (i.e., by disregarding the objects). In Experiment 2, the covert behavior of protecting the environment (i.e., maintaining artificial objects inside a container) was compared with the action of harming the environment (i.e., littering the artificial objects on a lawn). The results showed infants' reaching preference for the agent who performed overt pro-environmental actions (Experiment 1), and no preference for the agent who performed covert pro-environmental actions (Experiment 2). These findings reveal a rudimentary ecological sense and suggest that infants require different abilities to evaluate overt impact-oriented and covert intend-oriented pro-environmental behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Geraci
- Department of Social and Educational Sciences of the Mediterranean Area, University for Foreigners "Dante Alighieri" of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy.
| | - Laura Franchin
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Silvia Benavides-Varela
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation and Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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26
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Bohn M, Eckert J, Hanus D, Lugauer B, Holtmann J, Haun DBM. Great ape cognition is structured by stable cognitive abilities and predicted by developmental conditions. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:927-938. [PMID: 37106158 PMCID: PMC10250201 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02050-8] [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: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Great ape cognition is used as a reference point to specify the evolutionary origins of complex cognitive abilities, including in humans. This research often assumes that great ape cognition consists of cognitive abilities (traits) that account for stable differences between individuals, which change and develop in response to experience. Here, we test the validity of these assumptions by assessing repeatability of cognitive performance among captive great apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo abelii, Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes) in five tasks covering a range of cognitive domains. We examine whether individual characteristics (age, group, test experience) or transient situational factors (life events, testing arrangements or sociality) influence cognitive performance. Our results show that task-level performance is generally stable over time; four of the five tasks were reliable measurement tools. Performance in the tasks was best explained by stable differences in cognitive abilities (traits) between individuals. Cognitive abilities were further correlated, suggesting shared cognitive processes. Finally, when predicting cognitive performance, we found stable individual characteristics to be more important than variables capturing transient experience. Taken together, this study shows that great ape cognition is structured by stable cognitive abilities that respond to different developmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Bohn
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Johanna Eckert
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel Hanus
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Benedikt Lugauer
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute of Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jana Holtmann
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute of Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel B M Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Centre for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
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27
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Gokulakrishnan K, Nikhil J, Viswanath B, Thirumoorthy C, Narasimhan S, Devarajan B, Joseph E, David AKD, Sharma S, Vasudevan K, Sreeraj VS, Holla B, Shivakumar V, Debnath M, Venkatasubramanian G, Varambally S. Comparison of gut microbiome profile in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls - A plausible non-invasive biomarker? J Psychiatr Res 2023; 162:140-149. [PMID: 37156128 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The human gut microbiome regulates brain function through the microbiome-gut-brain axis and is implicated in several neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the relationship between the gut microbiome and the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SCZ) is poorly defined, and very few studies have examined the effect of antipsychotic treatment response. We aim to study the differences in the gut microbiota among drug-naïve (DN SCZ) and risperidone-treated SCZ patients (RISP SCZ), compared to healthy controls (HCs). We recruited a total of 60 participants, from the clinical services of a large neuropsychiatric hospital, which included DN SCZ, RISP SCZ and HCs (n = 20 each). Fecal samples were analyzed using 16s rRNA sequencing in this cross-sectional study. No significant differences were found in taxa richness (alpha diversity) but microbial composition differed between SCZ patients (both DN and RISP) and HCs (PERMANOVA, p = 0.02). Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) and Random Forest model identified the top six genera, which significantly differed in abundance between the study groups. A specific genus-level microbial panel of Ruminococcus, UCG005, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 and Bifidobacterium could discriminate SCZ patients from HCs with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.79, HCs vs DN SCZ (AUC: 0.68), HCs vs RISP SCZ (AUC: 0.93) and DN SCZ vs RISP SCZ (AUC: 0.87). Our study identified distinct microbial signatures that could aid in the differentiation of DN SCZ, RISP SCZ, and HCs. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of the gut microbiome in SCZ pathophysiology and suggest potential targeted interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuppan Gokulakrishnan
- Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India.
| | - Joyappa Nikhil
- Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Biju Viswanath
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Chinnasamy Thirumoorthy
- Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Sandhya Narasimhan
- Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Bharanidharan Devarajan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Ebin Joseph
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Arul Kevin Daniel David
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Sapna Sharma
- Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science, Technische Universität München, Lise-Meitner-Str. 34, 85354, Freising, Germany
| | - Kavitha Vasudevan
- Department of Foods, Nutrition & Dietetics Research, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Vanteemar S Sreeraj
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Bharath Holla
- Department of Integrative Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Venkataram Shivakumar
- Department of Integrative Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Monojit Debnath
- Department of Human Genetics, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Ganesan Venkatasubramanian
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
| | - Shivarama Varambally
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India; Department of Integrative Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India
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28
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Bornstein MH, Mash C, Romero R, Gandjbakhche AH, Nguyen T. Electrophysiological Evidence for Interhemispheric Connectivity and Communication in Young Human Infants. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13040647. [PMID: 37190612 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13040647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Little is known empirically about connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life, and what theoretical opinion exists appears to be at variance with the meager extant anatomical evidence. To shed initial light on the question of interhemispheric connectivity and communication, this study investigated brain correlates of interhemispheric transmission of information in young human infants. We analyzed EEG data from 12 4-month-olds undergoing a face-related oddball ERP protocol. The activity in the contralateral hemisphere differed between odd-same and odd-difference trials, with the odd-different response being weaker than the response during odd-same trials. The infants' contralateral hemisphere "recognized" the odd familiar stimulus and "discriminated" the odd-different one. These findings demonstrate connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life and lead to a better understanding of the functional integrity of the developing human infant brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc H Bornstein
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 8404 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, London WC1E 7AE, UK
- United Nations Children's Fund, New York, NY 10017, USA
| | - Clay Mash
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 8404 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20852, USA
| | - Roberto Romero
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 8404 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Amir H Gandjbakhche
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 8404 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Thien Nguyen
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, 8404 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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29
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Erel Y, Shannon KA, Chu J, Scott K, Struhl MK, Cao P, Tan X, Hart P, Raz G, Piccolo S, Mei C, Potter C, Jaffe-Dax S, Lew-Williams C, Tenenbaum J, Fairchild K, Bermano A, Liu S. iCatcher+: Robust and Automated Annotation of Infants' and Young Children's Gaze Behavior From Videos Collected in Laboratory, Field, and Online Studies. ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023; 6:10.1177/25152459221147250. [PMID: 37655047 PMCID: PMC10471135 DOI: 10.1177/25152459221147250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Technological advances in psychological research have enabled large-scale studies of human behavior and streamlined pipelines for automatic processing of data. However, studies of infants and children have not fully reaped these benefits because the behaviors of interest, such as gaze duration and direction, still have to be extracted from video through a laborious process of manual annotation, even when these data are collected online. Recent advances in computer vision raise the possibility of automated annotation of these video data. In this article, we built on a system for automatic gaze annotation in young children, iCatcher, by engineering improvements and then training and testing the system (referred to hereafter as iCatcher+) on three data sets with substantial video and participant variability (214 videos collected in U.S. lab and field sites, 143 videos collected in Senegal field sites, and 265 videos collected via webcams in homes; participant age range = 4 months-3.5 years). When trained on each of these data sets, iCatcher+ performed with near human-level accuracy on held-out videos on distinguishing "LEFT" versus "RIGHT" and "ON" versus "OFF" looking behavior across all data sets. This high performance was achieved at the level of individual frames, experimental trials, and study videos; held across participant demographics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity), participant behavior (e.g., movement, head position), and video characteristics (e.g., luminance); and generalized to a fourth, entirely held-out online data set. We close by discussing next steps required to fully automate the life cycle of online infant and child behavioral studies, representing a key step toward enabling robust and high-throughput developmental research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yotam Erel
- The Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
| | | | - Junyi Chu
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Kim Scott
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Melissa Kline Struhl
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Peng Cao
- Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Xincheng Tan
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Peter Hart
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Gal Raz
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Sabrina Piccolo
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Catherine Mei
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Christine Potter
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas
| | - Sagi Jaffe-Dax
- The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
| | | | - Joshua Tenenbaum
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- The MIT Quest for Intelligence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Katherine Fairchild
- The MIT Quest for Intelligence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Amit Bermano
- The Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
| | - Shari Liu
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
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30
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CRISTIA A, FOUSHEE R, ARAVENA-BRAVO P, CYCHOSZ M, SCAFF C, CASILLAS M. Combining observational and experimental approaches to the development of language and communication in rural samples: Opportunities and challenges. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023; 50:1-23. [PMID: 36912336 PMCID: PMC10497711 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000922000617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Multiple approaches - including observational and experimental - are necessary to articulate powerful theories of learning. Our field's key questions, which rely on these varied methods, are still open. How do children perceive and produce language? What do they encounter in their linguistic input? What does the learner bring to the task of acquisition? Considerable progress has been made for the development of spoken English (especially by North American learners). Yet there is still a great deal to discover about how children in other populations proceed, especially populations in rural settings. To examine language learning in these populations, we need a multi-method approach. However, adapting and integrating methods, particularly experimental ones, to new settings can present immense challenges. In this paper, we discuss the opportunities and challenges facing researchers who aim to use a multimethodological approach in rural samples, and what the field of language acquisition can do to promote such work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandrina CRISTIA
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Ruthe FOUSHEE
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Paulina ARAVENA-BRAVO
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Margaret CYCHOSZ
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Camila SCAFF
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, Paris, France
- Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marisa CASILLAS
- Department of Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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31
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Visser I, Kucharský Š, Levelt C, Stefan AM, Wagenmakers E, Oakes L. Bayesian sample size planning for developmental studies. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ingmar Visser
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Šimon Kucharský
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Claartje Levelt
- Centre for Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities Leiden University Leiden Netherlands
| | - Angelika M. Stefan
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Eric‐Jan Wagenmakers
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Lisa Oakes
- Department of Psychology and the Center for Mind and Brain University of California Davis California USA
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32
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Neff MB, Martin A. Do face-to-face interactions support 6-month-olds' understanding of the communicative function of speech? INFANCY 2023; 28:240-256. [PMID: 36129215 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Infants by 6 months recognize that speech communicates information between third parties. We investigated whether 6-month-olds always expect speech to communicate or whether they also consider social features of communication, like how interlocutors engage with one another. A small sample of infants watched an actor (the Speaker) choose one of two objects to play with (the target). When the Speaker could no longer reach her target object, she turned to a new actor (the Listener) and said a nonsense word. During speech, the actors were either face-to-face, the Speaker was facing away from the Listener, or the reverse. When the actors had been face-to-face, infants looked longer when the Listener selected the non-target object compared to the target. Infants looked equally regardless of what the Listener chose when either actor had been disengaged. Area-of-interest gaze coding suggests that infants were similarly interested in the interaction across conditions, but their pattern of attention to Speaker and Listener differed when the Listener was disengaged during speech. Although these experiments should be replicated with a larger sample, the findings provide initial evidence that 6-month-olds do not expect speech alone to communicate, but also attend to the social context in which speech is produced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Beth Neff
- Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Alia Martin
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
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33
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Reuter T, Mazzei C, Lew-Williams C, Emberson L. Infants' lexical comprehension and lexical anticipation abilities are closely linked in early language development. INFANCY 2023; 28:532-549. [PMID: 36808682 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
Abstract
Theories across cognitive domains propose that anticipating upcoming sensory input supports information processing. In line with this view, prior findings indicate that adults and children anticipate upcoming words during real-time language processing, via such processes as prediction and priming. However, it is unclear if anticipatory processes are strictly an outcome of prior language development or are more entwined with language learning and development. We operationalized this theoretical question as whether developmental emergence of comprehension of lexical items occurs before or concurrently with the anticipation of these lexical items. To this end, we tested infants of ages 12, 15, 18, and 24 months (N = 67) on their abilities to comprehend and anticipate familiar nouns. In an eye-tracking task, infants viewed pairs of images and heard sentences with either informative words (e.g., eat) that allowed them to anticipate an upcoming noun (e.g., cookie), or uninformative words (e.g., see). Findings indicated that infants' comprehension and anticipation abilities are closely linked over developmental time and within individuals. Importantly, we do not find evidence for lexical comprehension in the absence of lexical anticipation. Thus, anticipatory processes are present early in infants' second year, suggesting they are a part of language development rather than solely an outcome of it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy Reuter
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, Princeton, USA
| | - Carolyn Mazzei
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, Princeton, USA.,Faculty of Education, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK
| | - Casey Lew-Williams
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, Princeton, USA
| | - Lauren Emberson
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, Princeton, USA.,Psychology Department, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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34
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Schott E, Tamayo MP, Byers‐Heinlein K. Keeping track of language: Can monolingual and bilingual infants associate a speaker with the language they speak? INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Esther Schott
- Department of Psychology Concordia University Montreal Quebec Canada
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35
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Issard C, Tsuji S, Cristia A. Infants' preference for speech is stable across the first year of life: Meta-analytic evidence. INFANCY 2023; 28:550-568. [PMID: 36738193 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Previous work suggested that humans' sophisticated speech perception abilities stem from an early capacity to pay attention to speech in the auditory environment. What are the roots of this early preference? We assess the extent to which it is due to it being a vocal sound, a natural sound, and a familiar sound through a meta-analytic approach, classifying experiments as a function of whether they used native or foreign speech and whether the competitor, against which preference is tested, was vocal or non-vocal, natural or artificial. We also tested for the effect of age. Synthesizing data from 791 infants across 39 experiments, we found a medium effect size, confirming at the scale of the literature that infants reliably prefer speech over other sounds. This preference was not significantly moderated by the language used, vocal quality, or naturalness of the competitor, nor by infant age. The current body of evidence appears most compatible with the hypothesis that speech is preferred consistently as such and not just due to its vocal, natural, or familiar nature. We discuss limitations of the extant body of work on speech preference, including evidence consistent with a publication bias and low representation of certain stimuli types and ages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cécile Issard
- Département d'Études Cognitives, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, École Normale Superieure, Paris, France
| | - Sho Tsuji
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Alejandrina Cristia
- Département d'Études Cognitives, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, École Normale Superieure, Paris, France
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36
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Sex-specific inflammatory and white matter effects of prenatal opioid exposure: a pilot study. Pediatr Res 2023; 93:604-611. [PMID: 36280708 PMCID: PMC9998341 DOI: 10.1038/s41390-022-02357-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Revised: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Preclinical data demonstrate that opioids modulate brain reward signaling through an inflammatory cascade, but this relationship has yet to be studied in opioid-exposed neonates. METHODS Saliva samples of 54 opioid-exposed and sex- and age-matched non-exposed neonates underwent transcriptomic analysis of inflammatory and reward genes. A subset of 22 neonates underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate white matter injury commonly associated with inflammatory response. Gene expression and brain MRI were compared between opioid- and non-exposed neonates and further stratified by sex and pharmacotherapy need. RESULTS Opioid-exposed females regardless of pharmacotherapy need had higher expression of inflammatory genes than their male counterparts, with notable differences in the expression of CCL2 and CXCL1 in females requiring pharmacotherapy (p = 0.01 and 0.06, respectively). Opioid-exposed males requiring pharmacotherapy had higher expression of DRD2 than exposed females (p = 0.07), validating our prior research. Higher expression of IL1β, IL6, TNFα, and IL10 was seen in opioid-exposed neonates with T1 white matter hyperintensity (WMH) compared to exposed neonates without WMH (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Prenatal opioid exposure may promote inflammation resulting in changes in reward signaling and white matter injury in the developing brain, with unique sex-specific effects. The actions of opioids through non-neuronal pathways need further investigation. IMPACT Opioid-exposed neonates are at risk for punctate T1 white matter hyperintensity (WMH). Females carry a greater propensity for WMH. Salivary transcriptomic data showed significantly higher expression of inflammatory genes in opioid-exposed neonates with WMH than those without WMH, irrespective of pharmacotherapy need. Adding to prior studies, our findings suggest that prenatal opioid exposure may modulate white matter injury and reward signaling through a pro-inflammatory process that is sex specific. This novel study highlights the short-term molecular and structural effects of prenatal opioids and the need to elucidate the long-term impact of prenatal opioid exposure.
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37
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Barbir M, Babineau MJ, Fiévet AC, Christophe A. Rapid infant learning of syntactic-semantic links. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2209153119. [PMID: 36574655 PMCID: PMC9910616 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209153119] [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: 05/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In the second year of life, infants begin to rapidly acquire the lexicon of their native language. A key learning mechanism underlying this acceleration is syntactic bootstrapping: the use of hidden cues in grammar to facilitate vocabulary learning. How infants forge the syntactic-semantic links that underlie this mechanism, however, remains speculative. A hurdle for theories is identifying computationally light strategies that have high precision within the complexity of the linguistic signal. Here, we presented 20-mo-old infants with novel grammatical elements in a complex natural language environment and measured their resultant vocabulary expansion. We found that infants can learn and exploit a natural language syntactic-semantic link in less than 30 min. The rapid speed of acquisition of a new syntactic bootstrap indicates that even emergent syntactic-semantic links can accelerate language learning. The results suggest that infants employ a cognitive network of efficient learning strategies to self-supervise language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Barbir
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 75005Paris, France
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence (World Premier International Research Center Initiative; WPI-IRCN), Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo113-0033, Japan
| | - Mireille J. Babineau
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 75005Paris, France
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONM5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Anne-Caroline Fiévet
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 75005Paris, France
| | - Anne Christophe
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 75005Paris, France
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Righetto Greco AL, Sato NTDS, Moreira RDFC, Cavalcante Neto JL, Tudella E. Sticky Mittens Training to Improve Reaching Skills and Manual Exploration of Full-Term and At-Risk Infants: A Systematic Review. Phys Occup Ther Pediatr 2023; 43:182-195. [PMID: 36195977 DOI: 10.1080/01942638.2022.2128973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
AIM To systematically review evidence of the effectiveness of sticky mittens training to improve reaching skills and manual exploration of full-term and at-risk infants and optimal training dosage. METHODS The Cochrane Collaboration and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guided this systematic review. The electronic search was performed from September 2017 to August 2021 on PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Cochrane databases. Eligibility criteria followed PICO terms: clinical trials investigating the effects of sticky mittens training on reaching skills and manual exploration of full-term and at-risk infants. PEDro scale and GRADE assessed methodological quality and quality of evidence, respectively. RESULTS Eight studies (313 children) were included. Five studies found statistically significant differences between experimental and control groups (62.6%). One study presented high methodological quality. Evidence synthesis showed very low and low evidence of the beneficial effects of sticky mittens training in full-term and at-risk infants, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that sticky mittens training facilitates reaching skills and manual exploration. However, results should interpretation with caution because studies targeted full-term infants. Future research should focus on infants at risk or with motor impairments since sticky mittens training seems to show positive effects and is easy to apply.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Eloisa Tudella
- Department of Physiotherapy, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
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39
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Forbes SH, Aneja P, Guest O. The myth of normative development. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Prerna Aneja
- School of Psychology University of East Anglia Norwich UK
| | - Olivia Guest
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour Radboud University Nijmegen The Netherlands
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40
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Brandone AC, Stout W. The Origins of Theory of Mind in Infant Social Cognition: Investigating Longitudinal Pathways from Intention Understanding and Joint Attention to Preschool Theory of Mind. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022; 24:375-396. [PMID: 37456364 PMCID: PMC10348704 DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2146117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of literature has established longitudinal associations between key social cognitive capacities emerging in infancy and children's subsequent theory of mind. However, existing work is limited by modest sample sizes, narrow infant measures, and theory of mind assessments with restricted variability and generalizability. The current study aimed to extend this literature by (a) recruiting a large sample of participants (n = 116; 53 boys; 63 girls; all U.S. residents; 88 White, 8 Hispanic or Latino, 2 Black or African American, 14 two or more races/ethnicities, 4 unknown; median family income: $74-122,000), (b) examining multiple measures of infant social cognition (intentional action understanding, responding to joint attention, initiating joint attention) at Time 1 (8-12 months), and (c) using an ecologically valid theory of mind assessment designed to capture individual differences in preschoolers' mental state understanding (the Children's Social Understanding Scale; Tahiroglu et al., 2014) at Time 2 (37-45 months). Measured variable path analysis revealed a significant longitudinal association between infants' initiating joint attention and later theory of mind: infants who engaged in more attempts to initiate joint attention with experimenters through gaze alternation or gestures went on to show better parent-reported mental state understanding as preschoolers. Notably, the paths from infants' responding to joint attention and intentional action understanding to later theory of mind did not emerge as significant. These findings bolster and clarify existing claims about how mental state reasoning is rooted in foundational social-cognitive capacities emerging in infancy.
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41
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Kucharský Š, Zaharieva M, Raijmakers M, Visser I. Habituation, part
II
. Rethinking the habituation paradigm. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Šimon Kucharský
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
- Department of Psychological Methods, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
| | - Martina Zaharieva
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
| | - Maartje Raijmakers
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
- Department of Educational Studies and Learn!, Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences Free University Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
| | - Ingmar Visser
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain & Cognition (ABC) University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
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42
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Tsurumi S, Kanazawa S, Yamaguchi MK, Kawahara JI. Infants' anticipatory eye movements: feature-based attention guides infants' visual attention. Exp Brain Res 2022; 240:2277-2284. [PMID: 35906428 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-022-06428-1] [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: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
When looking for an object, we identify it by selectively focusing our attention to a specific feature, known as feature-based attention. This basic attentional system has been reported in young children; however, little is known of whether infants could use feature-based attention. We have introduced a newly developed anticipation-looking task, where infants learned to direct their attention endogenously to a specific feature based on the learned feature (color or orientation), in 60 preverbal infants aged 7-8 months. We found that preverbal infants aged 7-8 months can direct their attention endogenously to the specific target feature among irrelevant features, thus showing the feature-based attentional selection. Experiment 2 bolstered this finding by demonstrating that infants directed their attention depending on the familiarized feature that belongs to a never-experienced object. These results that infants can form anticipation by color and orientation reflect they could drive their attention through feature-based selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuma Tsurumi
- Department of Psychology, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashi-Nakano, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0393, Japan.
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, N10 W7, Kita, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan.
| | - So Kanazawa
- Department of Psychology, Japan Women's University, 2-8-1 Mejirodai, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8681, Japan
| | - Masami K Yamaguchi
- Department of Psychology, Chuo University, 742-1 Higashi-Nakano, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0393, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichiro Kawahara
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, N10 W7, Kita, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan
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43
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de la Cruz-Pavía I, Westphal-Fitch G, Fitch WT, Gervain J. Seven-month-old infants detect symmetrical structures in multi-featured abstract visual patterns. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266938. [PMID: 35544459 PMCID: PMC9094521 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study investigated 7-month-old infants' ability to perceive structural symmetry in mosaic-like abstract visual patterns. We examined infants' (n = 98) spontaneous looking behaviour to mosaic-like sequences with symmetrical and asymmetrical structures. Sequences were composed of square tiles from two categories that differed in their colour scheme and internal shape. We manipulated sequence length (3 or 5 tiles) and abstractness of the symmetry (token vs. category level). The 7-month-olds discriminated structurally symmetrical from asymmetrical mosaics in the first half of the test phase (first 8 trials). Sequence length, level of symmetry, or number of unique tiles per sequence did not significantly modulate infants' looking behaviour. These results suggest that very young infants detect differences in structural symmetry in multi-featured visual patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene de la Cruz-Pavía
- Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
- Basque Foundation for Science Ikerbasque, Bilbao, Spain
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | | | | | - Judit Gervain
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
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44
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DeBolt MC, Oakes LM. Commentary on six solutions: Moving forward with measurement in mind. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michaela C. DeBolt
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain University of California, Davis Davis California USA
| | - Lisa M. Oakes
- Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain University of California, Davis Davis California USA
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45
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Fast AA, Morelli SA, Zaki J, Olson KR. Mutual identification promotes children's generosity. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anne A. Fast
- Department of Psychology University of Washington Seattle Washington USA
| | - Sylvia A. Morelli
- Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
| | - Jamil Zaki
- Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
| | - Kristina R. Olson
- Department of Psychology University of Washington Seattle Washington USA
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46
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Doyle FL, Klein L, Kemp LJ, Moul C, Richmond JL, Eapen V, Frick PJ, Kimonis ER, Hawes DJ, Le Pelley ME, Mehta D, Dadds MR. Learning to like triangles: A longitudinal investigation of evaluative conditioning in infancy. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22244. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.22244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frances L. Doyle
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, School of Psychology Western Sydney University Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Louis Klein
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
- Mental Health Academic Unit Liverpool Hospital, SWS‐LHD Liverpool New South Wales Australia
| | - Lindsay J. Kemp
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Caroline Moul
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Jenny L. Richmond
- School of Psychology University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Valsamma Eapen
- Mental Health Academic Unit Liverpool Hospital, SWS‐LHD Liverpool New South Wales Australia
- School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Paul J. Frick
- Department of Psychology Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| | - Eva R. Kimonis
- School of Psychology University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - David J. Hawes
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Mike E. Le Pelley
- School of Psychology University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Divya Mehta
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Queensland Australia
| | - Mark R. Dadds
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Science University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
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47
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Seitz M, Weinert S. Numeracy skills in young children as predictors of mathematical competence. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 40:224-241. [PMID: 35262211 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
As mathematical competence is linked to educational success, professional achievement, and even a country's economic growth, researchers have been interested in early predictors for quite some time. Although there have been numerous studies on domain-specific numerical abilities predicting later mathematical competence in preschool children, research in toddlers is scarce, especially regarding additional influential aspects, such as domain-general cognitive abilities and the children's social background. Using a large-scale dataset, the present study examined predictive effects of numeracy skills in 17-month-olds for later mathematical achievement. We found small, positive effects, even when controlling for child-related variables (i.e., age and sex) and the children's social background (i.e., maternal education and household language). Additionally, we compared results with a domain-general categorization task and found no distinct effect on mathematical competence. The present results are discussed with regard to the specificities of the dataset, as well as implications for future studies on predictors of mathematical competence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Seitz
- Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Sabine Weinert
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany
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48
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Perry LK, Mitsven SG, Custode S, Vitale L, Laursen B, Song C, Messinger DS. Reciprocal Patterns of Peer Speech in Preschoolers with and without Hearing Loss. EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY 2022; 60:201-213. [PMID: 35273424 PMCID: PMC8903181 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Children with hearing loss often attend inclusive preschool classrooms aimed at improving their spoken language skills. Although preschool classrooms are fertile environments for vocal interaction with peers, little is known about the dyadic processes that influence children's speech to one another and foster their language abilities and how these processes may vary in children with hearing loss. We used new objective measurement approaches to identify and quantify children's vocalizations during social contact, as determined by children's proximity and mutual orientation. The contributions of peer vocalizations to children's future vocalizations and language abilities were examined in oral language inclusion classrooms containing children with hearing loss who use hearing aids or cochlear implants and their typically hearing peers. Across over 600 hours of recorded vocal interactions of twenty-nine 2.5-3.5 year olds (16 girls) in three cohorts of children in a classroom, we found that vocalizations from each peer on a given observation predicted a child's vocalizations to that same peer on the subsequent observation. Children who produced more vocalizations to their peers had higher receptive and expressive language abilities, as measured by a standardized end-of-year language assessment. In fact, vocalizations from peers had an indirect association with end-of-year language abilities as mediated by children's vocalizations to peers. These findings did not vary as a function of hearing status. Overall, then, the results demonstrate the importance of dyadic peer vocal interactions for children's language use and abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Brett Laursen
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University
| | | | - Daniel S. Messinger
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami
- Department of Pediatrics, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Department of Music Engineering, University of Miami
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49
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Mermier J, Quadrelli E, Turati C, Bulf H. Sequential learning of emotional faces is statistical at 12 months of age. INFANCY 2022; 27:479-491. [PMID: 35238464 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Infants are capable of extracting statistical regularities from continuous streams of elements, which helps them structuring their surrounding environment. The current study examines 12-month-olds' capacity to extract statistical information from a sequence of emotional faces. Using a familiarization procedure, infants were presented with videos of two actresses expressing the same facial emotion, and subsequently turning toward or away from each other. Videos displayed different emotions (i.e., anger, happiness, fear, sadness, surprise, amusement, disgust, and exasperation) and were organized sequentially, so that the transitional probabilities between videos were highly predictable in some cases, and less predictable in others. At test, infants discriminated highly predictable from low predictable transitional probabilities, suggesting that they extracted statistical regularities from the sequence of emotional faces. However, when examining the looking toward and the looking away conditions separately, infants showed evidence of statistical learning in the looking toward condition only. Together, these findings suggest that 12-month-old infants rely on statistical learning to segment a continuous sequence of emotional faces, although this ability can be modulated by the nature of the stimuli. The contribution of statistical learning to structure infants' social environment is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Mermier
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Ermanno Quadrelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.,NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy
| | - Chiara Turati
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.,NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy
| | - Hermann Bulf
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.,NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milano, Italy
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50
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Bishop DVM, Thompson J, Parker AJ. Can we shift belief in the 'Law of Small Numbers'? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211028. [PMID: 35316946 PMCID: PMC8889191 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
'Sample size neglect' is a tendency to underestimate how the variability of mean estimates changes with sample size. We studied 100 participants, from science or social science backgrounds, to test whether a training task showing different-sized samples of data points (the 'beeswarm' task) can help overcome this bias. Ability to judge if two samples came from the same population improved with training, and 38% of participants reported that they had learned to wait for larger samples before making a response. Before and after training, participants completed a 12-item estimation quiz, including items testing sample size neglect (S-items). Bonus payments were given for correct responses. The quiz confirmed sample size neglect: 20% of participants scored zero on S-items, and only two participants achieved more than 4/6 items correct. Performance on the quiz did not improve after training, regardless of how much learning had occurred on the beeswarm task. Error patterns on the quiz were generally consistent with expectation, though there were some intriguing exceptions that could not readily be explained by sample size neglect. We suggest that training with simulated data might need to be accompanied by explicit instruction to be effective in counteracting sample size neglect more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- D. V. M. Bishop
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Jackie Thompson
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, The Priory Road Complex, Priory Road, Clifton BS8 1TU, UK
| | - Adam J. Parker
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK
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