Comprehension and production of body part labels in 2- to 3-year-old children

Body experience influences lexical-semantic knowledge of body parts in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy

Background

Disorders in different levels of body representation (i.e., body schema, body structural description, and body image) are present in hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP). However, it remains unclear whether the body image develops from aspects of body schema and body structural description, and how this occurs in children with HCP.

Objective and methods

In a cross-sectional study, we investigated 53 children with HCP (mean age about 10 years) and 204 typically developing (TD) control children to qualitatively evaluate whether and how body schema (related sensorimotor experiences) and body structural description (related visuospatial experiences) affect the development of children’s body image and whether this development is delayed through HCP. Graph analysis was used to create a lexical-semantic map of body representation from data of a semantic word fluency task.

Results

Results indicated a similar qualitative pattern of influences of sensorimotor and visuospatial experiences on lexical-semantic knowledge of body parts, with a delayed developmental course in children with HCP compared to TD children.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that children’s body image seemed to be influenced by body schema and body structural descriptions as indicated by poorer lexical-semantic knowledge of body parts in children with HCP due to missing physical experiences of the affected body parts. This might imply that “body talk” may beneficially complement physical therapy for children with HCP to promote body image development.

From Hemispheric Asymmetry through Sensorimotor Experiences to Cognitive Outcomes in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Recent neuroimaging studies allowed us to explore abnormal brain structures and interhemispheric connectivity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Behavioral researchers have long reported that children with CP exhibit suboptimal performance in different cognitive domains (e.g., receptive and expressive language skills, reading, mental imagery, spatial processing, subitizing, math, and executive functions). However, there has been very limited cross-domain research involving these two areas of scientific inquiry. To stimulate such research, this perspective paper proposes some possible neurological mechanisms involved in the cognitive delays and impairments in children with CP. Additionally, the paper examines the ways motor and sensorimotor experience during the development of these neural substrates could enable more optimal development for children with CP. Understanding these developmental mechanisms could guide more effective interventions to promote the development of both sensorimotor and cognitive skills in children with CP.

Body knowledge in children with spina bifida

BACKGROUND

Patients with spina bifida suffer from motor paralysis and sensory disturbance, secondary deformation of the lower extremities, and development of decubitus ulcers. A deep understanding of one's body, such as identifying the names, functions, relationships, homology (e.g. upper and lower limbs) and relative position of body parts, may prevent secondary disorders. The awareness of the body and its characteristics in children with spina bifida has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to investigate how children with spina bifida perceive their bodies, especially their paralyzed parts and related or homologous ones.

METHODS

Participants included 36 children with spina bifida and 14 control children, aged 5-11 years. They were asked to draw self-portraits, and to answer questions about the names of body parts. The number of drawn body parts in the pictures and the correct response rates to the questions were quantified and compared between children with spina bifida and control children.

RESULTS

Children with spina bifida drew fewer hands, legs, and feet than control children. In the verbal tests, children with spina bifida had a lower correct response rate than control children on questions concerning the upper limbs, hands, trunk, and feet.

CONCLUSIONS

Children with spina bifida have diminished visuospatial and lexical-semantic body knowledge of the paralyzed parts and related organs.

The development of body representations in school-aged children

Following the triadic taxonomy, three different body representations do exist, namely the body semantics, the body structural representation and the body schema. The development of these body representations has been widely investigated in toddlers, but several issues remain to be addressed in school age. To assess age- and gender-related changes in different body representations and to investigate the presence of different patterns of interplay between these representations of the body, 90 children (age range: 7-10) and 37 young adults (age range: 18-35) were given tasks assessing the body semantics, the body structural representation and the body schema as well as control tasks. The present results suggested that the body schema, evaluated by means of hand laterality judgments, was still not completely developed in school-aged children, whereas the body structural representation reached an adult-like pattern by the age of 9-10 years. Finally, body semantics was fully developed in school-aged children. These findings were discussed in terms of their theoretical implications, for a better understanding of body representation development; also, implications for clinical assessment of body representation disorders were discussed.

Touching! An Augmented Reality System for Unveiling Face Topography in Very Young Children

Developmental body topography, particularly of the face, is a fundamental research topic in the current decade. However, empirical investigation of this topic for very young children faces a number of difficulties related to the task requirements and technical procedures. In this study, we developed a new task to study the spatially-sensed position of facial parts in a self-face recognition task for 2.5- and 3.5-year-old children. Using the technique of augmented reality (AR) and 3D face tracking technology, we presented participants with their projected self-image on a screen, accompanied by a digital mark located on parts of their face. We prepared a cheerful visual and auditory reward on the screen when participants showed correct localization of the mark. We then tested whether they could indicate the position of the mark on their own faces and remain motivated for task repetition. To assess the efficacy of this task, 31 2.5- and 11 3.5-year-old children participated in this study. About half of the 2.5-year-olds and 80% of the 3.5-year-olds could perform more than 30 trials. Our new task, then, was to maintain young children’s motivation for task repetition using the cheerful visual and auditory reward. The analysis of localization errors suggested the uniqueness of spatial knowledge of self-face in young children. The efficacy of this new task for studying the development of body image has been confirmed.

Body knowledge in children with congenital lower limb deficiency

BACKGROUND

In order to effectively improve motor function, a sound understanding of one's body - for example, relative spatial position, relationships, names and functions of body parts - is essential. The aim of this study was to explore how children with congenital lower limb deficiency (LLD) perceive their bodies, particularly their legs.

METHODS

Six children with congenital LLD and 14 controls, aged 5-12 years, were recruited for this study. They drew self-portraits and answered questions about names of body parts. These body part-related questions consisted of a production test, in which an examiner pointed to body parts on each child and asked the child to name them, and a comprehension test, in which the examiner mentioned body parts and asked the child to point to them on their own body.

RESULTS

No differences were found between the self-portraits of children with LLD and those of the control children. In the verbal tests, children with LLD responded correctly at lower rates to questions on body trunk, upper limbs, arms, hands and feet than the control children.

CONCLUSION

Children with LLD have diminished lexical-semantic body knowledge of the upper limbs and feet compared with children without LLD.

'Thin people … they're healthy': young children's understanding of body weight change

BACKGROUND

While research has investigated negative stereotyping of fat body shapes, little has focused on young children's understanding of the mechanisms, motivations and consequences of weight change.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate children's understanding of how weight change is achieved, people's motivation for weight change, and the consequences of weight loss or weight gain.

METHODS

One hundred children (mean age 5.2, 38 girls) read a book in which one of the main characters (male/female according to the child's sex) was either healthy weight or overweight. Afterwards, this character was described as gaining or losing weight, and drawings which depicted the child in the story as either healthy weight or overweight were presented to the child and discussed. An audio-recorded semi-structured interview followed and transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Nearly all children described the weight/shape change and attributed this to food more frequently than exercise. Weight loss was viewed positively and both motivations and consequences grouped under two master themes (physical and social reasons). No clear gender differences were observed in these responses.

CONCLUSIONS

Talking with 5-year-olds showed them to be observant and knowledgeable, especially about motivations for and consequences of weight change. For those working to improve children's health literacy, this suggests receptiveness to early and fact-based education.

Development of Body Part Vocabulary in Toddlers in Relation to Self-Understanding

To better understand young children's ability to communicate about their bodies, toddlers' comprehension and production of 27 common body part words was assessed using parental report at 20 and 30 months (n = 64), and self-awareness was assessed using mirror self-recognition. Children at both ages comprehended more body part words that referred to themselves than to others' bodies, and more words referring to locations that they could see on themselves than to those they could not see. Children with more advanced mirror self-recognition comprehended and produced more body part words. These findings suggest that with age and better understanding of the self, children also possess a better understanding of the body, and they provide new information about factors that affect how young children begin to talk about their own and others' bodies. They should be useful for practitioners who need to ask children about their bodies and body parts.

Narcissism as a moderator of satisfaction with body image in young women with extreme underweight and obesity

Objective

Body weight and age constitute main determinants of body image in women. We analyzed the role of narcissism as a moderator of body image in young women representing various extremes of body weight.

Methods

The study included 325 women between 18 and 35 years, qualified into three BMI categories: obese women (BMI > 30.0, n = 72), severely underweight women who did not satisfy the remaining criteria of anorexia (BMI < 17.5, n = 85), and women with normal body weight (21.7 < “ideal BMI” > 22.7, n = 168). Satisfaction with body image was determined with Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire and Body Esteem Scale, while narcissism was measured with Narcissistic Personality Inventory.

Principal Findings

We revealed that narcissism has significant impact on the body image of women who are extremely underweight or obese. Vanity and Leadership were narcissism dimensions which played significant role in slim women, as compared to Vanity and Self-Sufficiency in obese women.

Conclusion

The role of narcissism as a modulator of self-satisfaction with one’s body varies depending on BMI level: extremely underweight women and obese individuals constitute groups in which narcissism has the strongest impact on the self-satisfaction with body.

Two-year-olds' understanding of self-symbols

This study investigated 48 2.5-year-olds' ability to map from their own body to a two-dimensional self-representation and also examined relations between parents' talk about body representations and their children's understanding of self-symbols. Children participated in two dual-representation tasks in which they were asked to match body parts between a symbol and its referent. In one task, they used a self-symbol and in the other they used a symbol for a doll. Participants were also read a book about body parts by a parent. As a group, children found the self-symbol task more difficult than the doll-task; however, those whose parents explicitly pointed out the relation between their children's bodies and the symbols in the book performed better on the self-symbol task. The findings demonstrate that 2-year-old children have difficulty comprehending a self-symbol, even when it is two-dimensional and approximately the same size as them, and suggest that parents' talk about self-symbols may facilitate their understanding.

The impact of body-part-naming training on the accuracy of imitative performances in 2- to 3-year-old children

A series of three experiments explored the relationship between 3-year-old children's ability to name target body parts and their untrained matching of target hand-to-body touches. Nine participants, 3 per experiment, were presented with repeated generalized imitation tests in a multiple-baseline procedure, interspersed with step-by-step training that enabled them to (i) tact the target locations on their own and the experimenter's bodies or (ii) respond accurately as listeners to the experimenter's tacts of the target locations. Prompts for on-task naming of target body parts were also provided later in the procedure. In Experiment 1, only tact training followed by listener probes were conducted; in Experiment 2, tacting was trained first and listener behavior second, whereas in Experiment 3 listener training preceded tact training. Both tact and listener training resulted in emergence of naming together with significant and large improvements in the children's matching performances; this was true for each child and across most target gestures. The present series of experiments provides evidence that naming--the most basic form of self-instructional behavior--may be one means of establishing untrained matching as measured in generalized imitation tests. This demonstration has a bearing on our interpretation of imitation reported in the behavior analytic, cognitive developmental, and comparative literature.