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de Ridder D, Aarts H, Benjamins J, Glebbeek M, Leplaa H, Leseman P, Potgieter R, Tummers L, Zondervan‐Zwijnenburg M. “Keep your distance for me”: A field experiment on empathy prompts to promote distancing during the
COVID
‐19 pandemic. J Community Appl Soc Psychol 2021; 32:755-766. [PMID: 35463459 PMCID: PMC9015613 DOI: 10.1002/casp.2593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The outbreak of COVID‐19 has turned out to be a major challenge to societies all over the globe. Curbing the pandemic requires rapid and extensive behavioural change to limit social interaction, including physical distancing. In this study, we tested the notion that inducing empathy for people vulnerable to the virus may result in actual distancing behaviour beyond the mere motivation to do so. In a large field experiment with a sequential case–control design, we found that (a) empathy prompts may increase distancing as assessed by camera recordings and (b) effectiveness of prompts depends on the dynamics of the pandemic and associated public health policies. In sum, the present study demonstrates the potential of empathy‐generating interventions to promote pro‐social behaviour and emphasizes the necessity of field experiments to assess the role of context before advising policy makers to implement measures derived from behavioural science. Please refer to Supplementary Material to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise de Ridder
- Department of Social Health & Organizational Psychology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Henk Aarts
- Department of Social Health & Organizational Psychology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Jeroen Benjamins
- Department of Social Health & Organizational Psychology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
- Department of Experimental Psychology Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | | | - Hidde Leplaa
- Department of Methods & Statistics Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Education Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Renske Potgieter
- Department of Social Health & Organizational Psychology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Lars Tummers
- Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
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van den Berghe R, Oudgenoeg-Paz O, Verhagen J, Brouwer S, de Haas M, de Wit J, Willemsen B, Vogt P, Krahmer E, Leseman P. Individual Differences in Children's (Language) Learning Skills Moderate Effects of Robot-Assisted Second Language Learning. Front Robot AI 2021; 8:676248. [PMID: 34504871 PMCID: PMC8421643 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2021.676248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study investigated how individual differences among children affect the added value of social robots for teaching second language (L2) vocabulary to young children. Specifically, we investigated the moderating role of three individual child characteristics deemed relevant for language learning: first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge, phonological memory, and selective attention. We expected children low in these abilities to particularly benefit from being assisted by a robot in a vocabulary training. An L2 English vocabulary training intervention consisting of seven sessions was administered to 193 monolingual Dutch five-year-old children over a three- to four-week period. Children were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: 1) a tablet only, 2) a tablet and a robot that used deictic (pointing) gestures (the no-iconic-gestures condition), or 3) a tablet and a robot that used both deictic and iconic gestures (i.e., gestures depicting the target word; the iconic-gestures condition). There also was a control condition in which children did not receive a vocabulary training, but played dancing games with the robot. L2 word knowledge was measured directly after the training and two to four weeks later. In these post-tests, children in the experimental conditions outperformed children in the control condition on word knowledge, but there were no differences between the three experimental conditions. Several moderation effects were found. The robot’s presence particularly benefited children with larger L1 vocabularies or poorer phonological memory, while children with smaller L1 vocabularies or better phonological memory performed better in the tablet-only condition. Children with larger L1 vocabularies and better phonological memory performed better in the no-iconic-gestures condition than in the iconic-gestures condition, while children with better selective attention performed better in the iconic-gestures condition than the no-iconic-gestures condition. Together, the results showed that the effects of the robot and its gestures differ across children, which should be taken into account when designing and evaluating robot-assisted L2 teaching interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rianne van den Berghe
- Department of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.,Section Leadership in Education and Development, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Almere, Netherlands
| | - Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz
- Department of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Josje Verhagen
- Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Susanne Brouwer
- Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Mirjam de Haas
- Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Jan de Wit
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Bram Willemsen
- Department of Intelligent Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Paul Vogt
- Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.,School of Communication, Media and IT, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Emiel Krahmer
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Timmermeister M, Leseman P, Wijnen F, Blom E. No Bilingual Benefits Despite Relations Between Language Switching and Task Switching. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1832. [PMID: 32793084 PMCID: PMC7394216 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing cognitive control. Bilinguals' enhanced cognitive control is thought to be caused by the necessity to exert more language control in bilingual compared to monolingual settings. Surprisingly, between-group research of cognitive effects of bilingualism is hardly ever combined with within-group research that investigates relationships between language control and cognitive control. The present study compared 27 monolingual Dutch and 27 bilingual Turkish-Dutch children matched on age and fluid intelligence on their performance in a nonverbal switching task. Within the group of bilinguals, the relationship between nonverbal switching and language switching was examined. The results revealed no between-group differences on nonverbal switching. Within the bilingual sample, response times in the language switching and nonverbal switching tasks were related, although no relationships were found between accuracy, switching cost and mixing cost on both tasks. The results support the hypothesis that children utilize domain-general cognitive control in language switching, but this relationship does not entail that bilinguals have better cognitive control than monolinguals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Timmermeister
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Frank Wijnen
- Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- The Arctic University of Norway UiT, Tromsø, Norway
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Verhagen J, van den Berghe R, Oudgenoeg-Paz O, Küntay A, Leseman P. Children's reliance on the non-verbal cues of a robot versus a human. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0217833. [PMID: 31856239 PMCID: PMC6922398 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Robots are used for language tutoring increasingly often, and commonly programmed to display non-verbal communicative cues such as eye gaze and pointing during robot-child interactions. With a human speaker, children rely more strongly on non-verbal cues (pointing) than on verbal cues (labeling) if these cues are in conflict. However, we do not know how children weigh the non-verbal cues of a robot. Here, we assessed whether four- to six-year-old children (i) differed in their weighing of non-verbal cues (pointing, eye gaze) and verbal cues provided by a robot versus a human; (ii) weighed non-verbal cues differently depending on whether these contrasted with a novel or familiar label; and (iii) relied differently on a robot's non-verbal cues depending on the degree to which they attributed human-like properties to the robot. The results showed that children generally followed pointing over labeling, in line with earlier research. Children did not rely more strongly on the non-verbal cues of a robot versus those of a human. Regarding pointing, children who perceived the robot as more human-like relied on pointing more strongly when it contrasted with a novel label versus a familiar label, but children who perceived the robot as less human-like did not show this difference. Regarding eye gaze, children relied more strongly on the gaze cue when it contrasted with a novel versus a familiar label, and no effect of anthropomorphism was found. Taken together, these results show no difference in the degree to which children rely on non-verbal cues of a robot versus those of a human and provide preliminary evidence that differences in anthropomorphism may interact with children's reliance on a robot's non-verbal behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josje Verhagen
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, CS Utrecht, the Netherlands
- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, Spuistraat,VB Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Rianne van den Berghe
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, CS Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, CS Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Aylin Küntay
- Koç University, Department of Psychology, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Paul Leseman
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, CS Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Verhagen J, Boom J, Mulder H, de Bree E, Leseman P. Reciprocal relationships between nonword repetition and vocabulary during the preschool years. Dev Psychol 2019; 55:1125-1137. [DOI: 10.1037/dev0000702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Duijzer C, Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen M, Veldhuis M, Doorman M, Leseman P. Embodied Learning Environments for Graphing Motion: a Systematic Literature Review. Educ Psychol Rev 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10648-019-09471-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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Boerma T, Leseman P, Wijnen F, Blom E. Language Proficiency and Sustained Attention in Monolingual and Bilingual Children with and without Language Impairment. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1241. [PMID: 28785235 PMCID: PMC5519625 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2017] [Accepted: 07/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: The language profiles of children with language impairment (LI) and bilingual children can show partial, and possibly temporary, overlap. The current study examined the persistence of this overlap over time. Furthermore, we aimed to better understand why the language profiles of these two groups show resemblance, testing the hypothesis that the language difficulties of children with LI reflect a weakened ability to maintain attention to the stream of linguistic information. Consequent incomplete processing of language input may lead to delays that are similar to those originating from reductions in input frequency. Methods: Monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI (N = 128), aged 5-8 years old, participated in this study. Dutch receptive vocabulary and grammatical morphology were assessed at three waves. In addition, auditory and visual sustained attention were tested at wave 1. Mediation analyses were performed to examine relationships between LI, sustained attention, and language skills. Results: Children with LI and bilingual children were outperformed by their typically developing (TD) and monolingual peers, respectively, on vocabulary and morphology at all three waves. The vocabulary difference between monolinguals and bilinguals decreased over time. In addition, children with LI had weaker auditory and visual sustained attention skills relative to TD children, while no differences between monolinguals and bilinguals emerged. Auditory sustained attention mediated the effect of LI on vocabulary and morphology in both the monolingual and bilingual groups of children. Visual sustained attention only acted as a mediator in the bilingual group. Conclusion: The findings from the present study indicate that the overlap between the language profiles of children with LI and bilingual children is particularly large for vocabulary in early (pre)school years and reduces over time. Results furthermore suggest that the overlap may be explained by the weakened ability of children with LI to sustain their attention to auditory stimuli, interfering with how well incoming language is processed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessel Boerma
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Frank Wijnen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
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Boerma T, Wijnen F, Leseman P, Blom E. Grammatical Morphology in Monolingual and Bilingual Children With and Without Language Impairment: The Case of Dutch Plurals and Past Participles. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2017; 60:2064-2080. [PMID: 28687827 DOI: 10.1044/2017_jslhr-l-16-0351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 01/31/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Grammatical morphology is often a locus of difficulty for both children with language impairment (LI) and bilingual children. In contrast to previous research that mainly focused on verbal tense and agreement markings, the present study investigated whether plural and past participle formation can disentangle the effects of LI and bilingualism and, in addition, can point to weaknesses of LI that hold across monolingual and bilingual contexts. METHOD Monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI (n = 33 per group) were tested at 2 waves with a word formation task that elicited Dutch noun plurals and past participles. The quantity and quality of errors as well as children's development over time were examined. RESULTS The plural formation task discriminated between monolingual children with and without LI, but a less differentiated picture emerged in the bilingual group. Moreover, plural accuracy showed fully overlapping language profiles of monolinguals with LI and bilinguals without LI, in contrast to accuracy scores on the past participle formation task. Error analyses suggested that frequent omission of participial affixes may be indicative of LI, irrespective of lingual status. CONCLUSION The elicited production of past participles may support a reliable diagnosis of LI in monolingual and bilingual learning contexts. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5165689.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessel Boerma
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education, the Netherlands
| | - Frank Wijnen
- Utrecht University, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, the Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education, the Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Utrecht University, Department of Special Education, the Netherlands
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Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between nonword repetition (NWR) and vocabulary in 2-year-olds. Questions addressed are whether (1) NWR and vocabulary are associated, (2) phonotactic probability affects NWR, and (3) there is an interaction effect between phonotactic probability and vocabulary on NWR performance. The general aim of the study is to investigate whether NWR, as a task of phonological storage, assesses the quality of phonological representations in children as young as 2 years of age. 557 Dutch 2-year-olds performed a NWR task containing items of varying phonotactic probability as well as a receptive vocabulary task. The results showed a moderate, significant correlation between NWR and vocabulary. Phonotactic probability had an effect on NWR performance. Further analyses showed that there was a significant interaction between phonotactic probability and vocabulary for part of the items. These results support previously reported effects of vocabulary and phonotactic probability on NWR in older, English-speaking children for a large sample of Dutch-speaking 2-year-olds, and provide evidence that NWR assesses the quality of phonological representations already in very young children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josje Verhagen
- Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Hanna Mulder
- Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Boerma T, Leseman P, Timmermeister M, Wijnen F, Blom E. Narrative abilities of monolingual and bilingual children with and without language impairment: implications for clinical practice. Int J Lang Commun Disord 2016; 51:626-638. [PMID: 26989878 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/03/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding and expressing a narrative's macro-structure is relatively independent of experience in a specific language. A narrative task is therefore assumed to be a less biased method of language assessment for bilingual children than many other norm-referenced tests and may thus be particularly valuable to identify language impairment (LI) in a bilingual context. AIMS The present study aimed to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on macrostructural narrative skills. Moreover, it evaluated the diagnostic validity of a narrative task within a monolingual and bilingual sample. METHODS & PROCEDURES Five- and 6-year-old mono- and bilingual children with and without LI (N = 33 per group) were tested on production and comprehension measures of narrative macro-structure. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on their narrative abilities. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate the instrument's diagnostic value. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Negative effects of LI were found on all narrative measures, whereas no effects of bilingualism emerged. The narrative task adequately differentiated between both mono- and bilingual children with and without LI, with story elements related to internal states being more effective than elements related to the basic episode structure. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study confirms the hypothesis that measures of narrative macro-structure are not biased against children who have less experience with a particular language, like bilinguals. In addition, it indicates that using narratives to assess children's language abilities can support the identification of LI in both a monolingual and a bilingual context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Frank Wijnen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Department of Education and Learning
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Verhagen J, Leseman P. How do verbal short-term memory and working memory relate to the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar? A comparison between first and second language learners. J Exp Child Psychol 2016; 141:65-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2014] [Revised: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 06/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Boerma T, Chiat S, Leseman P, Timmermeister M, Wijnen F, Blom E. A Quasi-Universal Nonword Repetition Task as a Diagnostic Tool for Bilingual Children Learning Dutch as a Second Language. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2015; 58:1747-60. [PMID: 26444988 DOI: 10.1044/2015_jslhr-l-15-0058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study evaluated a newly developed quasi-universal nonword repetition task (Q-U NWRT) as a diagnostic tool for bilingual children with language impairment (LI) who have Dutch as a 2nd language. The Q-U NWRT was designed to be minimally influenced by knowledge of 1 specific language in contrast to a language-specific NWRT with which it was compared. METHOD One hundred twenty monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI participated (30 per group). A mixed-design analysis of variance was used to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on the NWRTs. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were conducted to evaluate the instruments' diagnostic value. RESULTS Large negative effects of LI were found on both NWRTs, whereas negative effects of bilingualism only occurred on the language-specific NWRT. Both instruments had high clinical accuracy in the monolingual group, but only the Q-U NWRT had high clinical accuracy in the bilingual group. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that the Q-U NWRT is a promising diagnostic tool to help identify LI in bilingual children learning Dutch as a 2nd language. The instrument was clinically accurate in both a monolingual and bilingual group of children and seems better able to disentangle LI from language disadvantage than more language-specific measures.
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Verhagen J, Leseman P. How do verbal short-term memory and working memory relate to the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar? A comparison between first and second language learners. J Exp Child Psychol 2015. [PMID: 26340756 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.015"] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies show that verbal short-term memory (VSTM) is related to vocabulary learning, whereas verbal working memory (VWM) is related to grammar learning in children learning a second language (L2) in the classroom. In this study, we investigated whether the same relationships apply to children learning an L2 in a naturalistic setting and to monolingual children. We also investigated whether relationships with verbal memory differ depending on the type of grammar skill investigated (i.e., morphology vs. syntax). Participants were 63 Turkish children who learned Dutch as an L2 and 45 Dutch monolingual children (mean age = 5 years). Children completed a series of VSTM and VWM tasks, a Dutch vocabulary task, and a Dutch grammar task. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that VSTM and VWM represented two separate latent factors in both groups. Structural equation modeling showed that VSTM, treated as a latent factor, significantly predicted vocabulary and grammar. VWM, treated as a latent factor, predicted only grammar. Both memory factors were significantly related to the acquisition of morphology and syntax. There were no differences between the two groups. These results show that (a) VSTM and VWM are differentially associated with language learning and (b) the same memory mechanisms are employed for learning vocabulary and grammar in L1 children and in L2 children who learn their L2 naturalistically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josje Verhagen
- Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Special Education: Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Hellendoorn A, Wijnroks L, van Daalen E, Dietz C, Buitelaar JK, Leseman P. Motor functioning, exploration, visuospatial cognition and language development in preschool children with autism. Res Dev Disabil 2015; 39:32-42. [PMID: 25635383 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.12.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2014] [Revised: 12/17/2014] [Accepted: 12/19/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
In order to understand typical and atypical developmental trajectories it is important to assess how strengths or weaknesses in one domain may be affecting performance in other domains. This study examined longitudinal relations between early fine motor functioning, visuospatial cognition, exploration, and language development in preschool children with ASD and children with other developmental delays/disorders. The ASD group included 63 children at T1 (Mage = 27.10 months, SD = 8.71) and 46 children at T2 (Mage = 45.85 months, SD = 7.16). The DD group consisted of 269 children at T1 (Mage = 17.99 months, SD = 5.59), and 121 children at T2 (Mag e= 43.51 months, SD = 3.81). A subgroup nested within the total sample was randomly selected and studied in-depth on exploratory behavior. This group consisted of 50 children, 21 children with ASD (Mage = 27.57, SD = 7.09) and 29 children with DD (Mage = 24.03 months, SD = 6.42). Fine motor functioning predicted language in both groups. Fine motor functioning was related to visuospatial cognition in both groups and related to object exploration, spatial exploration, and social orientation during exploration only in the ASD group. Visuospatial cognition and all exploration measures were related to both receptive and expressive language in both groups. The findings are in line with the embodied cognition theory, which suggests that cognition emerges from and is grounded in the bodily interactions of an agent with the environment. This study emphasizes the need for researchers and clinicians to consider cognition as emergent from multiple interacting systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Hellendoorn
- Department of Special Education: Centre for Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Lex Wijnroks
- Department of Special Education: Centre for Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Emma van Daalen
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Claudine Dietz
- Youth Division, Altrecht Institute for Mental Health Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jan K Buitelaar
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Nijmegen, and Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Special Education: Centre for Cognitive and Motor Disabilities, Heidelberglaan 1, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Abstract
Child care centers in Western countries are becoming increasingly culturally diverse, regarding both professional caregivers, children, and their parents. Child-rearing beliefs, which differ between cultures, are found to affect process quality and children’s developmental outcomes. The first aim of this study is to investigate cultural differences in caregivers’ cultural child-rearing beliefs through a semistructured interview. The second aim is to explore the relation between the centers’ cultural context and caregivers’ beliefs. Participants are 61 caregivers (20 Dutch, 20 Caribbean Dutch, and 21 Mediterranean Dutch) working in Dutch child care centers with 2- to 4-year-olds. Cultural differences between Dutch and immigrant caregivers are evident. Dutch caregivers mentioned independence as a socialization goal most, whereas Mediterranean Dutch caregivers stressed collectivistic child-rearing goals most. More years of experience and a positive orientation toward the Dutch society made caregivers value individualistic child-rearing goals more. Working in an ethnically diverse context made both immigrant and Dutch caregivers express collectivistic beliefs more. The results further demonstrate that all cultural groups valued dimensions of both individualism and collectivism, providing further support for the multidimensionality of child-rearing beliefs.
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Abstract
The present study investigated whether adjustment of coping strategies would predict the six-week course of fatigue symptoms in a primary care sample (N = 221) and whether the contribution of adjusting coping strategies would depend on the duration of fatigue at the time. It was hypothesized that the motivation to adjust coping strategies would be most present in people who are confronted with the possibility of their symptoms turning into a chronic condition, and not in people who have been fatigued for either a short period or a very long period. Moreover, it was hypothesized that adjustments in the employment of coping strategies are a better predictor of fatigue course than the continued use of particular coping strategies. Using a prospective design with a six-week follow-up, the results of a multisample LISREL analysis over four groups of participants differing in fatigue duration showed that adjustment of coping strategies is a significant predictor of the course of fatigue symptoms, and that a differential effect related to fatigue duration is present. Findings are discussed in the context of the role of coping in regulating psychosomatic symptoms.
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