The preschool child witness: Errors in accounts of traumatic injury.

Because errors in recall are an important contributor to assessments of children's credibility as witnesses, the author explored children's errors when recounting details of trauma injuries that resulted in hospital Emergency Room treatment. 37 preschool aged children (aged 2–5 yrs) and 11 9-yr-olds (comparison Ss) were recruited in the emergency room and interviewed at home both within a few days of the injury and after 6 mo. Adult witnesses were also interviewed to corroborate children's accounts. Although 2-yr-old Ss made more errors than did older children, the information provided was accurate, even 6 mo after their injuries. The errors were not random; rather, information that was likely to be important in real-world cases was retained quite accurately, while some other categories of information (e.g., the 1st person to respond to their injury) were more error-prone. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Egocentrism, empathy, and altruistic behavior in young children.

In a study with 41 children aged 3 yrs 6 mo to 8 yrs 11 mo, Ss who exhibited altruistic behavior in an experimental situation with a peer had significantly higher scores on measures of perspective taking and empathy than did Ss who did not display altruistic behavior. Results suggest that there is a significant cognitive component of altruistic behavior, specifically the ability to understand another's perspective. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk factors in infant-mother attachment.

In Exp I, 56 preterm Ss born at less than 1,500 g were assessed at 6 wks; at 3, 6, and 9 mo; and at 1 yr for avoidant, secure, and ambivalent attachment patterns. In Exp II, 109 Ss (aged 2–4.5 yrs) with delayed development due to Down's syndrome, diagnosed neurological disorders, and undiagnosed disorders were assessed in a strange-situation setting. In Exp III, 15 Ss with cystic fibrosis and 15 normal Ss (aged 12–18 mo) were assessed for attachment patterns. Data indicate that none of the medical problems had a significant impact on the child–mother relationship. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sequential attributional feedback and children's achievement behaviors.

Determined how the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback influenced task motivation, attributions for success, self-efficacy, and skillful performance in 80 elementary school Ss (aged 8 yrs 2 mo to 10 yrs 5 mo) in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 40 Ss lacking subtraction skills received training and problem-solved over 4 sessions. During the problem solving, Group 1 (ability-ability) periodically received ability feedback; Group 2 (effort-effort) received little effort feedback; Group 3 (ability-effort) was given ability feedback during the 1st 2 sessions and effort feedback during the last 2; Group 4 (effort-ability) had this sequence reversed. In Exp II, 40 Ss (chosen with the same criteria as in Exp I) followed the same procedures except they were asked about their perceptions of success or failure following training. Results for both experiments show that Ss in Groups 1 and 3 developed higher ability attributions, self-efficacy, and subtraction skills compared with Ss in Groups 2 and 4. The sequence of attributional feedback did not differentially affect motivation, effort attributions, or perceptions of training successes. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison, multiple reference groups, and the self-concepts of academically handicapped children before and after mainstreaming.

Predictions adduced from social comparison theory and group reference theory were tested in 2 experiments that assessed the impact of half-day integration into the educational mainstream on the self-concepts of academically handicapped children. In Exp I (50 Ss, 6 yrs 2 mo to 10 yrs 10 mo old), mainstreamed Ss exhibited significantly augmented self-concepts, a result attributed to the availability of multiple comparative reference groups. In Exp II (20 Ss, 8 yrs 3 mo to 11 yrs), a manipulation designed to restrict self-concept-relevant social comparisons to Ss in the academic mainstream produced decreased self-regard, while unrestricted utilization of multiple comparative reference groups produced increased self-regard. Results are interpreted as supportive of the theoretical viability of social comparison theory and group reference theory in educational settings. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual flexibility: Maintenance or recovery of the ability to discriminate non-native speech sounds.

Examined the influence of prior training and linguistic experience on the perception of nonnative speech in 2 experiments. Exp I assessed the effect of laboratory training on the ability of 30 English-speaking adults (aged 18–35 yrs) to discriminate 2 speech contrasts that are used to contrast meaning in Hindi but not in English. Short-term training resulted in an amelioration of the initial poor performance of Ss in discriminating a nonnative voicing contrast, but training had no such effect in the case of a Hindi contrast involving a place of articulation distinction. In Exp II, the performance of 3 groups of English-speaking adults (aged 20–38 yrs)—Ss who had studied Hindi for 5 yrs or more, Ss who were studying Hindi as a 2nd language with early experience of Hindi, and Ss studying Hindi as a 2nd language with no early experience of Hindi—was examined to investigate the effect of studying Hindi as a 2nd language for different periods. Ss who had studied Hindi for at least 5 yrs discriminated both Hindi speech contrasts. While 1 yr of 2nd language experience also improved performance of Ss with no early Hindi experience on the voicing contrast, it had little influence on their ability to discriminate the Hindi place contrast. Ss who had early experience hearing the contrasts being used, but no further exposure, could discriminate both the voicing and place distinctions prior to language study. Findings are discussed in terms of the recovery and maintenance of linguistic perceptual ability. (French abstract) (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intermediate-size transposition and children's operational level.

Three experiments with a total of 170 children aged 4 yrs 8 mo–7 yrs 5 mo examined the relationship between intermediate-size transposition and operational level. In each experiment, concrete and preoperational Ss were identified by Piagetian tasks. In Exp I, half of the Ss received single-problem training and the other half multiple-problem training, followed by a far test of transposition. Exp II was similar to the multiple-training condition, but all Ss could verbalize and understand the concept "middle size." Exp III differed from Exp II in providing a test of near transposition after single-problem training. It was found that logical abilities as well as perceptual factors are involved in transposition performance. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental study of shape integration over space and time.

Three experiments, with 172 Ss (aged 6–24 yrs), examined the integration of shape information over successive glances. In Exps I and II, Ss classified line drawings subtending 1–26° visual angle as possible or impossible objects. Response times and errors increased as a function of figure size for all age groups. The decline in performance with figure size was greater for children than for adults. In Exp II, Ss also performed a classification task based on only 1 of the informative regions in each figure. Performance in the 2 tasks suggested that the ability to encode shape information from a single region of the figures did not change with age. In Exp III, a simultaneous condition, in which an intact figure was presented, was compared with sequential conditions in which blank intervals of 0–3 sec separated 2 views of different parts of the figure. All Ss classified the figures most quickly and accurately in the simultaneous condition, and children were more affected by longer delays between views than adults. It is concluded that these results point to age-related improvements in sequential integration of shape information, both when integration occurs through successive glimpses over space and when information is separated only in time. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal control of behavior: The effects of shouting.

Tested the implication of A. R. Luria's (1961, 1969) theory that children under 5 yrs of age would have more difficulty obeying instructions to inhibit a response the greater the intensity (loudness) of the instruction; this should not be true for children over 5 yrs of age. In the present study, 18 younger children (aged 3 yrs 6 mo to 4 yrs 9 mo) and 18 older children (aged 4 yrs 10 mo to 6 yrs 4 mo) played a game in which they were to follow instructions and either perform or refrain from performing simple acts. Instructions were loud, medium, or soft in intensity. Results for younger Ss were clear and significant in supporting Luria's theory. For older Ss, however, results do not neatly fit Luria's theory: Increased intensity facilitated compliance with instructions to inhibit a response. Data support the contention that an important aspect of language development is the decontextualization of meaning. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the perception of musical relations: Semitone and diatonic structure.

Examined the development of sensitivity to 2 musical relations significant in Western tonal music, the semitone and diatonic structure, in 2 experiments with 30 preschoolers (aged 4.2–5.9 yrs) and 40 infants (aged 9.1–11 mo). Ss were tested for their detection of a semitone change in any position of a 5-note melody. Two standard melodies were used, one composed of diatonic tones only and the other containing a nondiatonic tone. In Exp I, preschoolers were superior in detecting the semitone change in the diatonic context compared with the nondiatonic context. In Exp II, infants detected the semitone change in all positions, but their performance was not influenced by diatonic context. It is concluded that infants and children can discriminate a semitone in a musical context and that the priority of diatonic structure emerges by 4–6 yrs of age. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

How demonstrated comprehension can get muddled in production.

The discourse skills of 31 low-income and 30 middle-income kindergarten children (mean ages 5 yrs 2 mo and 5 yrs 4 mo) from the same classrooms were examined in 2 experiments. In each experiment a nonverbal demonstration of comprehension of the discourse material was assured before Ss were asked to express that same material verbally to another child. In Exp I, Ss were read stories that they acted out with props. When comprehension was assured they were asked to paraphrase the story to another. In Exp II, Ss were either shown or instructed verbally how to open an attractive box. When comprehension was assured they were asked to teach the "trick" to a blindfolded adult. Results from both experiments indicate that although it took the low-income Ss somewhat longer to comprehend the information, the greatest difference between the groups was in the ability to communicate information that they already knew. Low-income Ss produced less relevant information on both tasks, although this did not appear to be related to linguistic complexity or sheer output. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's concepts of volume and flotation.

Conducted a pilot study in which children (aged 7–9 yrs and 11–13 yrs) were asked to judge which 1 out of 3 wooden blocks would float (or sink), given weight and volume information for each block relative to a block that was known to float (or sink). Analysis of explanations indicated that judgments may have been based on the size–weight illusion. An experiment exploring the basis of flotation judgments was conducted with 14 children aged 7 yrs 1 mo to 9 yrs 6 mo and 16 children aged 11 yrs 4 mo to 14 yrs 11 mo that involved a test for judgment of volume based on information integration theory. Results show that Ss aged 7–24 yrs accurately judged volume by integrating 3 dimensions—width, depth, and height—according to the multiplicative rule. A rule assessment of their flotation judgments showed no age differences in initial rule, with weight rules being most popular. However, after feedback there were marked age effects; the 7–9 yr olds abandoned their initial rule without finding an alternative, and the 11–24 yr olds were generally able to find the correct flotation rule. It is concluded that children aged 7–24 yrs can judge volume but 7–9 yr olds have difficulty with the concept of flotation, possibly because it requires mental comparison of 2 ratios, a task known to be difficult for 7–9 yr olds. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivating autistic children.

A major problem encountered in the field of autism is the children's characteristic lack of motivation. This problem is especially apparent when autistic children attempt to complete learning tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of correct vs incorrect task completion on children's motivation to respond to such tasks. Ss were 3 autistic children aged 6 yrs 1 mo, 11 yrs 11 mo, and 12 yrs 3 mo. Results demonstrate that when Ss worked on tasks at which they were typically incorrect, their motivation for those tasks decreased to extremely low levels. However, designing treatment procedures to prompt Ss to keep responding until they completed the tasks correctly served to increase Ss' motivation to respond to those tasks. The implications of these findings are that (a) autistic children's learning handicaps (which typically lead to low levels of correct responding) may result in few or inconsistent rewards for attempting to respond at all, thus decreasing the children's motivation; and (b) treatment procedures designed to keep the children responding until they complete a task correctly may result in coincidental reinforcement for perseverance, increasing the children's motivation to respond to those tasks. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on learned helplessness. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the concept of truth-functional negation.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 22(1) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2008-10957-001). In the article, several key words were omitted from the last sentence of the Method section on page 464, column 2, third paragraph. The corrected sentence is included in the erratum.] Studied the development of the concept of truth-functional negation in 2 experiments, using 36 English-speaking children (aged 3–6 yrs) and 10 Korean-speaking children (aged 4–5 yrs) as Ss. In Exp I, English-speaking Ss were given a sentence-variation task in which the following 4 sentence types were used to describe 36 pictures of common items: true affirmative, false affirmative, true negative (TN), and false negative. The results show that a majority of Ss under 5 yrs had difficulty with negative sentences, particularly TN sentences, indicating a lack of explicit understanding of truth-functional negation as defined in logic. In Exp II, a cross-linguistic replication of Exp I was attempted with Korean-speaking Ss. Despite some cross-linguistic differences in the negation system, the Korean-speaking Ss showed essentially the same pattern of results, suggesting that the development in question proceeds within the general limit set by the general cognitive development. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of directed attention on cerebral asymmetries in normal and learning-disabled children.

Using a dichotic listening task employing both undirected and directed attention conditions, cerebral asymmetries were examined in matched populations of 32 normal and 32 learning-disabled (LD) children (ages 7 yrs 6 mo–13 yrs 2 mo). The analysis of recall performance indicated that development was not a significant factor in either group; both the normal and LD Ss showed a right-ear effect, although the LD Ss performed at a degraded level and were unable to demonstrate a right-ear advantage (REA) when attention was directed to the left ear, unlike normal Ss, who produced the REA despite the directed attention conditions. Results suggest that LD children probably do not suffer from developmental delays but rather from a defect in callosal functioning that interferes with their ability to process verbal information simultaneously. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media differences in children's story synopses: Radio and television contrasted.

Evaluated the relative effectiveness of 2 media for conveying narrative information by presenting 44 young children (aged 3–6 yrs) and 44 adults with the same story via either TV or radio. Ss then retold the story to an adult from memory. Media differences were found, with children in the radio condition showing significantly more errors in comprehension and memory than children in the TV condition. Both the inclusion of inaccurate story content and the distortion of actual story characteristics occurred more frequently for the purely aural than for the aural and visual. Although Ss in the radio condition showed greater recall of dialog and sound effects than did Ss in the TV condition, the actual events recalled with dialog or other auditory features tended not to be highly important to the overall theme. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics of speech motor development in children.

Pulsed ultrasound was used to study tongue movements in the speech of 11 children, aged 3 yrs 3 mo to 11 yrs 6 mo. The stimuli were CV syllables that were produced at a normal speech rate with alternate vowels stressed. In Ss over 6 yrs of age, the pattern of tongue dorsum movement was identical to that observed in adults. For all Ss, the maximum velocity of tongue dorsum raising and lowering was correlated with the extent of the gesture. The slope of the relationship differed for stressed and unstressed vowels, although the differences were not consistent prior to age 6 yrs. For all Ss, the correlation between displacement and peak velocity was accompanied by a relatively constant interval from the initiation of the movement to the point of maximum velocity. The similarity in the tongue dorsum kinematics of children and adults is consistent with the idea that speech motor development involves a refinement of basic modes of motor operation rather than any significant change in the control of the speech apparatus. The speech data obtained are characteristic of systems that can be described by 2nd-order differential equations. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategy training and attributional feedback with learning disabled students.

Investigated the effects of verbalization of subtraction with regrouping operations and effort-attributional feedback on the self-efficacy and skillful performance of 90 Ss (aged 11 yrs 2 mo to 16 yrs 2 mo) in Grades 6–8 who were classified as learning disabled in mathematics. Ss received training and solved problems over sessions. Ss in the 1st condition verbalized aloud while solving problems (continuous verbalization), those in the 2nd condition verbalized only during the 1st half of training (discontinued verbalization), and those in the 3rd condition did not verbalize (no verbalization). All Ss were periodically monitored and received effort feedback during the 1st half of training, effort feedback during the 2nd half of training, or no effort feedback. Findings show that continuous verbalization led to higher self-efficacy and skillful performance than did discontinued and no verbalization; providing effort feedback promoted these achievement behaviors more than not providing feedback did. Effort feedback during the 1st half of training enhanced effort attributions. The process by which verbalization promotes achievement outcomes is discussed. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Between- and within-group cooperation and competition among kibbutz and nonkibbutz children.

Compared 320 Israeli kibbutz and 320 Israeli city children (ages 8-11 yrs) in 3 experiments assessing cooperative-competitive behavior. 128 8-11 yr old urban US children were included in Exp III. In Exp I and II, groups of 4 Ss played a cooperation board game in which they represented only themselves in 1 condition and represented a group in another. Kibbutz groups were more cooperative and more influenced by the group representation conditions than were the city groups. In Exp III, groups were compared in their selection of a group vs individual goal. Kibbutz Ss gave more often to the group than did Israeli or US city Ss, even under a condition in which the group-oriented response was economically nonadaptive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-recognition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Distribution, ontogeny, and patterns of emergence.

Investigations of mirror self-recognition (SR) in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have had small samples and divergent methods. In Exp 1, 105 chimpanzees (aged 10 mo to 40 yrs) were observed for signs of SR across 5 days of continuous mirror exposure. In Exps 2 and 3, negative SR adult and adolescent Ss were saturated with mirror exposure in efforts to facilitate SR, and a longitudinal study was conducted with a number of young Ss. In Exp 4, mark tests were administered to groups of positive SR, negative SR, and ambiguous SR Ss. Exp 5 explored whether previous positive SR reports in young chimpanzees were artifacts of increased arousal during mirror exposure. Results suggest that SR typically emerges at 4.5–8 yrs of age, at the population level the capacity declines in adulthood, and in group settings SR typically occurs within minutes of an S's exposure to a mirror. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)