Looking and search measures of object knowledge in preschool children.

The same preschoolers were tested on an observation task and a search task involving the invisible displacement of an object. In the observation task, children watched an object roll behind a screen from which protruded the top of a solid wall. Analyses revealed significantly longer looking to impossible than to possible outcomes in all children. In search, the child was allowed to retrieve the rolled object. Most 3-year-olds but significantly fewer 2.5-year-olds completed the search successfully. An unexpected sex difference was found, with boys outperforming girls. Search performance was not associated with observation measures. The findings indicate that children visually discriminate violations of solidity but that this sensitivity is not associated with successful search performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variations in density: Effect on task and social behaviors of preschool children.

Observed 57 children in 5 different preschools (3 in the Netherlands and 2 in the US) to determine the effect of variations in density on task and social behaviors. The densities varied from 1.16 m-sup-2 per child to 10.46 m-sup-2 per child. Predictions were made that positive social interaction and task behaviors would be lower in the schools with the higher densities. This did not occur, and the suggestion is made that past results might have been due to the disruption of ongoing social groups rather than crowding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in peer-directed behaviors following preschool experience.

A preliminary study in which the play and negative behaviors of 40 preschoolers (aged 47–57 mo) indicated that Ss were reasonably adjusted to the nursery group by the 3rd wk following enrollment. Study 1 examined changes in peer interactions following preschool experience by observing 37 41–57 mo olds in 2 groups; one was observed 3 wks after beginning preschool and again 3 mo later, and one was observed only after 3 wks. Preschool experience increased social interaction with peers; increases were apparent in rates of dispensing positive and neutral behaviors and of receiving neutral behaviors. Study 2, in which 21 children (mean age 49 mo) were observed after 3 mo of preschool, confirmed these results. Findings support a mere-exposure theory of social interaction. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition memory in preschool children.

Tested 18 males and 18 females from each of 2 age groups (mean ages, 37 and 53 mo) on a recognition test under each of 3 conditions: (a) verbal only, (b) visual only, and (c) verbal-visual. Correct recognition was obtained for all Ss. Older Ss, however, performed significantly better than younger. Neither age group benefited from E-provided labels; performance in the visual-only and visual-verbal conditions was comparable. It is concluded that the development of mechanisms other than verbal mediator production must account for any age-related improvement in recognition performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between preschool barrier behaviors and early school-age measures of coping, imagination, and verbal development.

Assessed the contemporaneous and longitudinal relations of coping with an experimental barrier situation at 21/2 yrs of age by observing barrier performance of 43 male and 31 female preschool children. Analyses indicate that effective barrier behavior was related to other measures of coping, vigorous play behavior, and lack of fear at the preschool period. A follow-up study when Ss were in the early school-age period (71/2 yrs old) revealed that competence in the experimental barrier situation was related to intelligence, coping, and socially effective behaviors for both sexes. Results suggest the feasibility of using responses to experimental barrier situations to assess coping behavior. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imaginary companions of preschool children.

The developmental significance of preschool children's imaginary companions was examined. Mothers of 78 children were interviewed about their children's social environments and imaginary companions (if their children had them). Results revealed differences between invisible companions and personified objects (e.g., stuffed animals or dolls) in terms of the pretend friends' stability and ubiquity, identity, and relationship with the child. Relationships with invisible companions were mostly described as sociable and friendly, whereas personified objects were usually nurtured. Mothers reported that personification of objects frequently occurred as a result of acquiring a toy, whereas invisible friends were often viewed as fulfilling a need for a relationship. Compared to children without imaginary companions, children with imaginary companions were more likely to be firstborn and only children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective listening asymmetry in preschool children.

42 right-handed preschoolers listened to dichotic presentations of digit names in 2 experimental sessions. Ss were told to report only the digit arriving at the designated ear; the target ear was designated prior to the dichotic presentation in one session (precuing condition) and after the presentation in the other session (postcuing condition). A significant right-ear superiority was found for all 3 dependent variables: number of correct identifications, total number of digits reported from each ear, and number of intrusion errors. Thus, the procedure demonstrated a marked asymmetry and, therefore, left lateralization of verbal processing in children as young as 3 yrs of age. Since the magnitude of asymmetry was as great in the precuing condition as in the postcuing condition, input factors (perceptual or attentional factors) are sufficient to account for the right-ear superiority. There was no age difference in degree of right-ear advantage. Correlations between asymmetry scores in the 2 sessions ranged between .60 and .68 for the 3 dependent variables. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of social acceptance in preschool children.

Attempted to evaluate, through observation and a measure of sociometric acceptance, the relative contribution of a number of child characteristics to the prediction of social acceptance in 164 3–6 yr old preschool children. The following variables were investigated as predictors of sociometric acceptance: positive social interactions, occupied behavior when not interacting, MA, CA, and sex. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that MA was the best predictor of sociometric acceptance and that positive social interactions significantly increased the correlation. Occupied behavior, CA, and sex did not significantly increase the multiple correlation. Results support the efficacy of intervention procedures that focus on helping social isolates to develop the ability to interact positively with their peers. Within the limited preschool age range, mental maturity appears to be more important to social acceptance than CA per se. This may be a factor in the findings of low popularity for mainstreamed handicapped children. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendships of preschool children in mainstreamed playgroups.

The friendship patterns of 4-year-old mildly developmentally delayed and 3- and 4-year old nonhandicapped children participating in a series of mainstreamed playgroups were investigated. Results indicated that the majority of children in each of the three groups established a preference for a specific peer on the basis of a unilateral criterion, but only a small proportion of mildly delayed and 3-year-old nonhandicapped children were able to establish reciprocal friendships. The delayed group preferred nonhandicapped older children but were least preferred as friends overall by playgroup participants. For those nonhandicapped children meeting the friendship criteria, interactions with friends produced more advanced and positive social play in comparison with interactions with nonfriends. However, these differences did not occur for the mildly delayed group, suggesting that delayed children may not take advantage of the potential benefits associated with friendships. Possible reasons for these problems and the need to identify relevant social processes in friendship formation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual preferences among preschool children.

Investigated whether a shift from complementary to similarity concepts occurs in preschool children prior to the shift from concrete-similarity to abstract-similarity concepts that had been observed among elementary school children. The conceptual preferences of 140 boys and girls, aged 3, 4, 5, and 9 yrs, were assessed using a classification task known as the Picture Pairing Test. Results indicate a distinct developmental sequence in conceptual preferences, with complementary, perceptible, functional, and finally, nominal concepts increasing significantly at various ages. The role of perceptible concepts, especially those based on common color, as a bridge between complementary concepts and more abstract forms of similarity concepts, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory-strategy learning and maintenance in preschool children.

This study examined preschool children's abilities to maintain the use of a newly learned organizational study–recall strategy in tasks administered immediately after training and 3 and 7 days after training. 36 4- and 5-yr-olds were assigned to training and control conditions after performing study–recall tasks in a baseline session. Training included demonstration and practice in using the strategy, encouragement to apply the strategy in new tasks, a rationale for strategy use, feedback about strategy effectiveness, and incentive for effortful performance. Ss in training groups showed marked increases in study-sorting, group-naming, and category self-cuing activities in posttraining tasks. The majority of the training Ss were able to remember and sequentially perform at least 3 of the 4 instructed strategy activities in the immediate and 3-day posttraining sessions. Training also served to improve recall, but recall improvements were modest relative to posttraining gains in study-strategy activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children.

This study was designed to elucidate the association between attachment and emotional understanding in preschool children. Forty children between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years and their mothers participated in the study. Mothers completed the Attachment Q-set, and children took part at their preschools in both an affective perspective-taking task and a series of interviews concerning naturally occurring incidents of emotions. Overall, age and attachment security predicted a child's aggregate score on the emotional understanding tasks. However, when the score was separated by the valence of the emotion, attachment security and age predicted a child's score for only those emotions with a negative valence (e.g., sadness) and not for those emotions with a positive valence (e.g., happiness). Thus, a secure attachment relationship seems to be important in fostering a child's understanding of emotion, primarily negative emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament and helping behavior in preschool children.

This study investigated the idea that children's temperaments, in interaction with situational factors, are related to their helping behavior. Twenty-four preschool children were each presented with four opportunities for helping a female adult during a play session in the laboratory, while their mothers rated the children's helpfulness at home. Multiple measures of sociability as well as a broad temperament measure called social adaptability were gathered from mothers and preschool teachers, some several months prior to the laboratory session and some concurrent with it. The primary hypothesis that sociable children would appear to be more helpful than less sociable children was supported for helpfulness in the laboratory, but not at home. It was suggested that this was because in the laboratory the person needing help was unfamiliar, which may have differentially affected the sociable and unsociable children. Preliminary evidence suggested an association between discipline techniques reportedly used by mothers and their children's temperaments. Possible mechanisms by which temperament could mediate prosocial behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of phonological awareness in preschool children.

A short-term longitudinal study was carried out on a group of 67 preschool children. At three points in time over a 12-month period, the children were given tests measuring their syllable, rime, and phoneme awareness, speech and language skills, and letter knowledge. In general, children's rime skills developed earlier than their phoneme skills. Structural equation models showed that articulatory skills and syllable and rime awareness predicted later phoneme awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based family-school interventions with preschool children.

Fifteen studies of family-school interventions with preschool children conducted between 1980 and 2002, and published in peer-reviewed journals, were reviewed and evaluated according to the criteria developed by the Task Force on Evidence-Based Intervention in School Psychology (Division 16 and Society for the Study of School Psychology Task Force, 2003). Results indicate that family-school interventions with preschool children have taken many forms, have targeted a variety of problems and behaviors, and have generally shown positive effects. Efficacious interventions included parent and teacher training, parent education, and behavioral family therapy. Recommendations for future research include increased methodological rigor, replication and extension of current studies, and the completion of longer-term, follow-up investigations to determine whether gains that are made post-treatment are maintained over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus mode and concept formation in preschool children.

Examined effects of stimulus mode (objects vs pictures) on the acquisition, generalization, and transfer of novel concepts. 65 preschoolers were taught animal- and machine-like concepts and then given generalization and recognition tests. On these tests, item mode was either consistent or inconsistent with training mode (object–object, object–picture, picture–object, picture–picture). Neither training nor recognition was affected by stimulus mode. On generalization, however, modality interacted with training mode and level of elaboration. At low elaboration levels, generalization was less for objects than for pictures and was depressed by object training. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training preschool children to recognize phonemes in words.

Trained 64 preschoolers (4 yrs 4 mo to 5 yrs 7 mo of age) to recognize isolated phonemes in word context. A forced-choice matching-to-sample procedure was used in a learning set design in which the following factors were varied: (a) position of phoneme, (b) contrast between words, (c) type of phoneme, (d) redundant visual cue, and (e) allophonic variation. Performance improved significantly over 4 days of training. There were a number of significant main effects and interactions as a function of task factors. The redundant visual cue greatly improved performance during training but produced no significant transfer. Allophonic variation had no significant effect on performance. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lack of acceptance of reciprocity norms in preschool children.

Investigated preschool children's acceptance of the reciprocity norms that allow retaliation and that require returning favors. In 2 studies, Ss were shown cartoons that portrayed reciprocal or nonreciprocal aggressive and prosocial behavior; they were then asked for their evaluation of the actor and their attribution about the cause of his behavior. The 1st study with 31 36–68 mo olds employed a between-Ss design; the 2nd with 35 34–63 mo olds employed a within-S design. Although there were some significant differences in attributions for reciprocal and nonreciprocal behavior, there were no significant differences in evaluations. It therefore appears that preschool children do not accept reciprocity norms. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)