Effects of environmental diversity on exploration and learning: The case of bilingualism.

Bilingual environments provide a commonplace example of increased complexity and uncertainty. Learning multiple languages entails mastery of a larger and more variable range of sounds, words, syntactic structures, pragmatic conventions, and more complex mapping of linguistic information to objects in the world. Recent research suggests that bilingual learners demonstrate fundamental variation in how they explore and learn from their environment, which may derive from this increased complexity. In particular, the increased complexity and variability of bilingual environments may broaden the focus of learners' attention, laying a different attentional foundation for learning. In this review, we introduce a novel framework, with accompanying empirical evidence, for understanding how early learners may adapt to a more complex environment, drawing on bilingualism as an example. Three adaptations, each relevant to the demands of abstracting structure from a complex environment, are introduced. Each adaptation is discussed in the context of empirical evidence attesting to shifts in basic psychological processes in bilingual learners. This evidence converges on the notion that bilingual learners may explore their environment more broadly. Downstream consequences of broader sampling for perception and learning are discussed. Finally, recommendations for future research to expand the scientific narrative on the impact of diverse environments on learning are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Look at Grandma! Joint visual attention over video chat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social interactions are crucial for many aspects of development. One developmentally important milestone is joint visual attention (JVA), or shared attention between child and adult on an object, person, or event. Adults support infants' development of JVA by structuring the input they receive, with the goal of infants learning to use JVA to communicate. When family members are separated from the infants in their lives, video chat sessions between children and distant relatives allow for shared back-and-forth turn taking interaction across the screen, but JVA is complicated by screen mediation. During video chat, when a participant is looking or pointing at the screen to something in the other person's environment, there is no line of sight that can be followed to their object of focus. Sensitive caregivers in the remote and local environment with the infant may be able to structure interactions to support infants in using JVA to communicate across screens. We observed naturalistic video chat interactions longitudinally from 50 triads (infant, co-viewing parent, remote grandmother). Longitudinal growth models showed that JVA rate changes with child age (4 to 20 months). Furthermore, grandmother sensitivity predicted JVA rate and infant attention. More complex sessions (sessions involving more people, those with a greater proportion of across-screen JVA, and those where infants initiated more of the JVA) resulted in lower amounts of JVA-per-minute, and evidence of family-level individual differences emerged in all models. We discuss the potential of video chat to enhance communication for separated families in the digital world.

Variability and patterns in children's media use and links with language development.

AIM: Media use is widespread and rising, but how often and for what purpose young children use media varies, which has differential impacts on development. Yet little work has measured how and why children under 36 months use digital media or media's consequences for language. METHODS: The current study measures how and why 17- to 30-month-old children use digital media and associations with their language abilities. The amount of use, type of activity and caregiver reasons for children's media use were then compared to the child's vocabulary and mean length of utterance. RESULTS: About 17- to 30-month-old children are primarily exposed to TV/videos over other media forms, which are often used to occupy children. Video time (but not other activities) negatively predicts children's language. The negative impact of videos on vocabulary persists regardless of the reason for use, however, the effect of videos on expressive language may be tempered when videos are used for education or connecting. CONCLUSION: Children under 36 months are using digital media at high rates. What they are doing and why they use media is critical to predict the effect it might have on language development. Further research and anticipatory guidance on the consequences of videos are needed.

A longitudinal study of the relationship between children's exposure to screen media and vocabulary development.

AIM: This study addresses the scarcity of longitudinal research on the influence of screen media on children. It aims to explore the longitudinal relationship between children's vocabulary development and their exposure to screen media. METHODS: The study, initiated in 2017, included 72 children (37 boys) in Östergötland, Sweden, at three key developmental stages: preverbal (9.7 months), early verbal (25.5 months) and preliterate (5.4 years). Parents completed online surveys at each time point, reporting their child's screen time. At 10 months and 2 years, age-appropriate vocabulary assessments were conducted online. At age 5, children's vocabulary was laboratory assessed. RESULTS: Correlational analysis revealed a negative relationship between language scores and screen media use across all time points. Furthermore, a cross-lagged panel model demonstrated that screen media use showed significant continuity over time, with screen use at age 2 predicting language development at ages 2 and 5. CONCLUSION: This longitudinal study, spanned from 9 months to 5 years of age, established a predictive negative association between children's exposure to screen media and their vocabulary development. These findings underscore the need to consider the impact of screen media on early childhood development and may inform guidelines for screen media use in young children.

Sleep-dependent memory consolidation of televised content in infants.

Infants face the constant challenge of selecting information for encoding and storage from a continuous incoming stream of data. Sleep might help in this process by selectively consolidating new memory traces that are likely to be of future relevance. Using a deferred imitation paradigm and an experimental design, we asked whether 15- and 24-month-old infants (N = 105) who slept soon after encoding a televised demonstration of target actions would show higher imitation scores (retention) after a 24-h delay than same-aged infants who stayed awake for ≥4 h after encoding. In light of infants' well-known difficulties in learning and remembering information from screens, we tested if increasing the relevance of the televised content via standardised caregiver verbalisations might yield the highest imitation scores in the sleep condition. Regardless of sleep condition, 24-month-olds exhibited retention of target actions while 15-month-olds consistently failed to do so. For 24-month-olds, temporal recall was facilitated by sleep, but not by parental verbalisations. Correlational analyses revealed that more time asleep within 4 h after encoding was associated with better retention of the target actions and their temporal order in 24-months-olds. These results suggest that sleep facilitates memory consolidation of screen-based content in late infancy and that this effect might not hinge on caregivers' verbal engagement during viewing.

Masters of Media: A longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States.

The development of problematic media use in early childhood is not well understood. The current study examined long-term associations between parental media efficacy, parental media monitoring, and problematic media use across a three-year period of time during early childhood. Participants included 432 parents who reported on their own parenting and their child's use of problematic media once a year for three years (M age of child at Wave 1 = 29.68 months, SD = 3.73 months). Results revealed that early parental media efficacy predicted lower levels of child problematic media use over time. Restrictive media monitoring was also related to lower levels of child problematic media use over time. Additionally, general parental efficacy was related to parental media efficacy and lower child problematic media use, both at the cross-sectional and longitudinal levels. Discussion focuses on encouraging early parental media efficacy (and exploring other potential mechanisms) as a way to mitigate the development of problematic media use over time.

Podocyte protease activated receptor 1 stimulation in mice produces focal segmental glomerulosclerosis mirroring human disease signaling events.

About 30% of patients who have a kidney transplant with underlying nephrotic syndrome (NS) experience rapid relapse of disease in their new graft. This is speculated to be due to a host-derived circulating factor acting on podocytes, the target cells in the kidney, leading to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Our previous work suggests that podocyte membrane protease receptor 1 (PAR-1) is activated by a circulating factor in relapsing FSGS. Here, the role of PAR-1 was studied in human podocytes in vitro, and using a mouse model with developmental or inducible expression of podocyte-specific constitutively active PAR-1, and using biopsies from patients with nephrotic syndrome. In vitro podocyte PAR-1 activation caused a pro-migratory phenotype with phosphorylation of the kinase JNK, VASP protein and docking protein Paxillin. This signaling was mirrored in podocytes exposed to patient relapse-derived NS plasma and in patient disease biopsies. Both developmental and inducible activation of transgenic PAR-1 (NPHS2 Cre PAR-1Active+/-) caused early severe nephrotic syndrome, FSGS, kidney failure and, in the developmental model, premature death. We found that the non-selective cation channel protein TRPC6 could be a key modulator of PAR-1 signaling and TRPC6 knockout in our mouse model significantly improved proteinuria and extended lifespan. Thus, our work implicates podocyte PAR-1 activation as a key initiator of human NS circulating factor and that the PAR-1 signaling effects were partly modulated through TRPC6.

Preschooler screen time and temperamental anger/frustration during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: In the context of increased media use and family distress during the pandemic, we examine whether preschooler screen time at age 3.5 contributes to later expressions of anger/frustration at 4.5, while also considering the inverse association. METHODS: Data are from a cohort of 315 Canadian preschool-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parent-reported measures included child h/day of screen time and child temperamental anger/frustration, both measured at 3.5 and 4.5 years of age. Indicators of family distress include use of childcare and child sleep, family income, parenting stress, and parent education, marital and employment status. We also consider child sex as a control variable. RESULTS: A crossed-lagged panel model revealed continuity in screen time between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5 (ß = 0.68) and temperamental anger/frustration from 3.5 to 4.5 (ß = 0.60). Child screen time at age 3.5 predicted increased proneness to anger/frustration at age 4.5 (ß = 0.14). Anger/frustration at age 3.5 did not predict screen time at age 4.5. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that preschooler screen time during the pandemic may have undermined the ability to regulate negative emotions, a key component of social and academic competence. Supporting parents in implementing healthy media habits post pandemic may benefit young children's development. IMPACT: Key message: this study observes prospective bidirectional associations between preschoolers screen time and temperamental displays of anger or frustration during the COVID-19 pandemic. What does it add: we provide evidence that preschool screen time at age 3.5 prospectively contributes to the tendency to react in anger/frustration at age 4.5. In contrast, greater proneness to anger/frustration did not predict later exposure to screen time. What is the impact: health practitioners should enquire about media use habits during well-child visits to foster children's healthy development during the preschool years.

Screen media exposure and behavioral adjustment in early childhood during and after COVID-19 home lockdown periods.

There is ample evidence that young children's screen media use has sharply increased since the outbreak of the novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the long-term impact of these changes on children's adjustment is currently unclear. The goals of the current study were to assess longitudinal trajectories of young children's screen media exposure through a series of national COVID-19 home lockdowns and to examine the predictive associations between different aspects of media exposure and post-lockdown behavioral adjustment. Data were collected at four timepoints during and after home lockdown periods in Israel. Longitudinal data measuring various aspects of media use, behavioral conduct and emotional problems were gathered from a sample of 313 Israeli children (54% females) between the ages two to five years (Mage at T1 = 3.6), by surveying their mothers at 5 points in time. Child overall screen time use, exposure to background television, use of media to regulate child distress and maternal mobile device use all changed throughout the lockdown periods. Moreover, during lockdowns children's behavior problems were concurrently and positively correlated with screen time, use of media to regulate child distress, and exposure to background television. However, these were not longitudinally related to child behavior problems in the post-lockdown period. Possible implications for family media use during a public health crisis are discussed.

Problematic media use in early childhood: The role of parent-child relationships and parental wellbeing in families in New Zealand and the United States.

Problematic media use (PMU) during early childhood has the potential to interfere with the healthy functioning of family systems and may be associated with significant long-term problems for the child. However, we know very little about what contributes to early childhood PMU, particularly in the family context. We examine parenting factors as correlates of child PMU in two studies, from two different countries, using two different methods. Study 1 (N=93, Mage=45.3months, SD=10.15, 58%males, 87%mothers) investigated the concurrent role of self-reported parental burnout and parent-child conflict and closeness as correlates of child PMU in an early childhood sample in New Zealand. Study 2 (N=269, Mage=41.17months, SD=3.06 months, 49%males, 95%mothers) investigated observed parental warmth and harsh criticism as predictors of concurrent and longitudinal PMU in an early childhood sample in the United States. Together, findings showed that in both countries approximately 22-25% of young children show symptoms of PMU. After controlling for parent's PMU, parent-child conflict, warmth and parental burnout were not associated with child PMU. Low levels of parent-child closeness and parent's use of harsh criticism were predictive of child PMU. The findings advance our understanding of some of the parenting factors that influence the development of PMU in young children.

Reexamining models of early learning in the digital age: Applications for learning in the wild.

Young children are growing up in an increasingly complicated digital world. Laboratory-based research shows it is cognitively demanding to process and transfer information presented on screens during early childhood. Multiple explanations for this cognitive challenge have been proposed. This review provides an updated comprehensive framework that integrates prior theoretical explanations to develop new testable hypotheses. The review also considers the how the research can be generalized to the "wild" where children engage with multiple commercial products daily. It includes real-world applications for improving children's learning and memory from screen-based media by adding supportive cues and reducing distraction and interference. The review concludes with a call for future collaborative research between researchers, content developers, and families to better understand age-related changes in both short-term and long-term learning from digital media. Finally, policy makers need to be involved to ensure equitable access and to create a safe digital space for all families.

Media in the Moment: An Observational Assessment of the Digital Media Context in Early Childhood.

The majority of research on media use in the digital age during early childhood has consisted of parental reports or experimental lab research, however, little research has captured media use in the home. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to capture early childhood media use in the moment it occurs. Participants included 231 parent-child dyads (M child age = 41.17 months) who completed a one-week study. Parents were contacted multiple times per day via text. If children happened to be using media (or be in a room where media was present) when parents received the notification, parents were asked to take a 10-15 second video of their child. Most families submitted at least one video over the course of the week. These videos were coded in the current study using a coding scheme to capture the context around media use in early childhood (including the environment, child behavior, and media characteristics). Results revealed that children were most likely to view media on a television or tablet. Although most children were paying attention to media, about half were also physically active while consuming media. Another person was present in the majority of videos with children, most frequently siblings or peers. Most children showed a very flat and calm affect while viewing media. These findings were generally consistent across gender and family income. Overall, this study adds to the literature on children and media that uses other methods, but provides additional insight into the importance of the specific context during early childhood media use in the digital age.

Feasibility and Acceptability of Wearable Sensor Placement for Measuring Screen Time of Children.

Introduction/Purpose: Wearables that include a color light sensor are a promising measure of electronic screen use in adults. However, to extend this approach to children, we need to understand feasibility of wear placement. The purpose of this study was to examine parent perceptions of children's acceptability of different sensor placements and feasibility of free-living 3- to 7-day wear protocols. Methods: This study was conducted in three phases. In phase 1, caregivers (n=161) of 3- to 8-year-old children completed an online survey to rate aspects of fitting and likelihood of wear for seven methods (headband, eyeglasses, skin adhesive patch, shirt clip/badge, mask, necklace, and vest). In phase 2, children (n=31) were recruited to wear one of the top five prototypes for three days (n=6 per method). In phase 3, children (n=23) were recruited to wear prototypes of the top three prototypes from phase 2 (n=8 per method) for 7 days. In phases 2 and 3, parents completed wear logs and surveys about their experiences. Parents scored each wearable on three domains (ease of use, likelihood of wear, and child enjoyment). Scores were averaged to compute an everyday "usability" score (0, worst, to 200, best). Results: Phase 1 results suggested that the headband, eyeglasses, patch, clip/badge, and vest had the best potential for long-term wear. In phase 2, time spent wearing prototypes and usability scores were highest for the eyeglasses (10.4 hours/day, score=155.4), clip/badge (9.8 hours/day, score=145.8), and vest (7.1 hours/day, score=141.7). In phase 3, wearing time and usability scores were higher for the clip/badge (9.4 hours/day, score=169.6) and eyeglasses (6.5 hours/day, score=145.3) compared to the vest (4.8 hours/day, score=112.5). Conclusion: Results indicate that wearable sensors clipped to a child's shirt or embedded into eyeglasses are feasible and acceptable wear methods in free-living settings. The next step is to asses the quality, validity, and reliability of data captured using these wear methods.

Presence at a distance: Video chat supports intergenerational sensitivity and positive infant affect during COVID-19.

COVID-19 disrupted infant contact with people beyond the immediate family. Because grandparents faced higher COVID-19 risks due to age, many used video chat instead of interacting with their infant grandchildren in person. We conducted a semi-naturalistic, longitudinal study with 48 families, each of whom submitted a series of video chats and surveys, and most (n = 40) also submitted a video of an in-person interaction. Families were mostly highly-educated, White/Caucasian, and lived between 1 and 2700 miles apart. We used multilevel models to examine grandparents' and parents' sensitivity during video chat across time (centered at February 1, 2021, the approximate date of vaccine availability). Grandparent video chat sensitivity changed as a function of date and parent sensitivity. Parent sensitivity changed as a function of date, grandparent sensitivity, and geographic distance. We then modeled infants' affective valence during video chat and in-person interactions with their grandparents, which was only predicted by grandparent sensitivity, not modality or other factors. This study demonstrates that caregivers were sensitive toward infants during video chat interactions despite fluctuations in family stress and reduced in-person contact during COVID-19 and that grandparent sensitivity predicted positive infant affect during both video chat and in-person interactions.

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of child-directed parental talk and the relation to 2-year-old's developing vocabulary.

Although prior research has independently linked vocabulary development with toddlers' media usage, parental mental state talk (MST), and parent-child conversational turn-taking (CTT), these variables have not been investigated within the same study. In this study, we focus on associations between these variables and 2-year-old's (N = 87) vocabulary. Child vocabulary and digital media use were measured through online questionnaires. We took a multimethod approach to measure parents' child-directed talk. First, we used a home sound environment recording (Language ENvironment Analysis technology) to estimate parents' talk (CTT). Second, parents narrated a picture book, the Frog story, to assess the parent's MST. There was a negative association between how much children watched video content and their vocabulary. However, parents reported that they frequently co-viewed and engaged with the child and media. The negative association first displayed between the amount of video content viewed and the child's developing vocabulary was fully mediated by the parents' qualitative and quantitative talk as measured by MST and CCT, respectively. We propose that the parent relative level of MST and CTT also occurs when parents engage with the child during media use.

Fine motor skills during early childhood predict visuospatial deductive reasoning in adolescence.

Extensive evidence and theory suggest that the development of motor skills during infancy and early childhood initiates a "developmental cascade" for cognitive abilities, such as reading and math. Motor skills are closely connected with the development of spatial cognition, an ability that supports deductive reasoning. Despite the linkage between motor skills and spatial cognition, and spatial cognition with deductive reasoning, no research has explored the developmental connection between early motor skills and reasoning ability, a plausible pathway through which the developmental cascade operates. Drawing data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (N = 1,233; 95% British, 5% other race/ethnicity; 54% male, 46% female; 7% low income, 80% middle income, 12% high income), this study investigated whether there was a relationship between gross and fine motor skills in infancy (22 months of age) and early childhood (42 months of age) and visuospatial deductive reasoning in adolescence (at 10 and 16 years of age). Results indicated that fine but not gross motor skills during early childhood positively predicted reasoning in adolescence. Critically, the fine motor-reasoning association mediated the previously observed link between early fine motor skills and adolescent reading and math ability. These results deepen our understanding of developmental cascade theory and mental model theory by identifying visuospatial reasoning (i.e., mental modeling) as a potential mechanism through which motor skills initiate cognitive development and academic success in reading and math. These findings also highlight the importance of early intervention programs targeting motor skills and illuminate the impact of those interventions on later cognitive and academic skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The development of the object sequencing imitation task to measure working memory in preschoolers.

We developed a new object sequencing imitation (OSI) task for preschoolers. We parameterized the task to test the effects of working memory load in 56 3- to 5-year-old children in a museum. We tested individual groups of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds on both "low" (2- to 4-step) and "high" (3- to 5-step) memory load sequences on two variants of the task. The experimenter demonstrated each sequence three times, and children were given 3 trials to imitate the sequence, receiving feedback from the experimenter following each trial. Children were tested on an object that was functionally the same but perceptually different. All preschoolers performed significantly above baseline. We found a significant load effect, showing that performance decreased with increasing steps per sequence. There was no effect of age on performance, showing that leveling of the task across age was successful. Overall, the newly developed OSI task can test age- and load-related changes in working memory in 3- to 5-year-old children. The new OSI task will have utility in longitudinal studies and in studies where multiple trials are needed such as neuroimaging.

ABCs or Attack-Boom-Crash? A longitudinal analysis of associations between media content and the development of problematic media use in early childhood.

Researchers have begun to extensively examine pathological (or addictive-like) media use during adolescence and adulthood. However, few studies have examined precursors to these types of behavior (termed problematic media use) in early childhood, with even fewer examining predictors of this behavior over time. The current longitudinal study examined bi-directional associations between television content (educational, prosocial, and violence) and problematic media use over a 1-year period during early childhood. Participants included 443 children (M age at Wave 1 = 29.68 months) and their parents. Results revealed that early educational media was protective against developing problematic media use over time. However, early problematic media use was not predictive of future media content choices longitudinally. Additionally, problematic media use was moderately stable over time. Implications for parents and policy makers regarding the importance of early media content for later outcomes and consideration of media use trajectories are discussed.