"Keep your distance for me": A field experiment on empathy prompts to promote distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Individual Differences in Children's (Language) Learning Skills Moderate Effects of Robot-Assisted Second Language Learning.

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.

Serial Order Effect in Divergent Thinking in Five- to Six-Year-Olds: Individual Differences as Related to Executive Functions.

This study examined the unfolding in real time of original ideas during divergent thinking (DT) in five- to six-year-olds and related individual differences in DT to executive functions (EFs). The Alternative Uses Task was administered with verbal prompts that encouraged children to report on their thinking processes while generating uses for daily objects. In addition to coding the originality of each use, the domain-specific DT processes memory retrieval and mental operations were coded from children's explanations. Six EF tasks were administered and combined into composites to measure working memory, shifting, inhibition, and selective attention. The results replicated findings of a previous study with the same children but at age four years: (1) there was a serial order effect of the originality of uses; and (2) the process mental operations predicted the originality of uses. Next, the results revealed that both domain-general EFs and domain-specific executive processes played a role in the real-time unfolding of original ideas during DT. Particularly, the DT process mental operations was positively related to the early generation of original ideas, while selective attention was negatively related to the later generation of original ideas. These findings deepen our understanding of how controlled executive processes operate during DT.

The Influence of Situational Cues on Children's Creativity in an Alternative Uses Task and the Moderating Effect of Selective Attention.

Taking a perception-action perspective, we investigated how the presence of different real objects in children's immediate situation affected their creativity and whether this effect was moderated by their selective attention. Seventy children between ages 9 and 12 years old participated. Verbal responses on a visual Alternative Uses Task with a low stimulus and high stimulus condition were coded on fluency, flexibility, and originality. Selective attention was measured with a visual search task. Results showed that fluency was not affected by stimulus condition and was unrelated to selective attention. Flexibility was positively associated with selective attention. Originality, net of fluency and flexibility, showed a main effect of stimulus condition in an unexpected direction, as children gave more original responses in the low stimulus condition compared to the high stimulus condition. A significant moderation effect revealed that children with better selective attention skills benefitted from a low stimulus environment, whereas children with weaker selective attention performed better in a high stimulus environment. The findings demonstrate differential effects of the immediate situation and selective attention, and support the hypothesis that creativity is impacted by immediate situation and selective attention, yet in unexpected ways.

No Bilingual Benefits Despite Relations Between Language Switching and Task Switching.

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.

Children's reliance on the non-verbal cues of a robot versus a human.

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.

Reciprocal relationships between nonword repetition and vocabulary during the preschool years.

The aim of this longitudinal study is to evaluate 3 views on the relationship between nonword repetition and vocabulary: (i) the storage-based view that considers nonword repetition, a measure of phonological storage, as the driving force behind vocabulary development, (ii) the lexical restructuring view that considers improvements in nonword repetition as the result of vocabulary growth, and (iii) the "combined" view that assumes that both storage-based learning and lexical restructuring play a role, resulting in reciprocal relationships between nonword repetition and vocabulary during language development. Data are analyzed from 471 monolingual Dutch children who performed tasks assessing nonword repetition and vocabulary at yearly intervals, from ages 2 to 5. Latent Change Score (LCS) modeling of Item Response Theory-scaled scores was used to investigate the relationships between nonword repetition and vocabulary growth over time. Additionally, the statistical techniques used in earlier work-cross-lagged and latent growth modeling-were applied to see whether the results changed as a function of the analytical technique used. Results from a bivariate LCS model showed positive reciprocal influences from nonword repetition on vocabulary between 2 and 5 years. Such positive cross-influences also emerged from the cross-lagged and latent growth models. Predictive relationships from vocabulary to nonword repetition were stronger than vice versa. These results indicate that both storage-based learning and lexical restructuring play a role in vocabulary learning, at least in early stages of language development, with the clearest support found for lexical restructuring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Use of Local and Global Ordering Strategies in Number Line Estimation in Early Childhood.

A lot of research has been devoted to number line estimation in primary school. However, less is known about the early onset of number line estimation before children enter formal education. We propose that ordering strategies are building blocks of number line estimation in early childhood. In a longitudinal study, children completed a non-symbolic number line estimation task at age 3.5 and 5 years. Two ordering strategies were identified based on the children's estimation patterns: local and global ordering. Local ordering refers to the correct ordering of successive quantities, whereas global ordering refers to the correct ordering of all quantities across the number line. Results indicated a developmental trend for both strategies. The percentage of children applying local and global ordering strategies increased steeply from 3.5 to 5 years of age. Moreover, children used more advanced local and global ordering strategies at 5 years of age. Importantly, level of strategy use was related to more traditional number line estimation outcome measures, such as estimation accuracy and regression fit scores. These results provide evidence that children use dynamic ordering strategies when solving the number line estimation task in early stages of numerical development.

Using a Group-Centered Approach to Observe Interactions in Early Childhood Education.

This study examined the value of using a group-centered approach to evaluate process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Is observed support of group processes a different aspect of classroom quality, and does it predict children's collaborative play in ECEC in the Netherlands? In two play situations, 37 teachers and 120 two- to four-year-old children were observed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Toddler and two new measures. In a two-level structural equation model, teachers' support of group processes was positively related to the CLASS domains and to children's collaborative play, over and above the effect of children's cognitive ability and social competence. These findings suggest that ECEC quality evaluation could be enriched by adding group-centered indicators of classroom quality.

Early Executive Function at Age Two Predicts Emergent Mathematics and Literacy at Age Five.

Previous work has shown that individual differences in executive function (EF) are predictive of academic skills in preschoolers, kindergartners, and older children. Across studies, EF is a stronger predictor of emergent mathematics than literacy. However, research on EF in children below age three is scarce, and it is currently unknown whether EF, as assessed in toddlerhood, predicts emergent academic skills a few years later. This longitudinal study investigates whether early EF, assessed at two years, predicts (emergent) academic skills, at five years. It examines, furthermore, whether early EF is a significantly stronger predictor of emergent mathematics than of emergent literacy, as has been found in previous work on older children. A sample of 552 children was assessed on various EF and EF-precursor tasks at two years. At age five, these children performed several emergent mathematics and literacy tasks. Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate the relationships between early EF and academic skills, modeled as latent factors. Results showed that early EF at age two was a significant and relatively strong predictor of both emergent mathematics and literacy at age five, after controlling for receptive vocabulary, parental education, and home language. Predictive relations were significantly stronger for mathematics than literacy, but only when a verbal short-term memory measure was left out as an indicator to the latent early EF construct. These findings show that individual differences in emergent academic skills just prior to entry into the formal education system can be traced back to individual differences in early EF in toddlerhood. In addition, these results highlight the importance of task selection when assessing early EF as a predictor of later outcomes, and call for further studies to elucidate the mechanisms through which individual differences in early EF and precursors to EF come about.

Language Proficiency and Sustained Attention in Monolingual and Bilingual Children with and without Language Impairment.

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.

Grammatical Morphology in Monolingual and Bilingual Children With and Without Language Impairment: The Case of Dutch Plurals and Past Participles.

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.

An Embodiment Perspective on Number-Space Mapping in 3.5-Year-Old Dutch Children.

Previous research suggests that block adding, subtracting and counting direction are early forms of number-space mapping. In this study, an embodiment perspective on these skills was taken. Embodiment theory assumes that cognition emerges through sensory-motor interaction with the environment. In line with this assumption, it was investigated if counting and adding/subtracting direction in young children is related to the hand they use during task performance. Forty-eight 3.5-year-old children completed a block adding, subtracting and counting task. They had to add and remove a block from a row of three blocks and count a row of five blocks. Adding, subtracting and counting direction were related to the hand the children used for task performance. Most children who used their right hand added, removed and started counting the blocks at the right side of the row. Most children who used their left hand added, removed and started counting the blocks at the left side of the row. It can be concluded that number-space mapping, as measured by direction of adding, subtracting and counting blocks, in young children is embodied: It is not fixed, but is related to the situation.

Self-concept mediates the relation between achievement and emotions in mathematics.

BACKGROUND: Mathematics achievement is related to positive and negative emotions. Pekrun's control-value theory of achievement emotions suggests that students' self-concept (i.e., self-appraisal of ability) may be an important mediator of the relation between mathematics achievement and emotions. AIMS: The aims were (1) to investigate the mediating role of mathematical self-concept in the relation between mathematics achievement and the achievement emotions of enjoyment and anxiety in a comprehensive model, and (2) to test possible differences in this mediating role between low-, average-, and high-achieving students. SAMPLE: Participants were ninth-grade students (n = 1,014) from eight secondary schools in the Netherlands. METHODS: Through an online survey including mathematical problems, students were asked to indicate their levels of mathematics enjoyment, anxiety, and self-concept. Structural equation modelling was used to test the mediating role of self-concept in the relation between mathematics achievement and emotions. Multigroup analyses were performed to compare these relations across the three achievement groups. RESULTS: Results confirmed full mediation of the relation between mathematics achievement and emotions by mathematical self-concept. Furthermore, we found higher self-concepts, more enjoyment and less math anxiety in high-achieving students compared to their average and low-achieving peers. No differences across these achievement groups were found in the relations in the mediational model. CONCLUSIONS: Mathematical self-concept plays a pivotal role in students' appraisal of mathematics. Mathematics achievement is only one factor explaining students' self-concept. Likely also classroom instruction and teachers' feedback strategies help to shape students' self-concept.

Effects of Vocabulary and Phonotactic Probability on 2-Year-Olds' Nonword Repetition.

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.

First Steps into Language? Examining the Specific Longitudinal Relations between Walking, Exploration and Linguistic Skills.

Recent empirical evidence demonstrates relationships between motor and language development that are partially mediated by exploration. This is in line with the embodied cognition approach to development that views language as grounded in real-life sensorimotor interactions with the environment. This view implies that the relations between motor and linguistic skills should be specific. Moreover, as motor development initially changes the possibilities children have to explore the environment, initial relations between motor and linguistic skills should become weaker over time. Empirical evidence pertaining to the duration and specificity of these relations is still lacking. The current study investigated longitudinal relations between attainment of walking and the development of several linguistic skills, and tested whether exploration through self-locomotion mediated these relations. Linguistic skills were measured at age 43 months, which is later than the age used in previous studies. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) the relations between walking and language found at younger ages will decrease over time (2) exploration through self-locomotion will remain an important predictor of spatial language (3) no relation will be found between walking, exploration and the use of grammatical and lexical categories and between exploration and general vocabulary. Thirty-one Dutch children took part in a longitudinal study. Parents reported about age of attainment of walking. Exploration through self-locomotion was measured using observations of play with a standard set of toys at age 20 months. Receptive vocabulary, spatial language and use of grammatical and lexical categories were measured at age 43 months using (standard) tests. Results reveal that age of walking does not directly predict spatial language at age 43 months. Exploration through self-locomotion does significantly and completely mediate the indirect effect of age of walking on spatial language. Moreover, neither age of walking nor exploration predict general vocabulary and the use of grammatical and lexical categories. Results support the idea that the initial relations between motor development and linguistic skills decrease over time and that these relations are specific and intrinsically dependent on the information children pick up through the execution of specific motor activities.

Narrative abilities of monolingual and bilingual children with and without language impairment: implications for clinical practice.

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.

Development of exploration of spatial-relational object properties in the second and third years of life.

Within a perception-action framework, exploration is seen as a driving force in young children's development. Through exploration, children become skilled in perceiving the affordances in their environment and acting on them. Using a perception-action framework, the current study examined the development of children's exploration of the spatial-relational properties of objects such as the possibility of containing or stacking. A total of 61 children, belonging to two age cohorts, were followed from 9 to 24 months and from 20 to 36 months of age, respectively. Exploration of a standard set of objects was observed in five home visits in each cohort conducted every 4 months. A cohort-sequential augmented growth model for categorical data, incorporating assumptions of item response theory, was constructed that fitted the data well, showing that the development of exploration of spatial-relational object properties follows an overlapping waves pattern. This is in line with Siegler's model (Emerging Minds, 1996), which suggested that skill development can be seen as ebbing and flowing of alternative (simple and advanced) behaviors. Although the probability of observing the more complex forms of exploration increased with age, the simpler forms did not disappear altogether but only became less probable. Findings support a perception-action view on development. Individual differences in observed exploration and their relations with other variables, as well as future directions for research, are discussed.

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.

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.