A robot is watching me!: Five-year-old children care about their reputation after interaction with a social robot

Since robots are becoming involved in children's lives, it is urgent to determine how children perceive robots. The present study assessed whether Japanese 5-year-olds care about their reputation when interacting with a social robot. Children were given stickers and asked to divide them between themselves and an absent recipient. Results revealed that children (N = 112, 55 boys, 57 girls) strategically shared more stickers when being watched by a social interactive robot than by an attentional but non-interactive robot or a still robot. Additionally, children (N = 36, 18 boys, 18 girls) attributed higher psychological properties to social robots. This study is the first to show that 5-year-olds care about their reputations from social robots.     

The effectiveness of an adaptive digital educational game for the training of early numerical abilities in terms of cognitive,noncognitive and efficiency outcomes

Adaptive educational games provide new opportunities to train early numerical skills. However, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of adaptive educational games is scarce. This study investigated the effectiveness of an adaptive game compared to a nonadaptive game in terms of cognitive, noncognitive and efficiency outcomes. In total, 84 children were randomly assigned to a condition in which children trained early numerical skills with an adaptive version of the Number Sense Game (NSG), or to a condition in which they trained with a nonadaptive version. Early numeracy was evaluated before the training, immediately after the training and 3 weeks after the training. Math anxiety (MA) was assessed before and 3 weeks after the training. The time children practiced with the NSG was used to assess efficiency. Results revealed that children in both conditions improved on early numerical ability, with sustained effects 3 weeks after the training. In both conditions, children’s MA scores were lower after the training. Children in the adaptive condition learned more efficiently compared to the nonadaptive condition, and the interaction between prior knowledge and condition has shown that children with low prior knowledge benefited more from a nonadaptive training while children with high prior knowledge benefited more from an adaptive training in terms of learning efficiency. These results confirm that adaptive educational games can offer solace in terms of the need for differentiation.     

The effect of active versus passive exploration on memory for spatial location in children.

The effect of active exploration upon memory for spatial location of an event was assessed for children at 2 age levels. Each child took a walk through the same unfamiliar hallway in search of a hidden object which he was later asked to relocate. Half the children were accompanied by an adult holding their hand (passive condition), while the other half proceeded on their own with an adult following behind (active condition). An age x condition interaction revealed that active exploration significantly improved performance of the 3- and 4-year-old group while not affecting the performance of the 9- and 10-year-olds. The 3- and 4-year-olds in the active condition, however, were still significantly less accurate than the older children, despite their experience of self-directed exploration. The results are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that self-directed activity serves to increase attention of preoperational children to relevant topological cues in the environment, whereas concrete operational children, due to their knowledge of projective and Euclidean space, demonstrate increased capacity to efficiently encode spatial information regardless of the mode of exploration.     

Are Prompts Provided by Electronic Books as Effective for Teaching Preschoolers a Biological Concept as Those Provided by Adults?

Research Findings: Prior research indicates that shared book reading is an effective method for teaching biological concepts to young children. Adult questioning during reading enhances children’s comprehension. We investigated whether adult prompting during the reading of an electronic book enhanced children’s understanding of a biological concept. Ninety-one 4-year-olds read about camouflage in 3 conditions. We varied how prompts were provided: (a) read by the book, (b) read by a researcher, or (c) given face to face by the researcher. There was an interaction between children’s initial vocabulary level and condition. Children with low vocabulary scores gave fewer camouflage responses than their high-vocabulary peers, and this effect was particularly pronounced in the book-read condition. Children’s executive function was also measured and discussed. Practice or Policy: Our findings indicate that under some circumstances electronic prompts built into touchscreen books can be as effective at supporting conceptual development as the same prompts provided by a coreading adult. However, children with low vocabulary skills may be particularly supported by adult-led prompting. We suggest that adult prompting be used to motivate children to test and revise their own biological theories. Once children have learned strategies for updating their concepts, electronic prompting may be useful for scaffolding children’s transition to using the strategies when reading alone.     

Short‐Term Second Language and Music Training Induces Lasting Functional Brain Changes in Early Childhood

Immediate and lasting effects of music or second‐language training were examined in early childhood using event‐related potentials. Event‐related potentials were recorded for French vowels and musical notes in a passive oddball paradigm in thirty‐six 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children who received either French or music training. Following training, both groups showed enhanced late discriminative negativity (LDN) in their trained condition (music group–musical notes; French group–French vowels) and reduced LDN in the untrained condition. These changes reflect improved processing of relevant (trained) sounds, and an increased capacity to suppress irrelevant (untrained) sounds. After 1 year, training‐induced brain changes persisted and new hemispheric changes appeared. Such results provide evidence for the lasting benefit of early intervention in young children.     

TEACHING INDUCTIVE THINKING TO HIGHLY ABLE CHILDREN

Two criteria were used to identify highly able kindergarten children: assessment by teachers and an IQ ≥ 115 on Raven's Progressive Matrices. In this way, 16 highly able children were found, matched pairwise according to age and IQ, and then randomly allotted to two treatment conditions. In one condition the children were trained using a program for fostering inductive thinking, whereas the children in the other condition continued their normal kindergarten activities. Based upon a new theory of inductive reasoning, the training was expected to have a positive effect on intelligence test performance. Results showed that all of the trained children outperformed their matched counterparts. It was concluded that, even with highly able children, the level of cognitive functioning can be improved, and that training of inductive thinking is an effective means to this end.     

Successfully Implementing a Group for Adult Children of Alcoholics and Adult Children of Parents With Mental Illness on a College Campus

Because of their demographics, university counseling centers have an opportunity to reach both adult children of alcoholics and adult children of parents with mental illness who are at risk for poor psychosocial outcomes. This article presents a group intervention targeting these students. The authors describe the development and implementation of the Successful Survival group and considerations for clinical training. Also discussed are recommendations for future research, practice, and clinical training.     

Training in Inductive Reasoning and Problem Solving

The present study investigated the effects of an inductive reasoning training program for teaching children (Klauer, 1989b). The experiment assessed the effects of training and the range of transfer of the training achieved. The subjects were 34 third-grade primary school children of average ability. The children were matched on age, sex, and IQ. Children from the training condition (N = 17) received a 1-week course of training (five 30-min sessions). The results demonstrated a significant, positive training effect on childrens′ performance of inductive reasoning tasks. A near-far transfer was observed, i.e., children were able to solve tasks in which they had not been trained. These effects persisted for 4 months. Far-far transfer, however, was not observed, because the children were not able to solve mathematics problems which relate to inductive reasoning, in which they had received no training. Implications for training children within the context of regular schools and the range of transfer are discussed.     

A control group outcome study of a nonexclusionary time‐out package to improve social skills with preschoolers

Abstract

Teachers used a nonexclusionary time‐out package to treat inappropriate social behaviors that interfered with instructional tasks in four classrooms of preschool children, each containing an average of 16 students. We yoked classrooms on pretreatment scores of target behaviors and randomly assigned them to a time‐out ribbon plus praise or control condition. Students in the treatment condition wore wristbands with attached smiling face stickers and received praise from teachers for taking turns talking and remaining seated during group activities. Contingent on disruptive behavior, teachers removed the wristbands signaling a three‐minute time‐out period in which teachers restricted praise and attention but ongoing participation in activities continued. Multiple measures of treatment outcome were analyzed via MANCOVA and ANCOVAs. Behavior improved on direct observations of target behavior, the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ) and items on a semantic differential, but not the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters. Treatment acceptability also supported treatment effects. We discuss implications of these results.     

“Helping” Versus “Being a Helper”: Invoking the Self to Increase Helping in Young Children

Can a subtle linguistic cue that invokes the self motivate children to help? In two experiments, 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 149) were exposed to the idea of “being a helper” (noun condition) or “helping” (verb condition). Noun wording fosters the perception that a behavior reflects an identity—the kind of person one is. Both when children interacted with an adult who referenced “being a helper” or “helping” ( 2 ) and with a new adult ( 3 ), children in the noun condition helped significantly more across four tasks than children in the verb condition or a baseline control condition. The results demonstrate that children are motivated to pursue a positive identity. Moreover, this motivation can be leveraged to encourage prosocial behavior.     

Promoting Independent Interactions Between Preschoolers with Autism and Their Nondisabled Peers: An Analysis of Self-Monitoring

This study examined the effects of self-monitoring on the activity engagement and social interaction of three preschoolers with autism. Each child participated in daily play activities with one nondisabled peer and received little adult direction during an initial baseline phase. Two intervention procedures were then implemented in an alternating fashion during a second condition. The first procedure required an adult to prompt the children to exchange social overtures. The adult also moved beads to record completed exchanges and provided a small post session reward to each child if they accomplished a criterion number of exchanges. During the second monitoring procedure the children moved their own beads while the adult provided fewer prompts and gave a post session reward. The child monitoring procedure was then implemented without prompts during a final follow-up phase. A combined alternating treatment and multiple baseline design were used to examine the effects of each experimental condition. Although all three children exhibited high levels of active engagement during baseline, most of their responses occurred in a solitary fashion. The adult and child monitoring procedures produced equal increases in children's engagement with nondisabled peers during the alternating intervention phase. The child monitoring procedure also maintained children's independent interactions during the follow-up condition. Supplemental observations in follow-up also indicated that children exchanged a wide range of different overtures and exhibited varying levels of consistency in their self monitoring.     

Embedding Mathematical Dialogue in Parent–Child Shared Book Reading: A Preliminary Investigation

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides a meaningful context for rich conversations to occur between a child and an adult and offers opportunities for children to be exposed to a range of vocabulary and concepts that often extend beyond their everyday experiences. Few studies have examined parent–child shared book reading as a context for embedding mathematical discussion. The purpose of this study was to examine systematically the effect of training parents to focus on mathematical concepts and vocabulary during shared book reading. Specific research questions were as follows: (a) Did parents increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading following training? (b) Did parents generalize intervention strategies? And (c) did children increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading? Results from a yoked multiple-baseline design with 6 dyads indicated variability across the dyads with 2 general patterns. Math talk increased following training for 3 of the dyads, whereas verbal mathematical behavior did not show consistent change for the other 3 dyads. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in the context of home support for early mathematical development.     

Microgenetic Analysis of Group-Based Solution of Complex Two-Step Mathematical World Problems by Fourth Graders

A form of socially assisted group learning based on a modified version of reciprocal teaching for mathematics (Campione, Brown, & Connell, 1988) was evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in promoting fourth graders' solution of complex 2-step word problems. The emphasis in this method is for an adult tutor to elicit solution suggestions from students and to explore the multiple solutions in seeking group agreement. The method focuses attention both on world representations underlying numbers and on transfer of problem solution planning skills to children over time. The results were compared with those from a modeling-reinforcement tutoring control condition and a classroom activity control in a 10-week study of fourth graders' solution of 4 types of 2-step math word problems, constructed to avoid keywords. Individuals who received either type of training earned higher scores for all problem types than did controls on quizzes; children in the modified reciprocal teaching condition outscored those in the modeling condition on problems that required information to be added from outside the problem and on a quiz of mixed problem types. Subsequent analysis of solutions and videotaped math behaviors suggested that those in the socially assisted learning condition used labeled representations in problem solving more effectively and deduced implied information earlier and more often than those in the modeling condition.     

The role of language in the development of false belief understanding: a training study

The current study used a training methodology to determine whether different kinds of linguistic interaction play a causal role in children's development of false belief understanding. After 3 training sessions, 3-year-old children improved their false belief understanding both in a training condition involving perspective-shifting discourse about deceptive objects (without mental state terms) and in a condition in which sentential complement syntax was used (without deceptive objects). Children did not improve in a condition in which they were exposed to deceptive objects without accompanying language. Children showed most improvement in a condition using both perspective-shifting discourse and sentential complement syntax, suggesting that each of these types of linguistic experience plays an independent role in the ontogeny of false belief understanding.     

Training Preschoolers on First‐Order False Belief Understanding: Transfer on Advanced ToM Skills and Metamemory

This study investigated the relation between theory of mind (ToM) and metamemory knowledge using a training methodology. Sixty‐two 4‐ to 5‐year‐old children were recruited and randomly assigned to one of two training conditions: A first‐order false belief (ToM) and a control condition. Intervention and control groups were equivalent at pretest for age, parents' education, verbal ability, inhibition, and ToM. Results showed that after the intervention children in the ToM group improved in their first‐order false belief understanding significantly more than children in the control condition. Crucially, the positive effect of the ToM intervention was stable over 2 months and generalized to more complex ToM tasks and metamemory.     

An exploration of how selective mutism training informs teachers' understanding and practice

This small-scale research project explored the perceived impact which selective mutism (SM) training, delivered by an educational psychologist (EP), had on school practitioners' understanding of the condition and their subsequent professional practice. Three teachers were interviewed and a thematic analysis elicited four superordinate themes. Participants recognised that they had little previous knowledge of SM and many misconceptions; they also identified key ways in which their understanding of SM, and their practice as school professionals, had developed. In addition, staff highlighted central challenges which nevertheless remained, one of which involved working with parents. This research highlights the limited knowledge which teachers have of SM, whilst demonstrating how staff training and school development might contribute to improved outcomes for children with the condition. Implications for teacher training programmes and future research are considered.     

Training maltreating parents in elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing with their preschool-aged children

Objective

In the current study, the effects of training maltreating parents and their preschool-aged children in elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing were examined.

Method

44 Parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to a training (reminiscing) or wait-list (control) condition. All participating parents had substantiated maltreatment and were involved with the Department of Child Services at the time of enrollment. Children were 3–6 years old (M = 4.88, SD = .99) and living in the custody of the participating parent. Dyads in the reminiscing condition received four, weekly, in-home sessions in elaborative and emotion rich reminiscing.

Results

At a follow-up assessment, maltreating parents in the reminiscing condition provided more high-elaborative utterances, references to children's negative emotions, and explanations of children's emotion during reminiscing than did parents in the control condition. Children in the reminiscing condition had richer memory recall and made more emotion references than did children in the control condition during reminiscing with their mothers, but not with an experimenter.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that maltreating parents can be taught elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing skills, with benefits for child cognitive and emotional development. The potential clinical utility of a reminiscing-based training for maltreating families with young children is discussed.     

Exploring the Causal Effect of Interpretation Bias on Attachment Expectations

Attachment theory implies that children's inclination to interpret attachment figures behavior as supportive and available causally influences children's trust in their attachment figure's availability. An experiment was conducted to test whether training children (8–12 years old) to interpret ambiguous interactions with their mothers in a more secure way increases their trust in their mother's availability. Participants (N = 49) were randomly assigned to either a secure condition to train children to interpret their mother's behavior as supportive or a neutral placebo condition, where interpretations were unrelated to maternal support. Results supported the hypothesis: After the secure training, children interpreted maternal behavior more securely and trusted more in her availability. This suggests that attachment‐related processing biases causally affect attachment expectations.     

Effects of conflict resolution training integrated into a kindergarten curriculum

The effectiveness of a conflict resolution training program was examined in an American midwestern suburban elementary school. Participants were 80 kindergartners randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition in morning or afternoon time blocks. Children in the experimental condition received 9 hr of conflict resolution training integrated into a curriculum unit on friendship taught daily for 4 consecutive weeks. Children in the control condition were taught the identical friendship unit for the same period of time without conflict resolution training. Teachers rotated equally across conditions. Significant differences between trained and untrained children occurred in their knowledge and retention of the conflict resolution procedure, willingness and ability to use the procedure in conflict situations, and conceptual understanding of friendship.     

Child Directed Interaction Training for young children in kinship care: A pilot study

This pilot study used a randomized controlled trial design to examine the feasibility and explore initial outcomes of a twice weekly, 8-session Child Directed Interaction Training (CDIT) program for children living in kinship care. Participants included 14 grandmothers and great-grandmothers with their 2- to 7-year-old children randomized either to CDIT or a waitlist control condition. Training was delivered at a local, community library with high fidelity to the training protocol. There was no attrition in either condition. After training, kinship caregivers in the CDIT condition demonstrated more positive relationships with their children during behavioral observation. The caregivers in the CDIT condition also reported clinically and statistically significant decreases in parenting stress and caregiver depression, as well as fewer externalizing child behavior problems than waitlist controls. Parent daily report measures indicated significant changes in disciplining that included greater use of limit-setting and less use of critical verbal force. Results appeared stable at 3-month follow-up. Changes in child internalizing behaviors and caregiver use of non-critical verbal force were not seen until 3-month follow-up. Results of this pilot study suggest both the feasibility of conducting full scale randomized clinical trials of CDIT in the community and the promise of this approach for providing effective parent training for kinship caregivers.