Complement clause comprehension plays a key role in language and cognitive development, particularly in supporting Theory of Mind (ToM). This study examines how bilingual exposure and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affect children's understanding of finite complement clauses introduced by speech verbs (e.g., ‘say’). Children with ASD frequently experience difficulties in complement clauses, especially when these structures encode false beliefs or require complex mental-state reasoning. In contrast, bilingualism has been associated with advantages in executive functions (e.g., working memory, cognitive flexibility) and enhanced ToM abilities, both of which relate to complement clause comprehension. These findings raise the possibility that bilingual experience may mitigate some of the linguistic and cognitive difficulties typically observed in ASD. To investigate these possibilities, we tested 126 children (79 with ASD, 47 neurotypical) using a cross-linguistic picture selection task designed to minimize ToM demands, in either English, French, or German. We explored the role of cognitive (working memory, nonverbal IQ, inhibitory control) and linguistic (syntax, vocabulary) predictors, and continuous measures of bilingual language experience. Results showed that children with ASD performed significantly lower than their neurotypical peers, with more pronounced age-related gains in the neurotypical group. While bilingualism per se did not predict performance, richer and more proficient use of the language of testing positively influenced complement clause comprehension, particularly in children with ASD. Visuospatial working memory, nonverbal IQ, and receptive vocabulary emerged as significant positive predictors of complement clause comprehension, whereas broader syntactic ability and inhibitory control did not. Complement clause comprehension predicted ToM outcomes in children with ASD, but not in neurotypical children, suggesting that complement understanding may serve as a compensatory mechanism for ToM reasoning in autism. These findings highlight that bilingualism is not inherently associated with either advantages or disadvantages for syntactic development and further underscore the intricate links between complements and cognition in ASD.
As a typical and traditional play during childhood, pretend play has shown an inconsistent relationship with executive function in previous research. This study employed a meta-analysis to integrate relevant empirical evidence, examining the association between pretend play and children’s executive function along with potential moderators. Through literature search and screening, a total of 42 studies were included, comprising 256 effect sizes and an overall sample size of 5009 participants. The main effect analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between pretend play and children’s executive function. Moderator analyses indicated that this relationship was moderated by age, country of origin, and the type of executive function (i.e., “cool” vs. “hot”), but not by the longitudinal design of the study. In addition, the degree of structure in pretend play showed a marginally significant moderating effect (p = 0.048); given that this result was based on exploratory analyses without correction for multiple comparisons, it warrants cautious interpretation. Future research may employ longitudinal or experimental designs to further examine causal relationships and the robustness of the moderating effect of play structure, and to consider individual difference variables such as children's imagination level, so as to more comprehensively uncover the underlying mechanisms of the association between pretend play and executive function.
Introduction Arabic is a diglossic language comprising Spoken Arabic (SA) and Literary Arabic (LA), often leading to Arabic speakers being considered functional bilinguals. While early exposure to LA has been associated with improved reading comprehension, the neurobiological basis of SA–LA processing differences in pre-readers is not well understood. Methods: Thirty-one Arabic-speaking mother–child dyads (children’s mean age = 5.2 years, SD = 0.63; 18 girls) participated in a hyperscanning EEG study during dialogic reading sessions in both SA and LA. Brain–to–brain synchronization was measured using correlation coefficient matrices and compared across language conditions. Synchronization differences were analyzed in relation to vocabulary and listening comprehension scores. Results: Mother–child neural synchronization was greater during SA reading compared to LA. Greater synchronization differences between conditions were associated with slower object-naming speed (r = .473, p = .007). Exploratory region-based analyses revealed associations between synchronization and vocabulary and listening-comprehension measures. Diffusion-map analyses indicated distinct synchronization patterns between SA and LA, with greater joint-attention variability in SA than LA (p = .05), while motion synchronization did not differ between conditions. Conclusion: This study provides neurobiological evidence of reduced neural alignment during LA exposure compared to SA in Arabic-speaking pre-readers. The observed patterns of brain–to–brain synchronization align with findings in bilingual populations, suggesting greater cognitive effort when processing LA. These findings highlight the need for targeted early interventions to support LA acquisition and enhance mother–child neural synchrony during shared reading.
The present study investigated the tendency of children aged 3-7 years and adults to assign gender to robots. In Study 1, we examined whether they would label robots and toys—including two humanoid robots and dolls, a doglike robot and a stuffed animal—boys or girls. In Study 2, we explored whether participants would attribute social gender to these entities or believe that humanoid and doglike robots, animals, and human boys and girls belong to specific gendered groups (e.g., that girls prefer to play with girls). The findings indicated that children as young as 4-years-old began labeling robots as boys. However, Study 2 suggested that children’s perception of robots as boys may reflect a superficial belief. Although they described the robots as boys, none of the children stated that robots prefer playing with boys. In contrast, 6- and 7-year-olds affirmed that such preferences exist among human boys and/or girls. Only adults believed that robots were boys and preferred to play with boys—yet this belief was exclusive to humanoid robots. The implications of gendering robots within educational contexts for children are discussed.
This study examined whether spontaneous gestures enhance memory for spoken content and whether gesture information is retained accurately in memory across developmental stages. We focused on iconic gestures that depict perceptual or motoric aspects of a referent (McNeill, 1992). Children aged seven, eight, and nine years, as well as adults, participated in a memory task in which gestures and speech were either semantically congruent or incongruent. Participants were later asked to recall both the verbal content and the meaning of the gestures. The results revealed that recall accuracy for verbal content was significantly higher when gestures were present compared to when they were absent. Furthermore, in adults and nine-year-olds, congruent gesture-speech pairings led to higher recall accuracy than incongruent ones, while younger children did not show this effect. This suggests that the ability to benefit from semantically aligned gestures in verbal memory emerges around the age of nine. Regarding gesture memory, accuracy was higher when participants had retrieved the accompanying verbal content, suggesting that verbal retrieval can facilitate subsequent access to gesture information. These results suggest that gesture and speech may be stored in an integrated manner in memory. No significant age differences were found in gesture recall accuracy, possibly due to methodological constraints. Overall, the results support the view that gestures contribute to memory by providing redundant semantic information that enhances comprehension and retrieval, with developmental improvements in integration efficiency. These findings have implications for educational contexts, suggesting that congruent gestures may support memory and learning, especially from middle childhood onwards.
The study's objectives are to present a novel dynamic assessment (DA) of spatial working memory (SWM) and examine the effects of SWM training (SWMT) on analogical thinking and readiness for math among kindergarten and Grade 1 children. We conducted two studies (Study 1, n = 252; Study 2, n = 241) using the Children's Spatial Working Memory (CSWM) test, the Children's Analogical Thinking Modifiability-Closed Analogies (CATM-CL) test, and the Math Readiness Test (MART). In both studies, we examined the effects of SWMT on SWM and analogical thinking. Children were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. Both groups were administered the CSWM and the CATM-CL tests before and after a short-term training phase. Children in the experimental group received SWMT for 40 min, while children in the control group received mediation of analogical thinking using the Construction Analogies of the Children’s Conceptual and Perceptual Modifiability measure. The findings showed that children in the experimental group demonstrated significantly improved SWM scores from pre- to post-intervention compared to those in the control group. As expected, the SWMT was transferred to math readiness (Study 2). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that SWM had a statistically significant effect in predicting analogical thinking modifiability, and that analogical thinking modifiability, in turn, had a statistically significant effect on predicting the modifiability of math readiness. The findings were explained by DA theory and recent research.
Recognizing evidence that is inconsistent with one’s initial beliefs is an important epistemic skill, but few studies have examined whether children can recognize evidence that is inconsistent with a hypothesis or possible developmental changes or individual differences related to this skill. In the current study, 7- to 10-year-old English-speaking children primarily from the United States (N = 84; 39 boys, 45 girls; 56% White) observed stories about animals’ behaviors and a hypothesis for why the animal exhibited that behavior. For each hypothesis, children evaluated whether different pieces of evidence supported, were irrelevant, or contradicted the hypothesis. Children rated evidence that supported an alternative hypothesis similarly to irrelevant evidence, suggesting they viewed this evidence as irrelevant. However, children rated evidence that directly contradicted the hypothesis as more contradictory than supporting evidence, irrelevant evidence, and alternative evidence. Children with greater domain-specific (i.e., biological) knowledge and children with a greater tendency to suppress intuitive answers in favor of more reflective answers rated contradictory evidence as more contradictory than children weaker in these skills. These findings suggest that prior knowledge and cognitive reflection are important contributors to children’s developing capacity for evidence evaluation. Implications for teaching critical thinking skills and supporting belief revision are discussed.
This study assessed the construct validity of counterfactual reasoning tasks. In 245 Chinese 4- to 6-year-olds (120 females), it showed that counterfactual reasoning tasks with different causal structures tapped the same factor (convergent validity). Also, counterfactual reasoning and executive function tasks tapped different factors (discriminant validity). Findings demonstrate the construct validity of counterfactual reasoning tasks, helping people understand how children adaptively learn from the past to prepare for the future.
Empirical evidence and theoretical accounts increasingly highlight the role of pretend play in fostering the development of executive function skills in childhood. Yet, previous research has predominantly been focused on pre-school- and primary-school-aged children, even though both pretend play and executive functioning have a developmental onset much earlier in development. To address this gap within the existing evidence base, the current report aimed to explore this association in the toddlerhood period using a multi-method approach. In an initial consultation, insights from mothers of toddlers were obtained via a World Café approach. Secondly, a parent-reported online study, including 213 toddlers (M = 25.47 months, SD = 5.33) identified a quantitative estimate of the concurrent relation between parent-reported indices of pretend play and executive functions in toddlerhood. After controlling for demographic variables, a significant association between toddlers’ pretend play ability and cognitive executive functioning skills was identified. However, no relation was found between toddlers’ pretend play ability and regulatory executive function skills. Findings from across studies are discussed in relation to previous theoretical accounts on the role of pretend play in development.
This study examined whether 3-to-4-year-old toddlers can learn unfamiliar sign language-like gestures (pseudosigns) as linguistic labels by tracking their co-occurrence with spoken words across ambiguous learning trials (cross-situational learning). Forty-four children participated in a brief learning phase involving 6 spoken word-gesture pairs. Learning was assessed via eye tracking using a preferential looking paradigm in two test blocks: one evaluating word-to-gesture associations (association block) and another evaluating gesture-to-referent mapping (mapping block). A control block confirmed that children could successfully map familiar spoken words to referents, validating task comprehension and engagement. In the main analysis, no evidence of learning emerged at the group level: children did not show systematic preferences for the target, and looking behaviour did not correlate with standardized measures of cognitive or language skills. Exploratory analyses indicated age-related variability in looking behaviour across blocks. Although no reliable learning effects emerged in the full sample or age groups separately, reducing inter-individual variability based on task engagement (control block) revealed significant looking preferences in the older group, potentially reflecting increased symbolic flexibility at this age. Taken together, these findings suggest that any learning effects, if present, were small and heterogeneous, and methodological factors-including sample size, task complexity, and limited exposure-may limit their detection. While preliminary, these findings help delineate methodological considerations for extending cross-situational learning paradigms beyond the spoken modality and inform future research on novel approaches to investigate multimodal language acquisition in early development.
In the present study, the relationships among parental neglect, executive functions, and theory of mind (ToM) in the preschool period were examined using a conditional process model. The research sample consisted of 336 typically developing preschool children and their mothers living in Ankara and Gaziantep, T & uuml;rkiye. To obtain socio-demographic data, the Socio-Demographic Information Form was administered to mothers, the Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale-Parent Form was used to assess their neglect levels, and the Childhood Executive Function Inventory-Parent Form was employed to evaluate their children's executive functions. In addition, the Theory of Mind Scale was administered directly to children to assess their ToM skills. The findings revealed that executive functions played a partial mediating role in the association between parental neglect and ToM. Moreover, this mediation varied depending on the level of neglect, such that the explanatory role of executive functions on ToM became more prominent at higher levels of neglect. These results indicate that both cognitive skills and caregiving experiences should be considered together in children's socio-cognitive development. Accordingly, it is recommended that early intervention programs be designed to support both the quality of parenting and executive function skills.
Coding (Computer programming) is becoming essential across fields and argued as a new literacy for all humans. However, there is a lack of concrete understanding of the cognitive interplay between coding and natural language processing. To address this knowledge gap, this scoping review synthesized findings from 30 empirical studies examining the cognitive and neural associations between these two domains. Results indicated that over two-thirds of the studies identified significant cognitive commonalities between coding and natural language processing, while other studies emphasized mechanistic divergences. Evidence for shared mechanisms reveals that coding and natural language processing are intertwined in both cognitive and neural mechanisms. Specifically, coding significantly activates core language-related brain regions, such as inferior frontal gyrus, and evokes event-related potentials similar to those in natural language processing, particularly for grammatical and semantic hierarchical decoding. Also, the neural activation patterns of programmers change significantly with experience, gradually aligning with the neural representation patterns of natural language processing. In contrast, evidence for differential neural mechanisms highlights that coding relies predominantly on the multi-demand system rather than traditional language regions. This review highlights the crucial role of the human language system as the neural foundation for machine language processing and emphasizes the need for further research to explore the shared and distinct mechanisms between the two domains.
Previous research has shown that younger children are more likely to attribute minds to robots, whereas with age they tend to show less empathy toward robots and become more accepting of immoral behavior directed at them. However, these developmental trends have been documented primarily in Western contexts, and the pattern may differ across cultures. The present study investigated Japanese preschool children to examine the extent to which they attributed minds to humans, mechanical robots, and humanoid robots, and the degree to which they tolerated immoral behavior toward each of these targets. The results revealed no significant association between mind attribution and tolerance of immoral behavior. Instead, increasing age was associated with reduced tolerance of immoral behavior toward humans; at the bivariate level a comparable association emerged for mechanical robots, but in the exploratory regression model age showed a nominal association only with judgments concerning humans. These findings raise the possibility that, within Japanese cultural contexts, children come to treat violence toward robots and humanoids as socially unacceptable, and that this concern may not be closely coupled with explicit mind attribution. Given the preliminary nature of this study, larger and more sensitive investigations are needed to test this possibility.
Flexible cognition—the capacity to adapt thought and behavior to changing contexts—emerges rapidly in early childhood. This study examined how executive functions (EFs) and dispositional openness jointly contribute to this capacity. A sample of 140 Japanese preschoolers aged 3–6 years completed EF tasks assessing working memory, inhibition, and shifting, as well as an ambiguous-figure interpretation task indexing flexible cognition. Parents rated children’s Big Five personality traits using the Big Five Personality Inventory for Children. Multiple regression analyses revealed that working memory was the most robust predictor of flexible cognition, whereas inhibition and shifting did not show unique associations when considered alongside other predictors. A focused moderation model further showed that Openness moderated the association between working memory and flexible cognition: children higher in Openness showed a stronger positive association between working-memory capacity and flexible cognition. These findings suggest that flexible cognition arises from the coordination of executive resources and dispositional tendencies toward exploration. Openness may shape how children deploy working-memory resources to reinterpret ambiguous information during early development.
Visual storytelling, a fusion of text and image, has emerged as a significant genre in contemporary American literature with the evolution of the graphic novel. This study examines literary scholars’ perceptions of how visual storytelling techniques used in graphic novels relate to contemporary American literary traditions. Using a quantitative approach, 485 literary scholars were surveyed via purposive sampling, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest that literary scholars perceive several dimensions of graphic novels as positively associated with developments in contemporary American literary traditions. Narrative structure (β = 0.134, p < 0.001) and new literary forms (β = 0.122, p = 0.002) indicated positive associations with ALT. Additionally, reader engagement (β = 0.146, p = 0.001) and diversification of literary voices (β = 0.195, p < 0.001) revealed the strongest positive relationships. Genre and literary style were also positively associated with ALT (β = 0.127, p = 0.004). The novelty of this study lies in its integrated empirical examination of how visual storytelling operates not only as a narrative technique but as a driver of literary transformation within the American context. The research recommended that visual narrative structures may become an increasingly significant part of literary scholarship to understand the modern forms of storytelling.
Human ability to learn causality is important because it allows us to imagine alternative possibilities and design new interventions to achieve desired outcomes. When two causal variables affect different dimensions of an outcome, it is necessary to understand the effects of each causal variable to achieve a desired outcome. The current research examined whether young children can learn the effects of each causal variable. In two studies, Japanese children aged 4–6 years (Study 1, N = 99, 51 girls) and 5–6 years (Study 2, N = 60, 31 girls) saw a sequence of events in which causal variable A made differences in shape, and causal variable B made differences in size to produce an outcome. The results showed that when asked to create a novel shape (size), those aged 5–6 years chose to intervene on a causal variable that previously created a shape (size) difference. These findings suggest that children aged 5–6 years can recognize distinct effects of each causal variable and use these to determine an intervention that would create a novel effect state.
