Young children can exploit the syntactic context of a novel word to narrow down its probable meaning. But how do they learn which contexts are linked to which semantic features in the first place? We investigate if 3- to 4-year-old children (n = 60) can learn about a syntactic context from tracking its use with only a few familiar words. After…

Might interacting with relatively wild forms of nature help move our world away from its largely domination-oriented and destructive sensibilities? Toward broaching this question, this study used an Interaction Pattern Approach to model child-nature interaction in a Hong Kong nature program. Observational video data were collected of 54 children…

Children have a robust social preference for people similar to them, like those who share their language, accent, and race. In the present research, we show that this preference can diminish when children consider who they want to learn about. Across three experiments, 4- to 6-year-olds (total N = 160; 74 female, 86 male, from the Waterloo region…

Recent research shows that deaf signers show increased behavioral and neural sensitivity to certain types of movement, such as biological motion, human actions, and signing avatars. However, other work suggests that in deaf signers exposed to signed language before age five, the mirror mechanism has minimal involvement during the perception of…

We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children's use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n = 84), participants completed a recognition test during…

This article examines young children's conceptualisation of the images they encounter within the familiar environments of the home and community settings, focusing on case study data from two, 4-year-old children. The data discussed are taken from a study involving a group of children aged 4-5 years. A participatory mapping approach was adopted,…

Teachers' perceptions are important in identifying and serving gifted children. However, little attention is given to gifted education in the early years in China. This study aimed to investigate teachers' perceptions of young gifted children (aged 3-6), exploring teachers' understandings, feelings, practices, and perceived challenges. Qualitative…

In order to explore the development mechanism of construction theory in the field of moral judgment, this study investigated the influence of age and social distance on such moral expectations in positive moral context and negative moral context. In both positive and negative moral contexts, 5-6-year-old children had the highest moral expectations…

Understanding emotions based on false beliefs is a necessary component of theory of mind. Previous research has indicated a lag in children's understanding of belief-based emotions as compared to false beliefs. Experiment 1 involved 83 Chinese 3- to 5-year-old children who were tested for the developmental change of the belief-emotion lag.…

Professionals who primarily deliver services to children on the autism spectrum employ a range of techniques and supports that are colloquially known as applied behavior analysis therapy. The landscape of evidence supporting interventions for children on the autism spectrum has vastly transformed in the last decade. A substantial, relatively…

Disfluencies, such as 'um' or 'uh', can cause adults to attribute uncertainty to speakers, but may also facilitate speech processing. To understand how these different functions affect children's learning, we asked whether (dis)fluency affects children's decision to select information from speakers (an explicit behavior) and their learning of…

The ability to make inferences about what one's peers know is critical for social interaction and communication. Three experiments (n = 309) examined the curse of knowledge, the tendency to be biased by one's knowledge when reasoning about others' knowledge, in children's estimates of their peers' knowledge. Four- to 7-year-olds were taught the…

The present study examined whether young children show any particular bias in response to tag questions. In addition, the study investigated the effects of age and object familiarity on children's accuracy of responses. A total of 137 3-6-year-old children were asked a set of 32 tag questions pertaining to the properties and functions of both…

This research focuses on young children's understandings about economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Participants were 43 children, aged from 3 to 7 years of age, recruited from two kindergartens in Croatia. Children's ideas were discussed through semi-structured interviews that focused on saving, spending, recycling, justice,…

The purpose of the current study is to examine what parents think about individuals with disabilities and inclusion, to what extent parents' attitudes are related to their children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities and other family demographics, and how parents address disabilities to their children. Using surveys and interviews, data…