Relations among White (non-Latinx) children's empathy-related responding, prosocial behaviors, and racial attitudes toward White and Black peers were examined. In 2017, 190 (54% boys) White 5- to 9-year-old children (M = 7.09 years, SD = 0.94) watched a series of videos that depicted social rejection of either a White or Black child.…

Naturalistic studies show that children can create language-like communication systems in the absence of conventional language. However, experimental evidence is mixed. We address this discrepancy using an experimental paradigm that simulates naturalistic sign creation. Specifically, we tested if a sample of 6- to 12-year-old children (52 girls…

This study took a novel approach to understanding the role of language in spatial development by combining approaches from spatial language and gesture research. It analyzed forty-three 4.5- to 6-year-old's speech and gesture production during explanations of reasoning behind performance on Spatial Analogies and Children's Mental Transformation…

Efficient attention control is fundamental for infant cognitive development, but its early precursors are not well understood. This study investigated whether dyadic visual attention during parent-infant interactions at 5 months of age predicts the ability to control attention at 11 months of age (N = 55). Total duration of mutual gaze (MG) was…

Using an epidemiological sample (N = 1,117) and a prospective longitudinal design, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of preverbal and verbal communication (15 months to 3 years) on executive function (EF) at age 4 years. Results indicated that whereas gestures (15 months), as well as language (2 and 3 years), were correlated with…

Children vary widely in the rate at which they acquire words--some start slow and speed up, others start fast and continue at a steady pace. Do early developmental variations of this sort help predict vocabulary skill just prior to kindergarten entry? This longitudinal study starts by examining important predictors (socioeconomic status [SES],…

Examines the effect of age of encoder (first graders, seventh graders, and college students) on the decoding of nonverbal facial expressions indicative of verbal deception. Results showed the ratings of untrained, naive adult judges to be more accurate in decoding the first-grade stimulus persons than the older ones. (JMB)

Social play emerged earlier than social pretend play with a similar structure; the incidence of social pretend play increased with age. Four strategies for integrating pretense into social play were isolated; among them, verbal recruitment and "join" were found to be more effective than imitation or nonverbal recruitment. (Author/RH)

Two experiments were conducted in an effort to determine whether young children overestimate message quality because they evaluate their knowledge or assumptions about the intended meaning of the message rather than its literal meaning. (PCB)

The effects of child deafness on mother-child interaction were investigated by observing mother-child dyads in free-play situations. Subjects were six deaf child/hearing mother pairs and six normal hearing pairs. All children were between 13.2 and 29.2 months of age. (Author/MP)

This report uses data from videotaped naturalistic interactions and peers' hierarchy rankings of 23 4- to 5-year-olds and 26 7- to 10-year-olds to examine changes in children's use of facial gestures which resemble the dominance-related threat stares of primates. (Author/JMB)

Examined whether toddler peers use hitting as a means of communication. Results demonstrated that hitting systematically resulted in different social outcomes for two-year-olds but not for one- or three-year-olds. The authors speculate that how gestures are used in nonverbal communication may change as verbal communication comes to dominate peer…

Addressing methodological limitations, Study One compared parent-child interactions of normal and language-delayed children; Study Two investigated whether mothers adjust the length of their utterances to the child's ability to comprehend or to produce language; Study Three probed interactional variables associated with variations in the…