Counterfactual emotions such as regret may aid future decision-making by encouraging people to focus on controllable features of personal past events. However, it remains unclear when children begin to preferentially focus on controllable features of such events. Across two studies, Australian 4-9-year-olds (N = 336, 168 females; data collected…

Chimpanzees and other great apes seem to be much less cooperative than humans overall, yet they nevertheless reliably help others in many instrumental circumstances. Although in many contexts the helping behavior of chimpanzees is quite similar to that of human children, recent studies using both behavioral and psychophysiological paradigms have…

The influences in a child's developmental environment, both positive and negative, interact to shape the development of their brain, the integrated systems in their body--including the immune, metabolic, and cardiovascular systems--and even how their genes are expressed. Clean air is an essential part of a healthy developmental environment, and…

This study examines the differences in third-party punishment and compensation behaviors in 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 114) in fair and unfair distribution contexts. Using both third-party punishment and compensation paradigms, the study involved Chinese-speaking preschool children. The results showed: (1) Children's intention and degree of…

Across two studies we explore how individual and dyadic factors influence children's (M[subscript age] = 61 months; 52% male; 55% White British) use of mental state talk (MST) with peers during shared play. Results from actor-partner interdependence modelling (APIM; n = 190 children) indicate that children's MST use is significantly linked to the…

Researchers have reported that children engage in pretend play that reflects the conventional activities of their environment (i.e., "learned-combinations play"). In contrast, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display fewer and less varied play behaviors. Research on teaching pretend play to children with ASD often involves…

Purpose: Children with Down syndrome often have poor speech intelligibility, which can mask expressive language competence; this, in turn, can lead to serious misconceptions about overall competence and intellectual abilities. Although aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can be used to bridge these gaps, children with Down…

This article analyzes children's literature about Juneteenth published over the last fifty years through a counternarrative lens of Black joy and justice. By centering Black joy and justice, scholars and teachers are offered new ways to understand and critically evaluate literature. Specifically, the authors analyze picturebooks about Juneteenth…

Objective: Investigate whether patterns of heart rate variability (indexed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia) and visual attention at 12 to 18 months of age predict elevated ADHD symptoms, autism, or neither during the preschool period. Method: Ninety infants 12 to 18 months of age (M = 17.27, SD = 1.93; 36 females; 82.2% non-Hispanic) participated…

Mental health for preschool students has not always been seen as the purview of school psychology. However, school psychologists can have a powerful impact by supporting the needs of young children. Research has shown that many children are not emotionally, socially, behaviorally, or academically ready for kindergarten. This was further…

Does art museum leadership think of children in the museum as cardboard cutouts? Numbers of children in art museums are easy to get excited about; less so dealing with the reality of young people that make noise and take up space. Drawing from first-hand experience and varied sources from the fields of education, museums, interpretation, and…

Holding conversations about setting, character, and plot are important conversations in a book club, but just as important are conversations about book features. This classroom practice article describes our experience teaching about peritextual features during a book club with children with learning difficulties.

This article is a slightly revised version of the 2021 Past President's address delivered virtually at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. I reflect on refusing the terms of dominant sensemaking in education and suggest that one of the most productive parts of our work is when it calls us into relationships and to…

Recent studies have established that even preverbal infants can monitor and regulate their mental states, raising the question of the variables involved in this early metacognitive development. Here, the metacognition of fifty-five 18-month-old (27 females; mostly White; data collection: 2023) was assessed using an eye-tracking paradigm designed…

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, with support from the Walton Family Foundation, has embarked upon a three-year initiative that aims to help shape educational technology products that address specific literacy outcomes. In 2023, the Cooney Center Sandbox was launched to help digital media innovators answer the following questions: "How do you…