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Title: How do different types of toys influence the complexity of children's play?.
Creator: Schultz, Patricia P., Greif, Marissa, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2011-04-08
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3164794
Subject Headings: Toys, Play, Child development
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Preadolescents' Maternal Attachment: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Relation to Social Adjustment.
Creator: Finnegan, Regina Ann, Perry, David G., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: A conceptualization of maternal attachment during preadolescence was proposed, and a self-report instrument designed to measure preadolescents' maternal attachment style was developed. It was hypothesized that preadolescents' attachment style is related to their social adjustment with peers. Subjects were 229 third through seventh graders. Results indicated that avoidant preadolescent girls were seen by peers as demonstrating externalizing behaviors with peers. Also, the more avoidant the...
Show moreA conceptualization of maternal attachment during preadolescence was proposed, and a self-report instrument designed to measure preadolescents' maternal attachment style was developed. It was hypothesized that preadolescents' attachment style is related to their social adjustment with peers. Subjects were 229 third through seventh graders. Results indicated that avoidant preadolescent girls were seen by peers as demonstrating externalizing behaviors with peers. Also, the more avoidant the girls were, the more enemies they had. Preoccupied preadolescent boys were viewed by peers as exhibiting internalizing behaviors: These boys were seen as victimized, immature, depressed, fearful, and physically weak. In contrast, avoidant boys were perceived as aggressive, dishonest, and physically strong.
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Date Issued: 1993
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000759
Subject Headings: Attachment behavior in children, Mother and child, Child development, Socialization
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A COMPARISON OF DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE REASONING BETWEEN LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS CHILDREN.
Creator: ENRIGHT, WILLIAM F., JR., Florida Atlantic University, Smith, Lawrence E.
Abstract/Description: In this dissertation three studies were implemented to investigate the differences in distributive justice development between lower and middle class children. In Study 1, conducted on all white children in a rural Florida school, twenty-eight middle and twenty-eight lower class children from kindergarten and third grades were given the Distributive Justice Scale (DJS) and the vocabulary section of the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The results of this study showed that regardless of...
Show moreIn this dissertation three studies were implemented to investigate the differences in distributive justice development between lower and middle class children. In Study 1, conducted on all white children in a rural Florida school, twenty-eight middle and twenty-eight lower class children from kindergarten and third grades were given the Distributive Justice Scale (DJS) and the vocabulary section of the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The results of this study showed that regardless of grade level, the lower class lagged behind the middle class in distributive justice development. There were not significant differences found between the social classes in verbal ability. Since Study 1 was the first study to investigate this topic, it was thought necessary to replicate the findings in a different part of the country on a different population. Study 2 was conducted on all black children from an inner-city Midwestern school. Thirty-two middle and thirty-two lower class children from kindergarten and third grade were given the above measures. A new dimension was added to Study 2 in that a sociometric peer-rating scale was given to investigate the interactional pattern between the social classes. The distributive justice and verbal ability results replicated Study 1. The peer ratings showed that the lower class kindergarten children segregate themselves, while third grade children do not. The findings also showed that in both grade levels, the lower class children were chosen significantly more often for negative social characteristics. Study 3 was conducted in the same school as Study 1, the following school year, on different children. Study 3 was concerned with replicating the distributive justice results in a time-sequential research design. This study was also concerned with replicating the sociometric results of Study 2 in a different part of the country on a different population. In Study 3, twenty-eight middle and twenty-eight lower class children from kindergarten and third grade were administered the three previously mentioned instruments. The distributive justice and vocabulary results replicated Studies 1 and 2. The sociometric results showed that middle class and lower class children chose in the same way. Lower class children were consistently chosen for negative social characteristics, while middle class children were chosen for the positive social characteristics. A social reality and social dominance hypothesis are presented and discussed to explain this phenomenon. Implications for future research are presented and discussed.
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Date Issued: 1980
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11755
Subject Headings: Distributive justice--Case studies, Child development
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Attentional basis of deontic reasoning about permission rules in 3-5 year-old children.
Creator: Sellers, Patrick D. II, Bjorklund, David F., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Deontic reasoning is a domain of reasoning concerning permissions, obligations, and prohibitions often utilizing conditional logic (Wason, 1968). Correct identification of rule violations is bolstered by the addition of a social valence to the rule for both adults (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) and children (Harris & Nunez, 1996). This “deontic advantage” for violation-detection is taken as evidence for evolved social-cognitive mechanisms for reasoning about cheaters in the context of social...
Show moreDeontic reasoning is a domain of reasoning concerning permissions, obligations, and prohibitions often utilizing conditional logic (Wason, 1968). Correct identification of rule violations is bolstered by the addition of a social valence to the rule for both adults (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) and children (Harris & Nunez, 1996). This “deontic advantage” for violation-detection is taken as evidence for evolved social-cognitive mechanisms for reasoning about cheaters in the context of social contracts (Fiddick, 2004), and the early development of this advantage supports an evolutionary account of such abilities (Cummins, 2013). The current research hypothesized that differential attention to rule elements underlies the early emergence of the deontic advantage. Accuracy to a change-detection paradigm was used to assess implicit attention to various rule elements after children were told 4 different rules (2 social contracts, 2 epistemic statements). Thirteen 3-year-olds, twenty 4-year-olds, and sixteen 5-year-olds completed the experiment. Each participant completed 64 change-detection trials embedded within a scene depicting adherence to or violation of the rule. Results indicate that 4 and 5 year-olds consistently attend to the most relevant rule information for making decisions regarding violation (F(6, 124)=3.86, p<.01, ηp 2 = .144) and that they use observed compliance/non-compliance with the rule to further direct attention (F(6, 138)=3.27, p<.01, ηp 2 = .125). Furthermore, accuracy of change-detection to scenes of rule violation increases from ages 4 to 5, but not 3 to 4. However, a novel finding emerged suggesting that children use the absence of benefit to direct attention, suggesting possible “being-cheated” detection, rather than cheater-detection (F(9, 345) = 21.855, p<.001, ηp 2 = .322). This work is the first to investigate a deontic effect on attentional processes and opens a new avenue of inquiry to understanding the internal and external variables contributing to the development of deontic reasoning. Follow up studies are currently underway to clarify how children use these environmental cues and in/out group membership to direct attention to rule violations.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004159
Subject Headings: Child development, Child psychology, Judgment (Ethics), Judgment in children, Moral development, Reasoning in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Longitudinal stability of jealousy in infancy.
Creator: Pineda, Melannie, Jones, Nancy Aaron, Mize, Krystal D.
Abstract/Description: Jealousy
Date Issued: 2012-04-06
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3349041
Subject Headings: Developmental psychology, Child development, Parent-Infant relations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Young children's artifact conceptualization: a child centered approach.
Creator: Schultz, Patricia P., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: One of the most fundamental functions of human cognition is to parse an otherwise chaotic world into different kinds of things. The ability to learn what objects are and how to respond to them appropriately is essential for daily living. The literature has presented contrasting evidence about the role of perpetual features such as artifact appearance versus causal or inductive reasoning in chldren's category distinctions (e.g., function). The present project used a child-initiated inquiry...
Show moreOne of the most fundamental functions of human cognition is to parse an otherwise chaotic world into different kinds of things. The ability to learn what objects are and how to respond to them appropriately is essential for daily living. The literature has presented contrasting evidence about the role of perpetual features such as artifact appearance versus causal or inductive reasoning in chldren's category distinctions (e.g., function). The present project used a child-initiated inquiry paradigm to investigate how children conceptualize artifacts, specifically how they prioritize different types of information that typify not only novel but also familiar objects. Results underscore a hybrid model in which perceptual features and deeper properties act synergistically to inform children's artifact conceptualization. Function, however, appears to be the driving force of this relationship.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3320103
Subject Headings: Cognition in children, Child development, Reasoning in children, Reasoning (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The development of mother-infant communication through touch and gaze patterns in depressed and non-depressed breast-and bottle-feeding dyads.
Creator: Sader, Jillian., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The present study examined developmental changes in the establishment of mother-infant tactile and visual communication within depressed and non-depressed breast- and bottlefeeding dyads. 113 (30 depressed, 83 non-depressed mothers) mother-infant dyads participated at the 1-month visit and 87 dyads returned at the 3-month lab visit. Maternal mood status was assessed. EEG recordings were taken from the infants at mid-frontal, central, parietal and occipital sites. Mothers and their infants...
Show moreThe present study examined developmental changes in the establishment of mother-infant tactile and visual communication within depressed and non-depressed breast- and bottlefeeding dyads. 113 (30 depressed, 83 non-depressed mothers) mother-infant dyads participated at the 1-month visit and 87 dyads returned at the 3-month lab visit. Maternal mood status was assessed. EEG recordings were taken from the infants at mid-frontal, central, parietal and occipital sites. Mothers and their infants were videotaped during a 5- minute feeding. The feeding session was coded for touch and gaze, utilizing coding scales similar to those of Polan and Ward (1994) and Moszkowski and Stack (2007). Infant self-touch significantly predicted infant EEG asymmetry scores. Non-depressed and depressed breast-feeding mothers displayed more affectionate touch while depressed bottle-feeding mothers displayed an absence of touch.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172700
Subject Headings: Pediatric neuropsychology, Child development, Parent and child, Interpersonal communication, Developmental psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Adolescent relationships and their contributions to social and academic competence.
Creator: Jones-Hudson, Vonda Dionne, Florida Atlantic University, Laursen, Brett, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: School success is associated with parent- and peer-relationships. To study the connection between these alliances and school success, 30 African-American and 30 European-American 6th graders were given the Relationship Closeness Inventory, Network of Relationships Inventory, Self-Perception Profile, Revised Class Play, and Youth Self-Report. A parent and best friend also completed surveys. Results show parent and peer support relates to the social competence of youth. Father support is...
Show moreSchool success is associated with parent- and peer-relationships. To study the connection between these alliances and school success, 30 African-American and 30 European-American 6th graders were given the Relationship Closeness Inventory, Network of Relationships Inventory, Self-Perception Profile, Revised Class Play, and Youth Self-Report. A parent and best friend also completed surveys. Results show parent and peer support relates to the social competence of youth. Father support is associated with female aggressive-disruptive behavior, and best friend support is associated with sensitive-isolated behavior in boys. African-American parents do more social events with their children than European-American parents do with their children. European-Americans and males have higher socioeconomic status than African-Americans and females.
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Date Issued: 1997
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15436
Subject Headings: Child development, Parent and child, Social interaction in adolescence, Academic achievement, Friendship
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Trait Mindfulness in Children: The Effects on Stress Reactivity and Self-Regulation.
Creator: Marchesani, Alexandra, Jones, Nancy Aaron, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Recent success of mindfulness-based interventions in adult and clinical populations, as well as in classroom settings, has spurred the need for a more thorough understanding of mindfulness as a trait that can affect early development of self-regulatory characteristics. The current study used previously collected data on 4th and 5th graders to explore the relationships between trait mindfulness, self-regulation, and stress reactivity, measured using cortisol levels. Self-regulation was...
Show moreRecent success of mindfulness-based interventions in adult and clinical populations, as well as in classroom settings, has spurred the need for a more thorough understanding of mindfulness as a trait that can affect early development of self-regulatory characteristics. The current study used previously collected data on 4th and 5th graders to explore the relationships between trait mindfulness, self-regulation, and stress reactivity, measured using cortisol levels. Self-regulation was measured using effortful control (attention, inhibitory control, and activation control), conscientiousness, agreeableness, negative emotion regulation, and openness to experience. Cortisol findings were significant for negative emotion regulation. Results revealed several significant positive associations between trait mindfulness and several self-regulatory characteristics among people who did and did not respond to a stressor. Further research is necessary to tease apart the unique contribution of individual self-regulatory characteristics, including trait mindfulness, on stress reactivity.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014270
Subject Headings: Mindfulness (Psychology), Child development, Child psychology, Self-management (Psychology) for children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Does children's attachment style influence children's perception of the parent?.
Creator: Kabbas, Diane R., Florida Atlantic University, Perry, David G., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This thesis examined the possibility of meaningful associations between children's attachment styles in middle childhood and children's perceptions of the parent. Participants were 199 students (94 males, 105 females) in grades three through eight (mean age = 11.03 years) from a Florida university school. The children were administered self-report measures and peer-report nomination measures. Five attachment coping strategies (preoccupied, indecisive, avoidant, coercive, and caregiving) and...
Show moreThis thesis examined the possibility of meaningful associations between children's attachment styles in middle childhood and children's perceptions of the parent. Participants were 199 students (94 males, 105 females) in grades three through eight (mean age = 11.03 years) from a Florida university school. The children were administered self-report measures and peer-report nomination measures. Five attachment coping strategies (preoccupied, indecisive, avoidant, coercive, and caregiving) and four aspects of perceived maternal behavior (reliable support, overprotection, harassment, and fear induction) were assessed and numerous and meaningful associations were found. For example, perceived maternal overprotection was positively associated with preoccupied coping. Significant associations were also found between our avoidant, coercive, indecisive, and caregiving coping measures and perceived maternal reliable support, harassment, and fear induction. Our numerous and significant findings lend further support for the usefulness and value of our concurrent correlational self-report measures and to justify future longitudinal research to compare alternative models.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13271
Subject Headings: Attachment behavior in children, Parent and child--Research, Adjustment (Psychology), Attachment behavior in adolescence, Mother and child, Child development
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Feeding patterns effect brain development in infancy.
Creator: Barrera, Chloe, Jones, Nancy Aaron
Date Issued: 2012-04-06
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3348623
Subject Headings: Child development, Breast feeding, Infant nutritional physiological phenomena, Brain waves --physiology, Brain --growth & development
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Cultural Influences on Mother-Child Conversations in Monolingual European American, Monolingual Hispanic American and Bilingual Hispanic American Mothers.
Creator: Shanks, Katherine Alexandra Filippi, Hoff, Erika, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: Adult-child interactions vary between cultures. For example, Hispanic parents are characterized by a more adult-centered style of interaction with children, while European American parents are more child-centered. Little is known about the influences cultural differences may have on the ways that Spanish-English bilingual parents speak to their children in each language. To address this question, 17 monolingual Spanish-speaking Hispanic American mothers, 22 monolingual English-speaking...
Show moreAdult-child interactions vary between cultures. For example, Hispanic parents are characterized by a more adult-centered style of interaction with children, while European American parents are more child-centered. Little is known about the influences cultural differences may have on the ways that Spanish-English bilingual parents speak to their children in each language. To address this question, 17 monolingual Spanish-speaking Hispanic American mothers, 22 monolingual English-speaking European American mothers, and 33 Spanish-English bilingual mothers were videorecorded in toy-play interactions with their children. The bilingual mothers and children were recorded in two sessions, one in which they were instructed to speak English and one in which they were instructed to speak Spanish. Using CHILDES programs, these interactions were transcribed and coded for properties of parent-child conversation known to be related to child language outcomes and hypothesized to reflect parent-centered and child-centered styles of interaction. The parent-child conversations of the two monolingual groups were compared in order to obtain baseline cultural differences in interaction style. The parentchild conversations of the bilingual mothers when speaking Spanish and when speaking English were compared in terms of the properties that showed differences between the monolingual groups. The conversations of the monolingual Hispanic American mothers were characterized by fewer maternal word types, and proportionately fewer maternal questions, and fewer child utterances than the conversations of the monolingual European American mothers. These differences were reflected in the comparisons of the bilingual mothers’ Spanish and English interactions with the exception of number of word types. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that (1) Spanish-speaking Hispanic American mothers use a more adult-centered style of interaction with their children compared to European American mothers, who use a more child-centered style of interacting with children and that (2) Hispanic American bilingual mothers reflect aspects of these cultural differences when speaking each language with their children.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013414
Subject Headings: Mother and child, Mother and child--Cross-cultural studies, Language Development, Hispanic Americans, European Americans, Conversation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EEG in preschool children and the development of empathy.
Creator: Almeida, Amanda N., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Empathy has been shown to have many positive outcomes in individuals at every stage throughout life. It promotes sociability, helping behaviors, and can protect against the development of psychopathology. Evolutionary theorists have hypothesized that humans have a biological predisposition for empathic response. Temperament, as well as parental interaction with children, account for individual differences in empathic response levels. Much research has also looked at maternal depression as a...
Show moreEmpathy has been shown to have many positive outcomes in individuals at every stage throughout life. It promotes sociability, helping behaviors, and can protect against the development of psychopathology. Evolutionary theorists have hypothesized that humans have a biological predisposition for empathic response. Temperament, as well as parental interaction with children, account for individual differences in empathic response levels. Much research has also looked at maternal depression as a key factor in children's negative emotional responding. We used EEG to measure individual differences in children's empathic emotional responding, as well as parental interaction and its impact on empathy and prosocial development. Results show that children rated as being more sociable are more likely to show outward expressions of empathy. Also, those with greater right frontal asymmetry are more likely to assist others in a prosocial manner.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/228771
Subject Headings: Emotions in children, Parent and child, Developmental psychology, Socialization, Psychological aspects, Child development, Helping behavior in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Why rush growing up? A test of the cognitive immaturity hypothesis.
Creator: Rosenberg, Justin S., Florida Atlantic University, Bjorklund, David F.
Abstract/Description: This study examined the hypothesis that cognitive immaturity may serve an adaptive purpose for children at a time in ontogeny when they are not capable of ensuring their own survival. Participants were presented pairs of scenarios of 3- and 9-year-old children expressing either immature or mature cognition. Participants were asked to select the child (immature vs. mature) which best reflected each of 11 different psychological traits that were ultimately grouped into 3 trait dimensions: cute,...
Show moreThis study examined the hypothesis that cognitive immaturity may serve an adaptive purpose for children at a time in ontogeny when they are not capable of ensuring their own survival. Participants were presented pairs of scenarios of 3- and 9-year-old children expressing either immature or mature cognition. Participants were asked to select the child (immature vs. mature) which best reflected each of 11 different psychological traits that were ultimately grouped into 3 trait dimensions: cute, deceptive, and smart. Participants received one of 6 pairs of scenarios reflecting examples of either intuitive cognition or nonintuitive cognition. Participants selected the immature child as being more cute and less deceptive than the mature child for the intuitive vignettes, but not for the nonintuitive vignettes. This pattern suggests that some forms of immature cognition do indeed bias adults to feel more favorably toward the children who express them and may foster positive parent-child relationship.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13387
Subject Headings: Developmental psychobiology, Developmental neurobiology, Child development--Research, Cognition in children, Individual differences in children, Parent and child
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Verb acquisition and generalization strategies of preschool children.
Creator: Pruzansky, Rita, Earles, Julie, Kersten, Alan
Date Issued: 2012-04-06
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3350924
Subject Headings: Child development, Cognitive grammar, Language acquisition --Age factors, Language arts (Early childhood), Psycholinguistics, Children --Language
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Children's conceptual understanding of growth.
Creator: Copeland, Aquilla D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Growth is a property that is unique to living things. Studies demonstrate that even preschool children use growth to determine whether objects are alive. However, little identifies explanations that children use to attribute growth. The goal of the present study was to investigate how people reason about growth. We hypothesized that older children would outperform younger children in understanding that growth is inevitable for living things, while adults would consistently perform at ceiling...
Show moreGrowth is a property that is unique to living things. Studies demonstrate that even preschool children use growth to determine whether objects are alive. However, little identifies explanations that children use to attribute growth. The goal of the present study was to investigate how people reason about growth. We hypothesized that older children would outperform younger children in understanding that growth is inevitable for living things, while adults would consistently perform at ceiling levels. Our hypothesis was partially supported. Although adults consistently outperformed children, older children rarely outperformed younger children. Still, both younger and older children performed above chance in attributing growth. Moreover, all participants were more likely to use biological explanations to explain growth. Taken together, this research qualifies the early hypotheses of Piaget (1929) and Carey (1985) that children lack a well developed biological domain before age nine, but suggests that a biological domain, though less developed, is present. Based on these findings, implications for more efficient approaches to science education are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2974434
Subject Headings: Cognition in children, Imagery (Psychology) in children, Child development, Identity (Psychology) in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The relation of joint engagement and sustained attention to gender, context, and language development: a longitudinal study.
Creator: Welsh, Stephanie N., Hoff, Erika, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The present study investigated the relation of children’s attentional behaviors to context, gender, and their language skills. Participants were 33 children and their parents. The following attentional behaviors were measured based on coding of video recordings of 30-minute free-play interactions at 30 months: time spent in engaged states (attending to an object, person, or event) and frequency of changes from one engagement state to another. Children’s productive vocabulary and language...
Show moreThe present study investigated the relation of children’s attentional behaviors to context, gender, and their language skills. Participants were 33 children and their parents. The following attentional behaviors were measured based on coding of video recordings of 30-minute free-play interactions at 30 months: time spent in engaged states (attending to an object, person, or event) and frequency of changes from one engagement state to another. Children’s productive vocabulary and language comprehension were measured using standardized tests at 30, 36, and 42 months. Males spent more time in joint engagement and switched engagement states less frequently. Children spent more time engaged during Animal and Picnic toy play than Book reading. Children attended longer to picnic-related objects than animal-related objects or books, and attended longer to animal- related objects than books. Longer sustained attention—measured as lower frequencies of state switches—was related to higher concurrent and future language comprehension scores.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004419, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004419
Subject Headings: Child development, Communicative competence in children, Language acquisition -- Parent participation, Verbal ability in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Tracking infant attention to talking faces.
Creator: Tift, Amy H., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Speech perception plays an important role in how infants begin to produce speech. This study aims to understand how changes in infant selective attention to various parts of talking faces guides their understanding of speech and subsequent production. In this study, we tracked infant (4-12 months of age) and adult gaze patterns to determine where on a face they attend, when hearing and seeing the face speak in either their native (English) or a non-native language (Spanish). We also tracked...
Show moreSpeech perception plays an important role in how infants begin to produce speech. This study aims to understand how changes in infant selective attention to various parts of talking faces guides their understanding of speech and subsequent production. In this study, we tracked infant (4-12 months of age) and adult gaze patterns to determine where on a face they attend, when hearing and seeing the face speak in either their native (English) or a non-native language (Spanish). We also tracked infant selective attention to moving-silent and silent-static faces, to determine if this would result in different patterns of attention. The findings suggest that there are two shifts in infant attention. The first shift occurs between four and eight months of age, with infants shifting their eyes to the mouth of the talking face. The second shift occurs around twelve months of age, when infants begin to return their gaze back to the eye region when hearing and seeing their native language, but continue to attend to the mouth region when hearing and seeing the non-native language. Overall, the results of this study suggest that changes in selective attention to talking faces guides the development of speech production and is dependent on early language experience.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359157
Subject Headings: Child development, Visual perception in infants, Cognition in infants, Interpersonal communication in infants, Language acquisition
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Investigating the Mechanisms Underlying Infant Selective Attention to Multisensory Speech.
Creator: Tift, Amy H., Bjorklund, David F., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: From syllables to fluent speech, it is important for infants to quickly learn and decipher linguistic information. To do this, infants must not only use their auditory perception but also their visual perception to understand speech and language as a multisensory coherent event. Previous research by Lewkowicz and Hansen-Tift (2012) demonstrated that infants shift their allocation of visual attention from the eyes to the mouth of the speaker's face throughout development as they become...
Show moreFrom syllables to fluent speech, it is important for infants to quickly learn and decipher linguistic information. To do this, infants must not only use their auditory perception but also their visual perception to understand speech and language as a multisensory coherent event. Previous research by Lewkowicz and Hansen-Tift (2012) demonstrated that infants shift their allocation of visual attention from the eyes to the mouth of the speaker's face throughout development as they become interested in speech production. This project examined how infants, from 4-14-months of age, allocate their visual attention to increasingly complex speech tasks. In Experiment 1, infants were presented with upright and inverted faces vocalizing syllables and the results demonstrated that in response to the upright faces, 4-month-old infants attended to the eyes and 8- and 10-month-olds attended equally to the eyes and mouth. In response to the inverted face presentation, both the 4- and 10-month-olds attended equally to the eyes and mouth but the 8-month olds attended to the eyes. In Experiment 2, infants were presented with a phoneme matching task (Patterson & Werker, 1999, 2002, 2003) and the results demonstrated that the 4-month-old infants successfully matched the voice to the corresponding face, but that older infants did not. Measures of their selective attention to this task showed that the 4-month-old infants attended more to the eyes of the faces during the task, not attending to the redundant speech information at the mouth, but older infants attended equally to the eyes and mouth, although they did not match the voice to the face. Experiment 3 presented infants with a fluent speech matching task (Lewkowicz et al., 2015) which demonstrated that although the infants (12-14-months) did not systematically match the voice to the corresponding face, the infants attended more to the mouth region, which would have provided them with the neces sary redundant information. Overall, these studies demonstrate that there are developmental changes in how infants distribute their visual attention to faces as they learn about speech and that the complexity of the speech is a critical factor in how they allocate their visual attention.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004551
Subject Headings: Child development, Cognition in infants, Interpersonal communication in infants, Language acquisition, Visual perception in infants
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Attachment and adjustment in preadolescence.
Creator: Corby, Brooke C., Florida Atlantic University, Perry, David G.
Abstract/Description: This concurrent correlational study examined the relations among perceived parenting, child coping/attachment style, and adjustment outcomes in middle childhood. Instruments measuring children's perceptions of their parents, their style of coping, and their adjustment were administered to 199 children in the third through eighth grades (mean age 11 years). This study tested newly developed self-report scales measuring aspects of disorganized attachment in middle childhood, identified...
Show moreThis concurrent correlational study examined the relations among perceived parenting, child coping/attachment style, and adjustment outcomes in middle childhood. Instruments measuring children's perceptions of their parents, their style of coping, and their adjustment were administered to 199 children in the third through eighth grades (mean age 11 years). This study tested newly developed self-report scales measuring aspects of disorganized attachment in middle childhood, identified perceived parenting correlates of five child coping styles, investigated how the five coping styles relate to adjustment outcomes, and explored the possibility of indecision interacting with other child coping styles to influence adjustment outcomes. The new measures of indecision, caregiving, and coercive coping styles proved to be reliable and related to perceived parenting and adjustment in meaningful ways. Perceptions of parents as being harassing and low in reliable support were linked with avoidant behaviors in children, whereas perceptions of parents as low in harassment and high in overprotectiveness were linked with preoccupied behaviors. Low reliable support and high levels of fear induction were associated with high levels of indecision, whereas high reliable support was correlated with caregiving behaviors and low reliable support was correlated with coercion. In regards to children's adjustment being affected by their coping style, evidence was found linking externalizing behaviors to coercive coping style and internalizing behaviors to caregiving coping style. When investigating interactions among coping styles predicting adjustment, indecision was found to interact with low levels of preoccupied coping in girls to predict externalizing behaviors, whereas indecision interacted with avoidant coping for both boys and girls to predict greater externalizing behaviors. Caregiving was found to weaken the link between indecision and externalizing and indecision was found to magnify the effects of coercion on externalizing behaviors. Finally, girls who were high in caregiving and low in indecision were found to exhibit increased internalizing behaviors.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12200
Subject Headings: Parent and teenager, Attachment behavior in adolescence, Adolescent psychology, Child development
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (21)	+ -
FAU Undergraduate Student Research (3)	+ -
FAU Graduate Student Research (1)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (1)	+ -

Child development (22)	+ -
Parent and child (5)	+ -
Attachment behavior in adolescence (3)	+ -
Cognition in children (3)	+ -
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