Augmented Reality for the assessment of children's spatial memory in real settings

Short-term memory can be defined as the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active state for a short period of time. There are no available, specific, and adapted instruments to study the development of memory and spatial orientation in people while they are moving. In this paper, we present the ARSM (Augmented Reality Spatial Memory) task, the first Augmented Reality task that involves a user's movement to assess spatial short-term memory in healthy children. The experimental procedure of the ARSM task was designed to assess the children s skill to retain visuospatial information. They were individually asked to remember the real place where augmented reality objects were located. The children (N=76) were divided into two groups: preschool (5-6 year olds) and primary school (7-8 year olds). We found a significant improvement in ARSM task performance in the older group. The correlations between scores for the ARSM task and traditional procedures were significant. These traditional procedures were the Dot Matrix subtest for the assessment of visuospatial short-term memory of the computerized AWMA-2 battery and a parent s questionnaire about a child s everyday spatial memory. Hence, we suggest that the ARSM task has high verisimilitude with spatial short-term memory skills in real life. In addition, we evaluated the ARSM task s usability and perceived satisfaction. The study revealed that the younger children were more satisfied with the ARSM task. This novel instrument could be useful in detecting visuospatial short-term difficulties that affect school academic achievementFunded by the Spanish Government (MINECO) and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) in the CHILDMNEMOS project TIN2012-37381-C02-01, Gobierno de Aragon (Dpt. Industria e Innovacion), Fondo Social Europeo, Fundacion Universitaria Antonio Gargallo and Obra Social Ibercaja. 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A gestural repertoire of 1-2year old human children : in search of the ape gestures

This project was made possible with the generous financial help of the Baverstock Bequest to the Psychology and Neuroscience Department at the University of St Andrews.When we compare human gestures to those of other apes, it looks at first like there is nothing much to compare at all. In adult humans, gestures are thought to be a window into the thought processes accompanying language, and sign languages are equal to spoken language with all of its features. While some research firmly emphasises the difference between human gestures and those of other apes, the question about whether there are any commonalities has rarely been investigated, and is mostly confined to pointing gestures. The gestural repertoires of nonhuman ape species have been carefully studied and described with regard to their form and function – but similar approaches are much rarer in the study of human gestures. This paper applies the methodology commonly used in the study of nonhuman ape gestures to the gestural communication of human children in their second year of life. We recorded (n=13) children’s gestures in a natural setting with peers and caregivers in Germany and Uganda. Children employed 52 distinct gestures, 46 (89%) of which are present in the chimpanzee repertoire. Like chimpanzees, they used them both singly, and in sequences; and employed individual gestures flexibly towards different goals.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Indigenous Children’s Language Practices in Australia

While the documentation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages has attracted considerable research attention, the use of these languages by children has only recently emerged as a field of research. Building on the small number of early studies of these children’s language acquisition, development, and practices, we review the now considerable variety of studies which have explored Australian Aboriginal children’s early language learning environments and processes. In this ecologically complex linguistic environment, studies investigate children’s acquisition of some remaining traditional languages—often in multilingual contexts, child-directed speech styles and practices, and the development of new and emerging contact languages—both mixed languages and creoles, and the ways that children and young people are altering and innovating the language ecologies. The studies focus particularly on those children who are being raised in remote settings where, while English is taught in school, it is neither the language the children learn as their first language nor the language of the community in which the children live