Children's ability to distinguish between imagined and performed actions: implications for eye-witness testimony

Past findings indicate that young children have, in comparison to older children and adults, more difficulties remembering the source of information and distinguishing between real and imagined events (Ceci & Bruck, 1993; Foley & Ratner, 1998). The current study extended these findings by asking 4-6-year-olds, 9-year-olds and adults to remember whether an action had been performed or imagined by themselves or by the experimenter during the learning phase. Two types of actions were included: 1. interactive touch (eg. the actor touched the other person on the nose), 2. interactive gesture (eg. the actor waved 'good bye' to the other person). This condition was included to make results relevant to court cases of alleged abuse in which children are often asked to remember whether the accused touched them and where. Results indicated that the 4-6-year-olds were more likely than the other to groups to confuse whether they or the experimenter had performed the action and whether the action had actually happened or was merely imagined. There were no differences for type of action. These results suggest that preschool children may make unreliable witnesses when questioned about the source, reality and type of previous actions

The Role of Sound in Encouraging Infants with Congenital Blindness to Reach for Objects

Ihsen E, Troester H, Brambring M. The Role of Sound in Encouraging Infants with Congenital Blindness to Reach for Objects. JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS. 2010;104(8):478-488.Reaching for sound-producing and silent objects was assessed in seven infants who had been blind from birth. Objects were presented while they were in tactile contact with their bodies, immediately after withdrawal, or without prior contact. The study found that sound elicited reaching earlier than did antecedent tactile contact. These findings are compared with those of previous studies

The relationship between symbolic play and executive function in young children

The role of executive function, specifically inhibitory control and generativity, in symbolic play was investigated in 20 children aged 48-89 months. Assessment of inhibitory control was via the Sun-Moon Stroop task, and generativity was assessed with the Semantic Fluency task, as well as a new object substitution task which required children to generate as many uses of toys as possible. Symbolic play ability was assessed under both structured conditions, using the Test of Pretend Play (Lewis and Boucher, 1997), and during free play. The results indicated that the ability to inhibit prepotent responses was associated with children's symbolic play skills, even after controlling for mental age. In contrast, generativity scores on both tasks were not correlated with symbolic play, indicating that only some aspects of executive function are implicated in symbolic play. The validity of the tasks used to measure executive function is discussed

The control of manual skills in children with Down syndrome

It is widely accepted that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) experience difficulty performing motor skills. The impact of these performance difficulties is widespread, affecting achievement in academic settings in tasks such as writing and using a keyboard, and compromising efficiency in employment and recreational opportunities. One of the strong motivations for our program of research on motor behavior in children with DS is the maximization of participation of individuals in school, home, and community life. Our work has been concerned with everyday manipulative skills and their adaptive performance under different contextual conditions, which, arguably, are critical for achieving independence and full participation in all aspects of life. This work has explored the fundamental nature of movement difficulties in DS within the framework of a Coordinated Control Program for reach-to-grasp actions (Arbib, 1981; Hoff & Arbib, 1993) and has been guided by current research describing the kinematic characteristics and neurological correlates of upper-limb control in prehension (Jeannerod, 1981, 1984, 1997; Jeannerod & Rosetti, 1993). Later in this chapter we introduce the model of coordinated control for reaching and grasping and describe its application to the study of motor difficulties in DS. First, we provide a brief overview of development across a number of domains, highlighting the nature of the developmental path, areas of atypicality, and the influence of multiple constraints on motor performance in individuals with DS

The effect of childhood sports participation experiences on adult motivation to be physically active

Abstract not available

The impact of age and functional abilities on estimating safe gaps when crossing roads

A series of observational studies highlighted age differences in road-crossing behaviour of pedestrians, particularly in selecting safe gaps in the traffic. This finding was followed up in a series of experimental studies in which the factors that may influence gap selection decisions were investigated in a simulated road crossing environment. Data on perceptual and cognitive function were also collected. The results showed that distance and time gaps were good predictors of crossing decisions for all age groups (young, young-old and old-old), indicating that even the oldest pedestrians seem to be able to process concurrent information about the distance and speed of approaching vehicles in order to estimate time gaps. It was also found that many older adults made risky decisions when compared with predicted responses based on walking time. In addition, some association between performance on physical, perceptual and cognitive skills and road crossing responses were found. The results are discussed in terms of age-related perceptual and cognitive limitations and the ability to compensate for these limitations

Crossing roads safely: an experimental study of age differences in gap selection by pedestrians

The over-representation of older pedestrians in serious injury and fatal crashes compared to younger adults may be due, in part, to age-related diminished ability to select gaps in oncoming traffic for safe road-crossing. Two experiments are described that examine age differences in gap selection decisions in a simulated road-crossing environment. Three groups of participants were tested, younger (30-45 years), young-old (60-69 years) and old-old (>75 years). The results showed that, for all age groups, gap selection was primarily based on vehicle distance and less so on time-of-arrival. Despite the apparent ability to process the distance and speed of oncoming traffic when given enough time to do so, many of the old-old adults appeared to select insufficiently large gaps. These results are discussed in terms of age-related physical, perceptual and cognitive limitations and the ability to compensate for these limitations. Practical implications for road safety countermeasures are also highlighted, particularly the provision of safe road environments and development of behavioural and training packages

Age differences in road crossing decisions based on gap judgements

Abstract not available

Road crossing behaviour of older pedestrians

Older pedestrians are over-represented in serious-injury and fatal road crashes. In these studies the possibility that this over-representation is at least in part due to differences in road-crossing behaviour was investigated. Three groups of pedestrians were unobtrusively and anonymously observed when they were crossing busy one-way and two-way roads mid-way between traffic lights. The “young“ group ranged in estimated age from 30-45 years, the “young-olds“ from 60-69 years and the “old-olds“ were estimated to be 75 and older. The results showed that old-old pedestrians in particular seem to be at increased risk of colliding with a vehicle on a two-way road because in comparison with young pedestrians they are on the road for longer (slower walking), they cross roads more often when there is on-coming traffic in the far lane, and while they seem to compensate for slow walking by leaving larger distance gaps, they do not leave larger time gaps between themselves and the oncoming vehicle. This risk is reduced on one-way roads and for young-old pedestrians. It seems that on a more complex road, old-old pedestrians have difficulties processing concurrently multiple sources of information: traffic in both directions and speed and distance of oncoming vehicles