Almost being there: video communication with young children: interview with Joanne Tarasuik

Jill Emberson talks to Joanne Tarasuik about her paper, 'Almost being there: video communication with young children'

Almost being there: video communication with young children: interview with Joanne Tarasuik

Lindy Burns talks to Joanne Tarasuik about her paper, 'Almost being there: video communication with young children'

Seeing is believing but is hearing? Comparing audio and video communication for young children

Video communication has been shown to create a sense of proximity between young children and parents. To determine if video affords a stronger sense of proximity and engagement than a traditional telephone, the current experiment employed a Separation and Reunion Paradigm with either a video-link or an audio-link available to the separated dyad. Results revealed that during the separation with a video-link, more children remained content to be physically alone than during the audio-link, children played more and displayed more positive affect. This is the first empirical demonstration that video provides a stronger sense of proximity and enjoyment for young children than audio, suggesting that video is a more appropriate medium to meaningfully connect children to relatives during geographical separation

Transfer of Problem Solving Skills from Touchscreen to 3D Model by 3- to 6-Year-Olds

Although much published research purports that young children struggle to solve problems from screen-based media and to transfer learning from a virtual to a physical modality, Huber et al. (2016)’s recent study on children solving the Tower of Hanoi (ToH) problem on a touchscreen app offers a clear counter example. Huber et al. (2016) reported that children transferred learning from media to the physical world. As this finding arguably differs from that of prior research in this area, the current study tests whether the Huber et al. (2016) results could be replicated. Additionally, we extended the scope of the Huber et al. (2016) work by testing a broader age range, including children as young as 3 years, and using a culturally distinct participant pool. The results of the current study verified Huber et al.’s (2016) conclusion that 4- to 6-year-old children are capable of transferring the ToH learning from touchscreen devices to the physical version of the puzzle. Children under 4 years of age, in contrast, showed little ability to improve at the ToH problem regardless of the practice modality—suggesting that a different problem-solving task is required to probe very young children’s ability to learn from touchscreen apps

Almost being there: video communication with young children

Background: Video communication is increasingly used to connect people around the world. This includes connecting young children with their parents and other relatives during times of separation. An important issue is the extent to which video communication with children can approximate a physical presence such that familial relationships can be truly maintained by this means. Methodology/Principal Findings: The current study employed an adaptation of the Separation and Reunion Paradigm with children (17 months to 5 years) to investigate the potential for video communication with a parent to afford a sense of proximity and security to children. The protocol involved a free-play session with the parent, followed by two separationreunion episodes. During one of the separation episodes the parent was ‘virtually available’ to the child via a video link. Our results revealed three important differences. First, children left alone played longer in a strange room when their parent was virtually available to them compared to when the children were left alone with neither physical nor video contact with their parent. Second, younger participants sought physical contact with their parent less at the end of the video separation episode compared to when they were left entirely alone. Finally, the comparison between free play with video and free play with parent, revealed that the children exhibit a similar level of interactivity with their parent by video as they did in person. Conclusions/Significance: For young children a video connection can have many of the same effects as a physical presence. This is a significant finding as it is the first such empirical demonstration and indicates considerable promise in video communication as a tool to maintain family relationships when physical presence is not possible

Variations in EEG spectra and alpha coherence associated with Emotional Intelligence

Previous Research has outlined a theoretical basis for EI as well as significant empirical relationships relating to important outcome variables such as leadership, satisfaction with life and other life related criteria. However, little is known about the biological basis of this construct. An exploratory study was performed to investigate whether a biological basis of EI could be established. EEG from 24 participants aged between 18 and 44 (M=24.79, SD=6.08), was recorded whilst completing an ability based computerized EI task. Participants also completed the self-report Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT). Participants were separated into a high and low EI groups based on their scores on the SUEIT. The topographical distribution of brain activity for the two groups demonstrated differences in both EEG spectra and Alpha coherence

Parental misperception of youngest child size

After the birth of a second child many parents report that their first child appears to grow suddenly and substantially larger. Why is this? One possibility is that this is simply a contrast effect that stems from comparing the older sibling to the new baby: everything looks big compared to a newborn . But, such reports could be the result of a far more interesting biopsychological phenomenon. More specifically, we hypothesized that human parents are subject to a kind of baby illusion under which they routinely misperceive their youngest child as smaller than he/she really is, regardless of the child s age. Then, when a new baby is born, this illusion ceases and the parent sees, for the first time, the erstwhile youngest at its true size. By this account the apparent growth results from the mismatch of the parent s now accurate perception with the stored memories of earlier misperceptions. Here we report that the baby illusion is a real and commonly occurring effect that recasts our understanding of how infantile features motivate parental caregiving

The English proficiency and academic language skills of Australian bilingual children during the primary school years

Purpose: Evidence suggests that early proficiency in the language of school instruction is an important predictor of academic success for bilingual children. This study investigated whether English-proficiency at 4–5 years of age predicts academic language and literacy skills among Australian bilingual children at 10–11 years of age, as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC, 2012). Method: The LSAC comprises a nationally representative clustered cross-sequential sample of Australian children. Data were analysed from a sub-sample of 129 bilingual children from the LSAC Kindergarten cohort (n = 4983), for whom teachers completed the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) checklist (a population measure of early childhood development) and the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) language and literacy subscale. Result: Linear regression analyses revealed that bilingual children who commenced school with stronger English proficiency had higher academic language and literacy scores at the end of primary school (β = 0.45). English proficiency remained a significant predictor, even when accounting for gender and socio-economic disadvantage (β = 0.38). Conclusion: The findings indicate that bilingual children who begin school without English proficiency are at risk of difficulties with academic language and literacy, even after 6 years of schooling. Risk factors need to be identified so early support can be targeted towards the most vulnerable children