Young children’s screen time during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 12 countries

Older children with online schooling requirements, unsurprisingly, were reported to have increased screen time during the frst COVID-19 lockdown in many countries. Here, we ask whether younger children with no similar online schooling requirements also had increased screen time during lockdown. We examined children’s screen time during the frst COVID-19 lockdown in a large cohort (n= 2209) of 8-to-36-month-olds sampled from 15 labs across 12 countries. Caregivers reported that toddlers with no online schooling requirements were exposed to more screen time during lockdown than before lockdown. While this was exacerbated for countries with longer lockdowns, there was no evidence that the increase in screen time during lockdown was associated with socio-demographic variables, such as child age and socio-economic status (SES). However, screen time during lockdown was negatively associated with SES and positively associated with child age, caregiver screen time, and attitudes towards children’s screen time. The results highlight the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on young children’s screen time

COVID-19 first lockdown as a window into language acquisition: Associations between caregiver-child activities and vocabulary gains

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting closure of daycare centers worldwide, led to unprecedented changes in children’s learning environments. This period of increased time at home with caregivers, with limited access to external sources (e.g., daycares) provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between the caregiver-child activities and children’s language development. The vocabularies of 1742 children aged 8-36 months across 13 countries and 12 languages were evaluated at the beginning and end of the first lockdown period in their respective countries (from March to September 2020). Children who had less passive screen exposure and whose caregivers read more to them showed larger gains in vocabulary development during lockdown, after controlling for SES and other caregiver-child activities. Children also gained more words than expected (based on normative data) during lockdown; either caregivers were more aware of their child’s development or vocabulary development benefited from intense caregiver-child interaction during lockdown

Guidelines for Designing Social Robots as Second Language Tutors

In recent years, it has been suggested that social robots have potential as tutors and educators for both children and adults. While robots have been shown to be effective in teaching knowledge and skill-based topics, we wish to explore how social robots can be used to tutor a second language to young children. As language learning relies on situated, grounded and social learning, in which interaction and repeated practice are central, social robots hold promise as educational tools for supporting second language learning. This paper surveys the developmental psychology of second language learning and suggests an agenda to study how core concepts of second language learning can be taught by a social robot. It suggests guidelines for designing robot tutors based on observations of second language learning in human–human scenarios, various technical aspects and early studies regarding the effectiveness of social robots as second language tutors

Learning with robots: the potential of social robots from the perspective of language education

This article discusses research on the use of “social robots” in early language education. The paper consists of three main sections. The first section briefly describes what social robots are and provides the theoretical rationale for their applicability in language education. The second section introduces different empirical works, while highlighting established findings and the gaps in the literature. Finally, drawing on my recent research on gestures and individual differences, I discuss the prospects of language education and child–robot interaction (CRI) and provide recommendations for future research. Social robots have the potential to meet needs that human teachers or other digital devices cannot. However, research remains limited and is in the phase of exploring different possibilities. The lack of clear support for the effectiveness of social robots should be considered a good research opportunity. I invite scholars from diverse backgrounds to join this critical and exciting effort

How classifiers affect the mental representation of entities

A cup is no longer a ‘cup’ when it breaks into pieces. In contrast, clay stays ‘clay’ even if it is divided into small lumps. Understanding the difference between objects and substances is fundamental to our cognition, and without it, we are unable to judge ‘the sameness’ of an entity. In English and many other languages, objects are labeled with count nouns, which can take singular and plural forms, whereas substances are labeled with mass nouns that cannot be enumerated. Quine (1969) proposed that the grammatical distinction is necessary for children to learn the difference between objects and substances, and thus speakers of a language that seem to lack systematic count/mass marking, such as Japanese, fail to understand the distinction. This chapter explores the Quinean claim in three sections. In the first section, we address Japanese children’s abilities to distinguish objects and substances. The second section challenges the very notion of the Japanese language lacking the count/mass grammar and entertains the possibility of the numeral classifier system in Japanese grammatically marking objects and substances. In the final section, we propose general conclusions concerning the linguistic representation of objects and substances in the mind of Japanese speakers and discuss the relation between language and cognition as well as possible future researc

Locating past and future: the influence of spatial ability on time representation

The representation of time depends heavily on spatial skills. Saj et al. (2014) demonstrated that left-hemispatial neglect patients, who lost the ability to detect objects in their left visual field, have a selective deficit in remembering items corresponding to the past, i.e., the left side of their mental timeline. The current study used the same memory task but tested neurotypical individuals (N = 76) to examine whether individual differences in spatial ability as well as learning order (chronological vs. random) predict how well participants remember items and associations between the item and time (past or future). Our results indicate that higher spatial ability and chronological learning both lead to better memory. This study is among the first to demonstrate how individual differences may impact time representation and memory that relies on a mental timeline

Locating past and future: The Influence of Spatial Ability and Learning Order on Memory for Items and Time

The representation of time depends heavily on spatial skills. Saj et al. (2014) demonstrated that left-hemispatial neglect patients, who lost the ability to detect objects in their left visual field, have a selective deficit in remembering items corresponding to the past, i.e., the left side of their mental timeline. The current study used the same memory task but tested neurotypical individuals (N = 76) to examine whether individual differences in spatial ability (assessed with Mental Rotation and Line Estimation tasks) as well as learning order (chronological vs. random) predict how well participants remember items and associations between the item and time (past or future). Our results indicate that higher spatial ability and chronological learning both lead to better memory both in recall and recognition tests. This study is among the first to demonstrate how individual differences may impact time representation and memory that relies on a mental timeline

Robots or peers? Evaluating young children's attitudes towards robots using the intergroup contact theory

This pilot study is one of the first to investigate child-robot interaction (CRI) using the intergroup contact procedure. We examined how a brief positive intergroup contact with a humanoid robot (NAO) affects children's attitudes towards robots. To evaluate young children's attitudes towards humanoid robots, we tested 39 children (4-6 years old) in an experimental design comparing the interaction condition and the no-interaction condition. Results indicate that, unlike adults in previous studies, our child participants consistently exhibited positive attitudes towards the robot regardless of the condition, but children in the interaction condition favored the robot over an ingroup peer more strongly than did children in the no-interaction condition. We discuss the possibility that young children see robots as an admired outgroup and favor them over their ingroup members. Our findings provide important insights into the status of humanoid robots as evaluated by young children