A complex dynamical systems approach to the development of feeding problems in early childhood

Though it is commonly agreed upon that the development of feeding problems in early childhood is a complex process, much of the research on these problems has a component-oriented focus, and very little attention is paid to the mechanisms that lead to these kinds of problems in individual children. The aim of this theoretical paper is to interpret the development of feeding problems in early childhood from a complex dynamical systems viewpoint. In addition to its focus on self-organization and nonlinearity, this approach defines several central properties of development: soft-assembly, embodiment, iterativity, the emergence of higher-order properties, and intra-individual variability. In this paper, I argue that each of these properties is highly relevant for understanding feeding problems and discuss the implications of this for both clinical practice and research purposes

Creativity in interaction:The dynamics of teacher-student interactions during a musical composition task

In music and arts education, a central question is how teachers can best facilitate the creativity of their students, Most research on primary school students’ creativity, however, focuses on creativity at the level of the person or product rather than at the level of the creative process. Precisely this knowledge on how creativity emerges in interaction between teacher and student(s) is needed to answer this question. Therefore, we combined detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses of teacher and student actions and reactions to understand emergent creativity during a musical composition task. Five music teacher – student dyads participated in this study. Student turns were coded in terms of levels of novelty and appropriateness while teacher turns were labeled as convergent (aimed at instructing, providing information and evaluation) divergent (aimed at idea generation) or neutral. We found that the levels of novelty and appropriateness of student turns had highly skewed distributions, with high levels of novelty and low levels of appropriateness being especially rare. With sequential analyses, we found for all five dyads that convergent turns often lead immediately to student turns with no novelty and rarely to highly novel turns. However, we saw no immediate relationship between divergent turns and student levels of novelty. In qualitative analyses of longer interactional patterns, we saw how novel ideas can emerge from interactions where the teacher alternates between convergent and divergent behavior, but also how a teacher and student can become ‘stuck’ in exchanges with no novelty and repeated convergent turns

Measuring feeding difficulties in toddlers with Down syndrome

Early feeding problems occur frequently across the population, but have a higher incidence in children with Down syndrome (DS). Early identification can possibly be improved with the help of a valid screening instrument based on caregiver reports. In a previous study, we investigated the concurrent validity of the Dutch version of the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale (MCH-FS, SEP in Dutch) in a sample of typically developing toddlers, and we found a correlation between the score on the instrument and observed behavior during a regular meal. The current pilot study was a replication in a sample of children with DS (aged 1; 0–3; 0) and their primary caregivers (n = 32). The results showed that children in the sample did not score higher on the SEP than children in their respective norm groups. In addition, when caregivers reported more symptoms of feeding problems on the SEP, children showed more food refusal and negative affect during the observed meal. This suggests that the screening instrument is particularly associated with negative mealtime interactions. This is in contrast with earlier results, which mainly indicated a relation with eating skills

Thirty years of focus on individual variability and the dynamics of processes

We fully endorse Arocha’s (2021) thesis about the fundamental importance of studying variability in real, observable processes and agree with his critique of the standard practice of psychological research. However, we regret that Arocha’s article does not acknowledge a rich body of research that has been around for almost three decades and that does exactly what Arocha recommends. This research is based on the theory of complex dynamic systems. We discuss its main implications for a research focus on concrete psychological processes, as they occur in individual cases (including real interacting groups). Variability over time is used as a main source of information about the nature of the underlying processes. Various examples of empirical studies, model building, and process-oriented methodology are discussed, and Arocha’s examples of perceptual control theory (PCT) and observation-oriented modeling (OOM) are put in the perspective of the complex dynamic systems approach, which is fully compatible with scientific realism as advocated by Arocha

Variability in Second Language Development From a Dynamic Systems Perspective

This article illustrates that studying intra‐individual variability in Second Language Development can provide insight into the developmental dynamics of second language (L2) learners. Adopting a Dynamic Systems Theory framework (Thelen & Smith, 1994; van Geert, 1994) and using insights from microgenetic variability studies in developmental psychology (Siegler, 2006), we focus on L2 systems during a time of rapid development, applying advanced visualization techniques. A reinterpretation of a longitudinal study by Cancino et al. (1978) on the use of negation shows nonlinear patterns and peaks of regression, and illustrates the relevance of regarding internal variability as a source of information in itself. A case study of an advanced learner reveals a general increase over time for the correlates included, but the development is nonlinear, showing moments of progress and regress. The case study also brings to light an interesting dynamic interaction of subsystems. In accordance with the assumption of a limitation of resources, the learner shows a variable development for some related measurements in the course of the trajectory