UBC Early Development Research Group

Fun Fact Friday!

A fascinating study led by UBC's very own Dr. Amori Mikami and UBC PhD student Hongyuan (Vivian) Qi found that children who are academically and socially well-adjusted are more likely to have a higher number of cross-racial friendships.

According to Dr. Mikami, socially well-adjusted children may be better able to understand those who share different perspectives. In addition, academically well-adjusted children may have the cognitive skills to reason where people who are different than them are coming from. Facilitating positive in*******al interactions between our young ones can help them develop more cross-racial friendships once they are older.

Text adapted from UBC News.

Common fears among children and adolescents include strangers, ghosts, and injuries. Having fears is a healthy part of development, and they often go away with time as the child gets older. However, the formation of fears in children can be influenced by the perceived attitudes of the child's caregivers during conversations.

This study highlights how childrens' fears are often formed within a family setting. The way caregivers talk and convey their fears to their children could influence the child's developing attitudes and fears. In a study, when parents used more negative information ("I don't like snakes" or "snakes are scary") children reported feeling more fear towards the object. Being aware of this effect can help caregivers remove their biases in conversations to help their child form their own attitudes toward the world.

Click the link in our bio to learn more about childrens fears and their social development!

Text adapted from Child & Family Blog

Meet Maisie, one of our veteran participants! Today, she received her Doctor of Philosophy for helping us learn about number sense! If you'd like to find out how to participate with us, you can send us a message right here, or you can email us at [email protected]!

Fun Fact Friday!

Did you know that iPad apps can teach children just as well as humans do? A fascinating study led by EDRG's very own Dr. Susan Birch compared between the effectiveness of educational iPad apps and in-person instruction — discovering that both are equally effective for children's learning of new facts.

According to Dr. Birch, "When parents are asked the top three reasons they give their children a mobile device, learning is not one of them". Yet, what this research demonstrates is the often underestimated potential for interactive media to be used as a tool for learning, supporting the idea that screen time can sometimes have educational benefits!

Text adapted from UBC News

Research shows that toddlers typically spend on average 4 hours per day watching screens or playing video games. With this much time being spent in front of screens, parents may find themselves wondering if their children's health is being affected. The findings from this article highlights toddlers' language development and its relation to their screen time.

The article found that more screen time for toddlers could be linked to lower levels of language skills and expression. To counter this, caregivers can support thier children's language development by having engaging conversations with them (in-person) and having times throughout the day where they don't use their technology (ex: during meals, on the bus, etc).

Click the link in our bio to learn more about technology and it's impact on language development!

Text adapted from Child & Family Blog
https://buff.ly/3JjltjS

Wishing everyone a happy Father's Day from all of us at the EDRG! ☀️

Happy Thursday everyone!

Come and visit the beautiful campus of the University of British Columbia for an in-person study at the EDRG!

Do you have a parade of kiddos? Here at the EDRG, we are happy to do some kid-sitting while you are participating in an in-person study so that being outnumbered by your little ones is no issue!

Check out our website at edrg.psych.ubc.ca to learn more about how you can sign up today!

Have you ever wondered how accurate our little ones' intuition can be when it comes to reasoning about numbers?

A study conducted by Carolyn Baer from our Centre for Cognitive Development found that young children have a robust sense of certainty in their intuitive sense of number. When it comes to answering questions that involve number-reasoning, children can decide which questions they are more sure of answering correctly with surprising accuracy. This sense of certainty has also been suggested to be "domain-general" —meaning that children are capable of applying their intuitive number-reasoning skills to questions about time and space as well!

Text adapted from the EDRG 2020 Newsletter.

Did you know that when children play, they instinctively follow the "golden rule" of treating others fairly?

Encouraging playtime not only helps our little ones have fun, but also develops their social skills, empathy, and conflict resolution. Let's give them the gift of play and watch them become compassionate and just individuals!

Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Text adapted from Psychology Today.

When Children Play, They Follow the Golden Rules of Fairness Fairness makes play possible, and children learn fairness in play.

Did you know that play has been shown to have many benefits for children’s development?

For instance, it has been demonstrated that physical and interactive play promotes social intelligence and emotional regulation. Creative and imaginative play has also been shown to improve learning and memory capacities.

In other words, finding effective ways to put your child's brain to work can often be simple and fun!

Text adapted from Psychology Today.

Fun Fact Friday!

Did you know that watching fathers contribute to household chores can help shape daughters' future career aspirations? Researchers at the University of British Columbia discovered a relationship between the division of household labour between parents at home and their children's perception of gender stereotypes. Specifically, seeing an equitable distribution of work between parents can influence daughters to pursue less traditional, and potentially higher paying, careers!

Despite the presence of other key factors such as mothers' beliefs surrounding gender and work equality, fathers' approach to household chores and willingness to help out with domestic duties appear to be the strongest predictor of daughters' own professional ambitions.

Text adapted from UBC News

You may have heard of pitch as a part of music, but did you also know that some languages use pitch to convey different meanings?

Here at the centre, we are studying the relationship between how infants perceive pitch in language and how infants perceive pitch in music.

여러분은 음악의 일부분으로서 음조를 들어 보셨을 것입니다. 그러나 일부 언어에서는 다른 의미를 전달하기 위해 음조를 사용 한다는 것을 알고 계신가요? 저희 센터는 영아들이 음악의 음조를 인식하는 방법과 언어를 사용할때 음조를 인식하는 방법의 연관성에 대해 연구하고 있습니다.

Is your child afraid of the dark? The fear of the dark is common as humans have evolved to become more vigilant under conditions of darkness. When your child expresses their fear, it is important first to control your emotions. Next, help your child calm down by communicating that you are there for them, that there are no threats here, and that you are confident that they can overcome this. As well, identify triggers such as media content or noises that may be facilitating the fear. Lastly, it is found that for preschoolers, giving a stuffed animal and giving a story such as, "puppy is scared of the dark, can you take care of him" or "puppy is here to protect you" can help reduce their fear!

Click the link below to learn more:
https://buff.ly/42dxRcp

Text adapted from Parenting Science.

We were so happy to see Rowan back again for another visit! Look at how adorable she looks while playing with one of the many toys we have here at our centre. If you'd like to find out more on how you can participate with us, you can email us at [email protected] or send a message right here

Have you ever wondered if watching lip movements helps babies learn new words?

A study by our Infants Studies Centre looked to answer this question! They found that bilingual and monolingual babies have different experiences when learning languages. However, both take advantage of visual speech information to help them learn new words! This suggests that babies may often try to look at your face or lips to help them learn new words.

Text adapted from the EDRG 2022 Newletter.

Thanking someone for a gift or waiting in line are some of the numerous social norms we learn. This can be a challenging task for children due to the changeability of context. In facilitating the learning of social norms, research suggests that caregivers' use generic pronouns "we" or "you" (instead of I)! For example, instead of saying, "I wait for my turn in line," try, "We wait for our turn in line." It is suggested that while "I" may express personal preference, "we" or "you" conveys it as a general rule.

Click the link below to learn more:
https://buff.ly/3UXnyGM

Text adapted from Child and Family Blog.

Pippin looking as sweet as can be in his apple onesie and fNIRS cap! 🤩🍎🍏 Absolutely loved having him in for our studies! For more information on how to get your baby scientist involved too, you can send us an email at [email protected] or message us!

Have you ever wondered if babies understand that people's actions are goal-directed? In this activity, babies will watch a video while their eye movements are recorded by an eye-tracker. In the video, a female will touch either an object or another person repeatedly. The locations of objects or people will swap after a few trials. We are interested to see if the babies understand that the goal of the female is to touch a specific person or object rather than just approach in one direction. We are also interested in whether babies' understanding of goal-directed actions is different for social goals (touching a person) or non-social goals (touching an object).

嬰兒能夠理解人的行為受目標支配嗎？如果您有興趣了解嬰兒對目標的認知，歡迎帶您的寶寶來參加EDRG的探究活動！在該活動中，您的寶寶會看一段影片。影片中有兩個人或兩件物品，一位女士會重複地伸手觸摸其中一個人或一件物品。重複幾次後，兩個人或物品的位置將對調。我們想知道，嬰兒是否明白影片中的女士的目標是觸摸特定的人或物，而不只是朝固定的方向伸手。我們還想探究嬰兒對目標的理解是否因為目標物的不同（社會性目標，如觸摸人；或非社會性目標，如觸摸物品）而不同。

At UBC’s recent Language Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference (LSURC), one of our very own Baby Learning Lab research assistants, Jaimie Muller, won first place for her oral presentation! Jaimie presented her directed studies project “Measuring brain response when exposed to infant-directed speech: A meta-analysis”. By examining research papers using fNIRS, a child-friendly neuroimaging technology, she investigates the brain regions involved when infants process speech. To learn more about the conference and her experience, visit this article: https://buff.ly/41hIMSk.

We were so happy to see Rowan back again for another visit! Look at how adorable she looks while playing with one of the many toys we have here at our centre. If you'd like to find out more on how you can participate with us, you can email us at [email protected] or send a message right here!

Did you know that children tend to be friends with peers who are similar to them in interests and behaviours?

Other interesting factors that may contribute to the formation of such friend groups include, similarity in cognitive maturity, cooperativeness, and shyness. Interestingly, this trend continues into adolescence as well, where peer groups have more similar academic goals and self-perceptions!

Text adapted from 'How Children Develop' by Siegler et al.

Discover how your baby learns to recognize people and objects! A new language study has just launched in the Infants Studies Centre looking at how babies develop labels for people and things. Your little one will sit on your lap and enjoy a short slideshow on a TV screen with images of familiar and new faces and objects while we capture their reactions. Plus, we'll take a photo of your baby's hand and one of you too, to use in the study. This study allows us to discover the mysteries of the development of babies' brains!

Vous pouvez découvrir comment votre bébé apprend à reconnaître les personnes et les objets! Notre nouvelle étude linguistique vient de débuter chez notre Infant Studies Centre. Elle porte sur la façon dont les bébés apprennent à étiqueter les personnes et les objets physiques. Votre bébé sera assis sur vos genoux et regardera un diaporama sur un écran de télévision, avec des images des visages familiers et nouveaux. Nous observons ses réactions à ces images. De plus, nous prenons deux photos : la main de votre bébé et la vôtre, que nous utiliserons dans le cadre de l'étude. Cette étude nous permet de découvrir les mystères du développement du cerveau des bébés!

One of our EDRG centers, Dr. Geoff Hall's Language Development Centre recently looked at how children learn the meaning behind popular brand names like phones and shoes. For this, participating children were shown various products with their logos and asked to name the product. Moreover, they were shown two images - one with the same logo as the first, and the second with a different product logo. Interestingly, these 4-year-olds were able to extend these brand names to objects with the same markers! Researchers at this centre, therefore, concluded that children as young as age 4 can understand that logos belong to certain products and their brand names.

Text adapted from EDRG 2023 Newsletter.

Are you interested in having your preschooler participate in an activity exploring early moral and social evaluations?

In this in-person activity, 3-4 year olds watch a series of short animations on a laptop computer. These animations feature a series of helpful and unhelpful characters. After watching the social interactions, your child will be asked a series of questions regarding which character they prefer and which character acted appropriately.

Êtes-vous intéressé à faire participer votre enfant d'âge préscolaire à une activité explorant les premières évaluations morales et sociales? Cette activité en personne implique que les tout-petits regardent une série de courtes animations sur un ordinateur portable. Ces animations présentent une série de personnages utiles et inutiles. Après avoir regardé les interactions sociales, votre enfant se verra poser une série de questions concernant le personnage qu'il préfère et quel personnage a agi de manière appropriée.

An interesting study looking into the neuroscience of learning found that when children play with adults, they actually sync up in their neural patterns!

This "brain-to-brain synchronization" effect means that children are actively learning during play. For instance, a child would be more engaged in playing with a toy if they have witnessed the parent interacting with the toy and themselves. This means that the child has now learned this behaviour from the parent by watching them interact with this toy! Interestingly, this effect goes beyond just parent-child interactions and has been witnessed in the classroom as well which explains why guided play in school can be so helpful toward learning!

Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Text adapted from the BOLD website.

In a recent study, Dr. Darko Odic's Centre for Cognitive Development discovered that young children strategically divide their cognitive work when asked to assign rounds of varying difficulty to themselves or a more/less proficient partner.

This was done after determining which of the two sides of an image had more dots. Interestingly, they saw that around the age of 7, kids were willing to hand off challenging inquiries to a partner who is more knowledgeable. However, regardless of their partner's expertise, 5-year-olds tended to give themselves simpler questions! Additionally, in more of a collaborative space, 5-year-olds tended to hand off the challenging questions to a more skilled partner. Researchers at this centre, therefore concluded that young children understand collaboration which is often subject to a self-serving bias.

Text adapted from EDRG 2022 Newsletter.

An exciting study at the EDRG is interested in looking at how children make judgments about numbers. Your child will play a game in which they will help a fictional character grow mystery plants. To help grow these plants, your child will be asked to pick which of the two groups has the greatest number of seeds. In completing this study, your child will help us gain insight into how we develop number sense and learn to reason about numbers.

ईडीआरजी में एक रोमांचक नया अध्ययन यह देखने में रुचि रखता हैं कि बच्चे संख्याओं के बारे में निर्णय कैसे लेते हैं। इस अध्ययन में आपका बच्चा एक खेल खेलेगा जिसमें वे एक काल्पनिक चरित्र को सुन्दर पौधे उगाने में मदद करेंगे I इन पौधों को उगाने में मदद करने के लिए, आपके बच्चे को यह चुनने के लिए कहा जाएगा कि दोनों में से किस समूह में सबसे अधिक संख्या में बीज हैं। इस अध्ययन को पूरा करने में आपका बच्चा हमें यह समझने में मदद करेगा कि हम संख्या बोध कैसे विकसित करते हैं और संख्याओं के बारे में तर्क करना कैसे सीखते हैं।

Have you ever noticed your toddler trying to help with household chores? If you answered yes, you're not alone! Most parents report seeing their toddlers run to help if they see the parent cleaning up a mess or doing other household activities.

Interestingly, allowing toddlers to help adults enhances their cooperative skills and fosters their intrinsic need to help! A fascinating caveat to this is that toddlers can distinguish between "real" and "mock" work, and prefer the former.

That is, if they feel like their work is making a real difference or contribution, they are more likely to continue helping in the future, irrespective of if they were rewarded for it.

Thus, while the process of toddlers helping may be messier and more time-consuming, it is also beneficial in promoting long-term skill-building! So, next time you're sweeping up a mess, make sure you involve your little one as well!

Interested in reading more? Check out the link in our bio!

Text adapted from the BOLD Website.

Did you know that young children prefer to learn from individuals who seem more confident?

A fascinating study conducted by EDRG's very own Dr. Susan Birch found that children between the ages of 4 and 5 actually keep track of how accurate a confident person has been in the past, through a process known as calibration. This also means they tend to avoid more misinformation and are more advanced in their understanding of social cues than you may think!

Text adapted from UBC News