Marijn van Dijk

Variability in eating behavior throughout the weaning period.

During the introduction of solid food (usually indicated as the weaning period), infant and caregiver have to adjust their feeding interactions to a completely changed feeding context. In this paper, we argue that these adjustments can be seen as a complex process in which many factors are involved. As a result of these complex interactions, eating behavior can be highly variable between infants and from feed to feed. The aim of this study is to describe these patterns of variability across this critical transition in feeding. The study is based on naturalistic observations of 20 infant-caregiver dyads (15 repeated observations of each dyad), from the first attempt to spoon-feed till 12 weeks after the introduction of solid food. The results show that there is considerable short-term variability in eating behavior (food intake, meal duration, feeding efficiency, and food refusal), especially immediately after the introduction of solid food. The largest intra-individual variability was found in the earliest feeding sessions, which is consistent with the proposition that systems that undergo rapid development are most sensitive to context variables and thus most variable.

Ambiguity in Child Language: The Problem of Interobserver Reliability in Ambiguous Observation Data

In language acquisition, inter-transcriber agreement over linguistic categories assigned to recorded utterances is conceived as a measure of observer reliability. We argue that disagreement is not merely a reflection of observer errors or noisy data, but can be a reflection of the genuine ambiguity of early speech. Disagreement arises from the fact that the child is still building linguistic categories, and therefore, from the fact that the language is truly ambiguous. This ambiguity can be quantified by applying concepts from fuzzy logic, which we demonstrate in a case study. After presenting an index of agreement and a Monte-Carlo procedure for calculating the probability of chance agreement, we introduce an index of ambiguity, based on the fuzzy logic notion of degreeof-membership.In language acquisition, inter-transcriber agreement over linguistic categories assigned to recorded utterances is conceived as a measure of observer reliability. We argue that disagreement is not merely a reflection of observer errors or noisy data, but can be a reflection of the genuine ambiguity of early speech. Disagreement arises from the fact that the child is still building linguistic categories, and therefore, from the fact that the language is truly ambiguous. This ambiguity can be quantified by applying concepts from fuzzy logic, which we demonstrate in a case study. After presenting an index of agreement and a Monte-Carlo procedure for calculating the probability of chance agreement, we introduce an index of ambiguity, based on the fuzzy logic notion of degreeof-membership.

The dynamics of feeding during the introduction to solid food

In the first year of life, infants go through a crucial transition in feeding when they are introduced to solid food. However, the literature is lacking a good description of the changes in feeding behaviors during this transition. The current paper addresses this by means of a multiple case study focusing on how caretaker and infant build a new and effective feeding dialogue after the transition to solid food. It describes the development of stable interaction patterns, as they emerge during this transition. Feeding interactions are studied directly through repeated naturalistic observations. The results show that while the interaction behavior of some caretaker-infant dyads remains variable, others stabilize quickly. However, ultimately most dyads self-organize their behaviors towards a stable feeding dialogue, which is both sensitive and effective. Evidence for the existence of four characteristic patterns was found. We argue that this finding can be interpreted as the result of a co-regulation process of consensual frames. The study also offers a framework for analyzing other processes of co-regulation that occur throughout human development.

A comparative and dynamic approach to the development of determiner use in three children acquiring different languages

The study investigates the development of determiner use in three children acquiring French, Austrian German and Dutch, from the onset of language until age 3;0. Noun constructions (determiner omission, correct bare nouns, filler and determiner uses) in the children and in their inputs are analysed, providing evidence of similarities in developmental shape as well as differences in frequencies and timing. As expected, determiner use was delayed in the Germanic languages as compared to French. Differences between the Austrian and the Dutch child were explained by language properties and by child characteristics. Modelling dynamic input–output relations provided evidence of styles of long-term parental adaptation (accommodation for the French and complementarity for the Dutch and Austrian children).

A dynamic model that links skill acquisition with self-determination in instrumental music lessons

Music education researchers have sought to clarify two fundamental issues. The first concerns ‘the extent to which musical progress is sequenced and orderly, and why some children’s progress appears to be effortless in contrast to others who struggle’ (McPherson, 2005, p. 5). The second concerns how successful learners are able to acquire the resilience needed to ‘bounce back’ despite stresses and distractions which impact on motivation and a desire to continue learning (West & Rostvall, 2003; Costa-Giomi, Flowers, & Sasaki, 2005). This article aims to contribute to research on these issues in the context of instrumental music lessons, by presenting a dynamic model linking skills acquisition (from the perspective of scaffolding theory) and self-determination theory. We argue that musical development is a transactional, dynamic process in which the scaffolding of the music student’s skills and self-determination are deeply intertwined. Within this conception, teacher-student interactions are conceptualized at the micro- and macro-level time scales, and are viewed as mutually connected. We conclude by discussing the ways in which this model can guide future research.

Microdevelopment in Parent-Child Conversations: From Global Changes to Flexibility

In previous studies we demonstrated that the speech of a language-acquiring child and that of her parent can be characterized as a transactional process of dynamic adaptation. We reported a striking attunement between child and parent in the global development of mean length of utterance and utterance length between the ages of 1.5 and 2.5 years. Here we present a reanalysis of these data, focusing on the utilization of different categories of utterance length. In particular we analyzed the temporal structure of the dialogue on the linguistic level using the technique of cross-recurrence quantification. This type of analysis enabled us to study the interaction between interlocutors at the microlevel, revealing the dynamics of child-parent conversation and how this changes over time. Results showed decreasing values for measures quantifying the vertical line structures as well as an increasing average length of the diagonal lines in the recurrence plot. This was interpreted as indicating an increasing flexibility in the patterns of parent-child dialogue over the period of 1 year.

A mixed-methods approach to studying co-regulation of student autonomy through teacher–student interactions in music lessons

Interactions that occur between teacher and student during instrumental music lessons are complex and multifaceted and embrace a full range of promotive and demotive factors that not only underpin effective learning, but also have an impact on whether children will persist with their learning long-term (McPherson, Davidson, & Faulkner, 2012). Such interactions also provide the context in which students gain a sense of personal control and autonomy over their learning (Evans, McPherson, & Davidson, 2012). In this article, we present new ways of conceptualizing autonomy by taking the teacher–student interaction as a unit of analysis to examine the processes of co-regulation of student autonomy. In Study 1, we performed an in-depth qualitative analysis of four teacher – student dyads in individual string lessons. We found large differences between these dyads in the way autonomy is co-regulated from moment to moment. These differences are theorized to be in part connected to the general need for autonomy of the student. In addition, we found that teachers have different ways of dealing with students’ expressions of autonomy in lessons. In Study 2, we tested whether large moment-to-moment differences between the teacher’s and student’s levels of autonomy (‘out-of-synch’ moments) contributed to macro-level student outcomes. Here, we found a positive relation between the amount of out-of-synch per lesson and, respectively, students’ motivation and progress.

Heuristic techniques for the analysis of variability as a dynamic aspect of change

Abstract Due to the influence of dynamic systems and microgenetic perspectives, variability is nowadays often seen as an important phenomenon that helps us understand the underlying mechanisms of development. This paper aims at demonstrating several simple techniques that can be used to analyse variability in data of developing (or learning) individuals. These techniques will be illustrated by applying them to a time serial dataset of early child language (to be specific, the emergence of grammatical preposition use). First, we show some descriptive techniques that are essential first steps for generating hypotheses. Also, we propose a measure that expresses qualitative variability. Furthermore, we demonstrate how resampling techniques can be used to test the presence of performance peaks, which may be important because they indicate the emergence of new abilities. Finally, we show the use of a technique that is especially useful for exploring interactions between ordinal variables (the State Space Grid, or SSG). With this illustration, we hope to encourage researchers to take a more exploratory approach to variability in their data and to develop methods directed at analysing dynamic aspects of change.

Prosody and animacy in the development of noun determiner use: A cross- linguistic approach

This study investigates prosodic (noun length) and lexical-semantic (animacy) influences on determiner use in the spontaneous speech of three children acquiring French, Austrian German and Dutch. In support of typological and language-specific hypotheses from the Germanic–Romance contrast, an advantage of monosyllabic nouns and of inanimate nouns for taking a determiner or filler was found in French, but not in Austrian German or Dutch. The authors discuss the possible contributory role of these factors on determiner acquisition from a cross-linguistic perspective, also accounting for more specific differences between Austrian German and Dutch.

Chromatic and Anisotropic Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Interpersonal Behavior

Cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) is a powerful nonlinear time-series method to study coordination and cooperation between people. This chapter concentrates on two methodological issues related to CRQA on categorical data streams, which are commonly encountered in the behavioral sciences . Firstly, we introduce a more general definition of recurrence as ‘behavioral matching ’, which can be applied to several kinds of matches simultaneously, visualized by a color coding. We will refer to this as cross -matching, and to the resulting quantification procedure as Chromatic CRQA . Secondly, cross-recurrence plots of categorical data often prominently consists of rectangular structures. This calls for a differential analysis of vertical and horizontal lines, rather than of diagonal lines. We introduce a simple procedure for this, referred to as Anisotropic CRQA . Both procedures are demonstrated with empirical studies on children’s problem-solving behavior and by means of a model simulation. The authors hope that the ideas presented here increase the power and applicability of CRQA in the behavioral sciences, and that this chapter serves as a stepping stone for their mathematical and methodological development.