Peter Krøjgaard

Object individuation in 10-month-old infants: Do significant objects make a difference?

Abstract Object individuation in 10-month-old infants is investigated in an experiment using a violation-of-expectation paradigm. Two variables are manipulated experimentally. The first variable is test condition (property/kind vs. spatiotemporal) analogous to the study by Xu and Carey [Cognitive Psychology 30 (1996) 111.]. The second variable is object type (novel vs. significant object). The results of the experiment show that test condition does make a difference, while object type does not. Further analysis shows the need to further investigate significant objects, which might confound the difference between familiar toys “preferred to play with” and familiar “comforting” toys.

Object individuation in 10-month-old infants: Manipulating the amount of introduction

The role of habituation/introduction as a possible confounder in the so-called violation-of-expectation method has been discussed recently among infancy researchers. This study reports two experiments on object individuation in 10-month-old infants using the occlusion design employed by Xu and Carey (1996, Experiment 2). The first experiment replicated the procedure used by Xu and Carey (1996). In the second experiment the amount of introduction was reduced considerably. The first experiment replicated the original findings of Xu and Carey (1996): infants having unequivocal access to spatiotemporal information succeeded in object individuation, whereas those provided with feature/kind information did not. In the second experiment, however, infants failed in object individuation in both conditions. The findings are discussed in relation to the relevant literature.

On the development of episodic memory: Two basic questions

In this focused study, we present and discuss two basic questions related to the early development of episodic memory in children: (1) “What is an episode?” and (2) “How do preverbal children recall a specific episode of a recurring event?” First, a brief introduction to episodic memory is outlined. We argue in favor of employing a definition of episodic memory allowing us to investigate the development of episodic memory by purely behavioral measures. Second, research related to each of the two questions is presented and discussed, at first separately, and subsequently together. We argue and attempt to demonstrate that pursuing answers to both questions is of crucial importance – both conceptually and methodologically – if we are ever to understand the early development of episodic memory.

Keeping Track of Individuals: Insights from Developmental Psychology

According to Mammen and Mironenko (2015) our sensitivity to objects’ history (i.e., objects’ whereabouts across space and time) has been neglected in much of contemporary psychology. In this paper I present evidence from a developmental psychological perspective indicating that although the terminology is different, some research concerning these important issues has actually been conducted. First, research primarily under the heading ‘essentialism’ has shown that children are sensitive to at least some aspects of an object’s history. Second, research on object individuation has revealed that for infants spatiotemporal information appears to have primacy relative to featural information. Finally, research on episodic development has provided evidence that a continuous (hence historical) sense of ‘me’ may be a necessary, although not sufficient, precondition in order to have episodic memories. It is argued that the available evidence converges, which only underscores the relevance and importance of the issues raised by Mammen and Mironenko (2015).

“That one makes things small”: Experimentally induced spontaneous memories in 3.5-year-olds

We introduce a new method for examining spontaneous (unprompted) autobiographical memories in 3.5-year-old children, by inducing them in a laboratory setting. Thirty-eight 3.5-year-olds, who had previously participated in a study in our lab involving highly unique props, were brought back after a one-month delay to the same lab arranged as in the original study and with the same Experimenter present. While waiting for the Experimenter in front of the props, their spontaneous verbalizations about the previous unique experiment were recorded, scored, and compared to those of 29 naïve Controls of the same age. The children in the experimental group produced significantly more spontaneous verbalizations related to the to-be-remembered event measured on a variety of dimensions. The study introduces a promising new approach to investigating spontaneous memories in young children in a controlled lab setting. The findings are discussed in relation to involuntary autobiographical memories as examined in adults.

Warm-up questions on early childhood memories affect the reported age of earliest memories in late adolescence

Researchers have recently used warm-up questions concerning childhood memories at specific early ages (e.g. 3 years of age) in an attempt to facilitate the retrieval process on the subsequent question regarding the earliest memory. Although this methodology may indeed facilitate the retrieval process by conducting the test in a manner resembling ordinary dialogue, the methodology might also unintentionally put further demand characteristics on the respondents. In the present study we systematically manipulated the target age (either 3 or 6 years of age) for the warm-up question preceding the ‘earliest memory’ question in order to test this possibility. The participants were 445 Danish high school students (M age=17.94). The results revealed that systematically manipulating the target age for the warm-up question had a strong impact on the age of the earliest memory reported by the adolescents. Participants who received warm-up questions with 3 years as the target age subsequently reported earlier first memories than the participants receiving warm-up questions with 6 years as the target age. These results have important implications for the methodology involved in research on childhood amnesia.

Dannelsen af barnets indre univers:—Om forholdet mellern psykoanalytisk udviklingsteori og udviklingspsykologi

This article deals with the emergence of the infants internal world. In his introduction to this subject, the author points out the scientifically unproductive tendency in current psychology to se...

Flexible, rapid and automatic neocortical word form acquisition mechanism in children as revealed by neuromagnetic brain response dynamics

ABSTRACT Children learn new words and word forms with ease, often acquiring a new word after very few repetitions. Recent neurophysiological research on word form acquisition in adults indicates that novel words can be acquired within minutes of repetitive exposure to them, regardless of the individuals focused attention on the speech input. Although it is well‐known that children surpass adults in language acquisition, the developmental aspects of such rapid and automatic neural acquisition mechanisms remain unexplored. To address this open question, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to scrutinise brain dynamics elicited by spoken words and word‐like sounds in healthy monolingual (Danish) children throughout a 20‐min repetitive passive exposure session. We found rapid neural dynamics manifested as an enhancement of early (˜100 ms) brain activity over the short exposure session, with distinct spatiotemporal patterns for different novel sounds. For novel Danish word forms, signs of such enhancement were seen in the left temporal regions only, suggesting reliance on pre‐existing language circuits for acquisition of novel word forms with native phonology. In contrast, exposure both to novel word forms with non‐native phonology and to novel non‐speech sounds led to activity enhancement in both left and right hemispheres, suggesting that more wide‐spread cortical networks contribute to the build‐up of memory traces for non‐native and non‐speech sounds. Similar studies in adults have previously reported more sluggish (˜15–25 min, as opposed to 4 min in the present study) or non‐existent neural dynamics for non‐native sound acquisition, which might be indicative of a higher degree of plasticity in the childrens brain. Overall, the results indicate a rapid and highly plastic mechanism for a dynamic build‐up of memory traces for novel acoustic information in the childrens brain that operates automatically and recruits bilateral temporal cortical circuits. HIGHLIGHTSChildren acquire novel word forms in an automatic fashion after mere 4 min.To acquire new native‐language word forms, the left perisylvian neural network is used.Bilataral hemispheric structures support acquisition of non‐native language word forms.

Syntax and Morphology in Danish-Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The current study examined delays in syntax and morphology, and vocabulary, in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children ages 4–6 years with ASD (n = 21) and typical development (n = 21), matched on nonverbal mental age, completed five language tasks. The ASD group had significant delays in both syntax and morphology, and vocabulary measures, with significant within-group heterogeneity; furthermore, syntactic and morphological measures were impaired even for subgroups matched on vocabulary. Children in the ASD group without early language delay showed syntactic and morphological impairment, with intact performance on vocabulary and sentence repetition. Findings indicate that syntactic and morphological impairments are a significant concern for high-functioning children with ASD, and may be overlooked if language evaluation focuses exclusively on vocabulary.

On the Theorem of Correspondence

In a recent paper, Mammen (Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 50, 196–233, 2016a) brought novel arguments into the discussion concerning the importance of being able to single out and track objects through space and time. Mammen offered a formal account of two basic, yet distinct, ways in which we as human beings encounter objects in the real world, that is, sense and choice categories. In this paper I discuss aspects of his theory and in particular the Theorem of Correspondence. I shall attempt to argue that Mammen’s formal account is indeed a novel and powerful analytical generic tool allowing us to see the important relevance in different domains of being able to establish choice categories. Meanwhile, I will attempt to show that evidence from the so-called multiple object tracking studies -- even though these use highly artificial stimuli -- provide compelling evidence in support of Mammen’s formal account.