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        <title>Frontiers in Developmental Psychology | Cognitive Development section | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/developmental-psychology/sections/cognitive-development</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Cognitive Development section in the Frontiers in Developmental Psychology journal | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
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        <pubDate>2026-05-13T10:57:27.743+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
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        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1752676</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1752676</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Neural substrates of executive function development in children under three: a mini-review of recent advances]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-05-08T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Mini Review</category>
        <author>Rhea Varghese</author><author>Abigail Fiske</author><author>Karla Holmboe</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Executive functions (EF) are higher-order cognitive functions, including inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. In 2019, Fiske and Holmboe published a review on the neural substrates of early EF development which mapped what was then known in this field. Much research has been conducted since then, partially spurred by the wider availability of infant-friendly neuroimaging techniques. This has enabled the study of larger and younger cohorts and finer-grained mapping of cortical networks during the first 3 years of life. Here, we provide an updated review of recent research on the neural substrates of early EF development, covering inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. The frontal and parietal cortices emerge as shared neural substrates, although the specific regions recruited and the rates of their specialization vary across EF components and with age. Contextualized within broader evidence on structural prefrontal cortex maturation and functional connectivity development within and beyond the frontoparietal network, these findings indicate that the first 3 years constitute a crucial period for EF development. Ongoing and future research in larger and more diverse longitudinal cohorts, incorporating multimodal imaging and more consistent and targeted behavioral tasks, will further elucidate the unfolding of EF during the earliest childhood years.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1764377</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1764377</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Eighteen-month-old children can update false-beliefs on the basis of verbal information in a referentially ambiguous communicative context]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-30T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Brief Research Report</category>
        <author>Júlia Baross</author><author>Katalin Oláh</author><author>Ildikó Király</author>
        <description><![CDATA[We investigated whether 18-month-old children were capable of updating third-person representations about object location based on verbal information. Whether verbal information was applicable to the update was determined by the pragmatic context. For this, we used a location change paradigm that required mapping a novel label to one of two unfamiliar objects, only possible if young children tracked the protagonist's belief state. Children witnessed an object-hiding event by the protagonist, who was later deprived of visual access to the relocation of the objects by a second person. We manipulated the timepoint of verbal information given about the location change to determine if the protagonist's false-belief could be corrected to a true-belief (false-belief to true-belief, test condition) or not (false-belief stays false-belief, control condition). Across both conditions, children mapped the label to the correct object based on the protagonist's belief state, taking into account verbal information when applicable. Our results imply that children track pragmatic references in the context of social partners' belief states and can update these references based on verbal information even before the onset of fluent speech production. Our findings contrast with studies in which young children were unable to update their first-person representation of object location based on verbal information. We propose that, due to their early social sensitivity, young children develop the capacity to update third-person representations before they can update their own, which might aid early language acquisition.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1835258</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1835258</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Artificial intelligence as a cognitive partner: a developmental framework for human–AI co-regulation in learning]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-29T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Conceptual Analysis</category>
        <author>Pooja S</author><author>Josephine Joseph</author><author>Marin Jose</author><author>Anitha S. M</author><author>Revati N</author><author>Jeena Joseph</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Over the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone a tremendous shift from a highly technical instrument to a household learning, problem-solving, and decision-making cognitive aid. In the context of development, children, adolescents, and adults become increasingly exposed to AI systems that guide or provide feedback and information in real-time. Nevertheless, developmental psychology has failed to provide a theoretical framework concerning the role of AI in cognition regulation across the lifespan. Our conceptual analysis proposes that AI may be conceptualized not only as an external tool but also as a cognitive partner involved in the co-regulation of thinking, learning, and self-control. Using the concepts of executive function, metacognition, distributed cognition, and sociocultural development, we describe a developmental paradigm of human–AI co-regulation, with AI systems serving as scaffolds, metacognitive support, and external memory systems. We also comment on the benefits of conceptualizing AI as a mental partner in the form of offloading, the possible risks of cognitive offloading, and education and research implications.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1746813</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1746813</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Exploring the potential relations between a novel visual alphabet and preschoolers' spatial skills]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-16T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Amanda Delgado</author><author>Naomi Polinsky</author><author>Tania Cruz Cordero</author><author>David Uttal</author><author>Kathy Hirsh-Pasek</author><author>Roberta Michnick Golinkoff</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The Pattern Alphabet (pABC) organizes 32 icons into four categories that illustrate natural growth and movement (Growth), Geometry, Symmetry, and shapes that enable the creation of new shapes (Building Blocks). We presented 4- to 5-year-olds with a pABC matching task, as well as tasks that measured their spatial and mathematical skills. Results from this exploratory research found that children successfully matched most pABC icons with colored photographs of objects in the world that contained embedded pABC icons, though performance varied by category. Children had difficulty with Symmetry icons but matched nearly all Geometric icons. After controlling for factors attributed to variability in children's spatial skills, performance on the pABC matching task significantly predicted spatial skills, with the Growth category standing out as the sole significant predictor. These results suggest that recognition of diverse shapes, like those in the pABC, may play a role in shaping early spatial thinking.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1787710</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1787710</link>
        <title><![CDATA[High screen time and low child-adult talk associated with poorer language development in early childhood]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-08T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Jaan Tulviste</author><author>Tiia Tulviste</author><author>Anni Tamm</author>
        <description><![CDATA[ObjectivesTo examine associations between children's and parents' screen time, children's face-to-face talk with adults, and children's language skills.Design, setting, and participantsCross-sectional study based on mother-reported survey data collected from September 2023 to December 2024 in Estonia. Participants were 458 children aged 30–48 months; analyses included 448 children (mean [SD] age, 39.1 [5.0] months) with complete data.MeasuresDaily child screen time, parental screen time, and children's time spent in face-to-face talk with adults were reported for a typical weekend day. Children's language skills were assessed using the Estonian version of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories III (ECDI-III). Multiple linear regression examined independent and combined associations of screen time and talk with language scores, adjusting for child age and sex. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify family-level patterns of screen use and conversational engagement.ResultsAmong the 448 children [232 girls (51.8%); mean (SD) age, 39.1 (5.0) months], 39.4% had ≤ 60 min of daily screen time, 33.7% had 61-120 min, and 27.0% had >120 min. In regression analyses, higher screen time was negatively (B = −0.081; 95% CI, −0.115 to −0.048; P < 0.001) and child-adult face-to-face talk positively (B = 0.031; 95% CI, 0.015 to 0.047; P < 0.001) associated with ECDI-III scores. The full model, including age and sex, explained 26.1% of the variance in language scores. LCA identified three family profiles: Screen-Saturated, Somewhat Talkative Families (43.2%), Low-Screen, Quiet Families (40.2%), and Parent-Screen, Talk-Rich Families (16.6%). Children in Parent-Screen, Talk-Rich Families showed higher language scores and greater child-adult conversational engagement than children in the other profiles (Welch's F(2, 221) = 6.23; P = 0.002).ConclusionsHigher screen time and lower child-adult conversational engagement were associated with poorer language outcomes in early childhood. Family typologies suggested that low screen time alone was not associated with stronger language skills unless accompanied by rich conversational environments. These findings highlight the importance of considering both digital media use and everyday conversational experiences when examining early language development.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1644795</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1644795</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Investigating a race-based strength bias across development: evidence from children, adolescents, and adults]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-04-01T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Julia Wefferling</author><author>Paul Muentener</author>
        <description><![CDATA[White adults perceive Black men as stronger, taller, heavier, and more capable of harm than White men of the same size. The current study aimed to investigate the development of this race-based size bias. Children (6–11 years), adolescents (12–17 years), and adults (18+-year-old college students) judged the strength, height, and weight of Black and White characters who participated in negative interactions; we recruited a racially diverse sample, though most participants in the final sample were White individuals. Although we did not find consistent evidence for biases related to height or weight, we did identify age-related differences in a race-based bias related to strength across development. Children's strength ratings depended on the actions characters engaged in, but not their race; adolescents ratings depended separately on actions and race; adults' race-based biases for strength varied by actions. These findings are discussed as to how they might relate to how a race-based size biases seen in adulthood emerges across development.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1656327</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1656327</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Early STEM learning in Latine family contexts]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-12T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Review</category>
        <author>Andrea C. Buhler-Wassmann</author><author>Huimin Zhang</author><author>Anna Buhler</author><author>Maureen A. Callanan</author><author>Catherine A. Haden</author><author>Gigliana Melzi</author>
        <description><![CDATA[In this article, we review the literature highlighting early science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning opportunities in U.S. Latine family contexts. We describe and synthesize research on Latine families' STEM-related beliefs and practices (i.e., STEM activities and STEM talk), as well as patterns related to the research areas, methodologies, and theoretical foundations among STEM learning studies focused on U.S. Latine families with young children (0–8 years old). Studies emphasize family interactions and strengths-based approaches to illustrate how Latine children are learning about STEM within the context of their families. This work positions Latine caregivers as leaders in promoting early STEM learning and partners in addressing gaps in Latine participation in STEM. We argue that more research is needed to show the wealth of STEM-related knowledge and skills that can be built on to promote meaningful and culturally sustaining learning experiences for children. This paper makes an important contribution to the literature by centering the experiential knowledge of Latine families, who are underrepresented due to the culture of power in STEM education.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1745860</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1745860</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Leveraging research in early cognitive development for application and impact]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-03-09T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>John Colombo</author><author>Kimberly Cuevas</author><author>D. Jill Shaddy</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Research in cognitive development has generally been aligned with the explication and understanding of basic mechanisms underlying change in mental development over time. We suggest here that work done in the measurement and assessment of granular cognitive functions be leveraged toward translational or applied work in order to realize enhanced impact and influence. Specifically, we propose the use of cognitive measures or performance on laboratory-based cognitive tasks as outcomes in clinical trials, as biobehavioral markers for developmental risk or disorders, and perhaps even as intervention methods per se. We argue that this strategy can address changing pressures in both public and private sponsorship as well as contribute to building stronger public support for research endeavors in the field.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1711934</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1711934</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Understanding contextual variations in executive function through habits, representations, and reflection]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-24T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Stephanie E. Miller</author><author>Lucas Gago Galvagno</author><author>Ángel Elgier</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Executive function (EF) is often considered a domain-general ability or set of component processes related to conscious control best assessed in decontextualized controlled settings. However, recent calls have advocated for more consideration of the role that context may play in EF's conceptualization and assessment. Reconciling these two approaches presents a challenge. This paper explores the possibility of considering EF in terms of its function— achieving a goal. From this view, the function of EF can be achieved through multiple pathways and thus is best measured across multiple contexts that have a shared goal of resisting a prepotent response that conflicts with a correct goal-driven response. Examination of EF across multiple contexts should reveal individual differences in the conscious regulation of thought and behavior toward the outcome of a goal across multiple tasks. We explore a social representational framework for exploring the cognition that underlies the variability in conscious goal-directed thought and behavior. This framework suggests that representational skills related to forming, maintaining, and reflecting on goal-relevant information are at the center of EF and necessary for overriding habitual prepotent responses. Finally, because representational ability and habits are developed within and shaped by a sociocultural context (e.g., through language, communication, values, and beliefs), contextual differences are key to understanding how individual differences in the regulation of behavior emerges and how context may shape EF demands.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1690962</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2026.1690962</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Mirror self-recognition in ni-Vanuatu toddlers: developmental trajectory and cultural validity]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-19T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Ljubica Petrović</author><author>Marie Schäfer</author><author>Tanya MacGillivray</author><author>Senay Cebioğlu</author>
        <description><![CDATA[A key milestone in early self-development is mirror self-recognition: recognizing that the image in the mirror refers to oneself. Cross-cultural research has raised questions about both the developmental timing of this milestone and the validity of the mirror-mark test across diverse cultural contexts. Here, we document a developmental trajectory of mirror self-recognition in a rural horticulturalist community from Vanuatu (N= 56; age range: 17–36 months). In addition to the standard mirror-mark test, we included a leg-mark control test and assessed engagement with the mirror to examine task-specific challenges linked to limited mirror exposure. Moreover, we assessed convergent behavioral indicators of objective self-awareness (embarrassment and grooming responses) spontaneously shown in front of the mirror. Overall, 29% of children passed the mirror-mark test, with success rates increasing with age and the majority passing by the end of their third year (youngest passer: 24 months). Unlike previous studies in comparable small-scale communities, which report only low passing rates within the 18–24-month age range, our study demonstrates increasing passing rates beyond 24 months and reveals a clear developmental trajectory that stabilizes by 36 months. Mirror-mark performance correlated positively with both leg-mark performance and the spontaneous embarrassment and grooming. We discuss implications for the cultural validity of the mirror-mark test and emphasize procedural adjustments and convergent validity as keys to capturing developmental variation across cultures.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1726496</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1726496</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Current and future directions in infant research: How can multiple measures help us learn more?]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-02-04T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Annamaria Porru</author><author>Tamara Bastianello</author><author>Margaret Addabbo</author><author>Giulia Calignano</author><author>Gisella Decarli</author><author>Jessica Gemignani</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The complexity of early infancy poses relevant challenges for researchers aiming to understand developmental processes. While infants are active learners, their communication modalities remain limited and rudimentary during the first 2 years of life. Consequently, it is particularly challenging to explore their cognitive abilities and track their socio-emotional developmental trajectories. The standard model in the field has been to consider one measurement method as sufficient for detecting and quantifying developmental phenomena. However, only a multiple measures design permits verification of each measure's alignment with the underlying construct and yields less equivocal functional interpretations supported by convergent empirical signals. In this perspective paper, we emphasize the importance of adopting a multiple measures approach and provide practical recommendations and suggestions, including strategies for applying these methods. Specifically, we illustrate how integrating these methods can enable researchers to draw meaningful conclusions in infant research. Finally, we argue that the complexity arising from the critical selection of a multiple measures approach should be viewed as a unique opportunity to formulate robust developmental theories capable of predicting outcomes across different domains, rather than a limitation. However, multiple measures research is not free of challenges. Recognizing the strengths and limitations of integrating multiple measures is the first step toward developing an integrative approach that preserves ecological validity while producing robust and meaningful results. In conclusion, this paper aims to encourage developmental psychology researchers to critically embrace multiple measures research, despite the additional effort and time it may require.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1733625</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1733625</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Beyond the dualism between domain-general and domain-specific abilities: a developmental approach to mathematical learning]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-01-12T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Gisella Decarli</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Understanding how cognitive abilities support mathematical learning across development remains a central question in psychology. Traditionally, scietific literature has distinguished between domain-specific abilities, referring to processes specifically involved in quantity/numerical processing and supported by systems such as the Approximate Number System (ANS) and the Object Tracking System (OTS), and domain-general abilities, which encompass broader cognitive resources such as working memory and executive functions. This paper proposes a developmental and dynamic framework that integrates previous theoretical perspectives and extends them to the earliest stages of life, suggesting that early learning may rely primarily on mechanisms dedicated to numerical understanding, whereas with age and schooling, broader cognitive resources gradually become more influential in supporting complex mathematical reasoning.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1741209</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1741209</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Substance abuse as a window into executive functioning: real-world insights for the second wave of executive function research]]></title>
        <pubdate>2026-01-05T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Opinion</category>
        <author>Paulo Guirro Laurence</author><author>Kae Leopoldo</author>
        <description></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1699323</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1699323</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Cultivating cross-cultural collaborations: perspectives from the Developing Belief Network]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-12-18T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Perspective</category>
        <author>Rebekah A. Richert</author><author>Kathleen H. Corriveau</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Developmental science has long highlighted the limitations in generalizability arising from the fact that the sizable majority of the populations we study come from a minority of locations globally. Furthermore, team science has lauded the opportunities presented by collaborative approaches to science, while open science approaches highlight the need to ensure that methods and data adhere to principles that are FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable). Challenges to employing both a global sampling strategy and a team/open science approach, while centering cultural influences and diversity in early development, include challenges designing protocols that provide both standardization and cultural sensitivity, working with and interpreting data from unique samples, structural challenges focused on meeting the requirements needed for tenure and promotion, and ethical challenges with making data from minors fully accessible. Here, we present lessons we have learned from cultivating the Developing Belief Network, outlining our solutions toward mitigating these challenges. We highlight our approach to constructing and sustaining the DBN, as well as recommendations we have learned from the 5 years since its inception.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1703073</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1703073</link>
        <title><![CDATA[“Why Santa but not witches?”: Parents' reasoning behind encouraging and discouraging fantasy beliefs in children]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-12-02T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Seung Heon Yoo</author><author>Matthew J. Jiang</author><author>Karl S. Rosengren</author>
        <description><![CDATA[IntroductionDuring the preschool years, children begin to distinguish fantasy and reality. In the United States, this is often the time parents encourage belief in certain fantasy figures (e.g., Santa Claus) while discouraging belief in others (e.g., witches). Although prior research primarily focusing on Santa Claus provided why parents support that belief, less is known about their support of childhood fantasy beliefs more broadly. Moreover, the role of child and parental factors in shaping parents' decisions to support such beliefs has not been investigated in detail. To address these gaps, we conducted two studies. We also examined whether parental support, as well as parents' own and their children's beliefs in fantasy figures, have changed over the past 30 years.MethodsWe recruited parents of children aged 3–8 years living in the United States for both studies. Study 1 (n = 39) was an in-person interview study in which parents reported their own and their child's fantasy beliefs, their views on childhood fantasy beliefs, and their motivations for supporting fantasy beliefs. Study 2 (n = 486) was an online survey adapted from Study 1, designed to examine how individual factors relate to parental support of fantasy beliefs.ResultsOverall, the results suggest that parents support childhood fantasy beliefs to promote their child's wellbeing by creating an exciting childhood, fostering cultural understanding, and protecting children from negative emotions (e.g., fear). These findings were consistent across the two studies, although some variations were observed in parental reports of their own and their child's beliefs and their support when compared with a study from the 1990s. Parents' decisions to support fantasy beliefs were associated with their attitudes toward fantasy beliefs, their religiosity, and their child's age.DiscussionParents viewed fantasy beliefs as a normal part of childhood and promoted them for their perceived benefits to the child. However, the current findings suggest that parents navigate supporting these beliefs in complex and adaptive ways, balancing cultural norms, personal experiences, children's developmental considerations, and religious values, to determine which beliefs they encourage or discourage in their children's imaginative lives. Differences observed over the past 30 years in children's beliefs and parental support are discussed in relation to broader cultural changes.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1644956</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1644956</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Dyadic neuroscience is the next scientific frontier of sociocognitive development: a proof-of-concept for a collaborative conversation task in clinical and underrepresented populations]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-11-05T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Methods</category>
        <author>Cailee M. Nelson</author><author>Sarah C. Wilson</author><author>Jackson McFadden</author><author>Amit Almor</author><author>Caitlin M. Hudac</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Developmental cognitive neuroscience studies the evolution of the bidirectional links between biology and cognition during development. An area of recent focus is the impact of social factors on the biology-cognition link. Indeed, recent calls-to-action encourage a more dynamic approach to investigating mechanisms related to the development of the social brain. To address this need, we utilized a burgeoning innovation in cognitive neuroscience known as “hyperscanning”, which allows for real-time synchronized measurements of biological signals (e.g., brain signals via electroencephalography, EEG; cardiac activity via electrocardiogram, ECG) across two people engaged in social interaction. The potential of hyperscanning has yet to be tapped for research with diverse and developmental populations underrepresented in neuroscience (and science broadly), including pediatric clinical and racial minority populations. The present manuscript provides proof-of-concept for the use of naturalistic and inclusive hyperscanning paradigms. For this research, we adapted a collaborative conversation task that allowed us to examine differences in synchronized measures of sociocognitive mechanisms (specifically, motivation and language) across different social contexts (familiar child dyads, stranger child dyads, familiar adult-child dyads, and stranger adult dyads). Preliminary results from a pilot study with 45 racially diverse autistic and non-autistic participants indicate that, at the group level, youth are less accurate and need more hints than adults, peer dyads (i.e., child-child, adult-adult) are more approach-motivated, and dyad features (e.g., familiarity) influence how linguistically aligned individuals are during the task. Additionally, we provide initial evidence for within-person biology-behavior links and asymmetrical between-person alignment of approach motivational brain states that indicate that one's current motivation state was predicted to be opposite of their partner and vary subtly across social contexts. Overall, this hyperscanning task is sensitive to developmental and contextual factors and will propel our understanding of social and cognitive processes. We encourage cognitive developmentalists to consider recommendations laid out in the current proof-of-concept to take actionable steps in moving the field toward more inclusive and pervasive research.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1641593</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1641593</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Slow mapping in color word acquisition across languages: evidence from Japanese children]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-10-27T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Jiale Yang</author><author>Karen Dobkins</author><author>Katie Wagner</author><author>Yuiko Sakuta</author><author>So Kanazawa</author><author>Masami K. Yamaguchi</author>
        <description><![CDATA[It is well-known that children have a delay between their first production of color words and acquisition of adult-like understanding. A previous study showed that this delay could be attributed to a process of gradually converging on language-specific color word boundaries. In this study, we tested this account in a second language, Japanese. We presented 12 color samples to children and then conducted production and comprehension tasks to check whether children have adult-like understanding of color words. Our results were consistent with previous findings showing that children before acquiring adult-like understanding tend to use color words systematically as overextensions of adult meanings. These results indicate that the delay between production and adult-like understanding of color words reflects a gradual process of learning language-specific color boundaries, potentially shared across languages.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1666080</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1666080</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Back to the test: Popper's neglected legacy in bilingual advantage research]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-10-24T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Conceptual Analysis</category>
        <author>Samuel G. Marshall</author><author>J. Bruce Morton</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Cognitive developmental science has made unprecedented progress in the last 50 years but has also seen many seminal findings fail to replicate. Adopting the bilingual advantage in children's attention control as a case study, we draw a connection between the replication crisis playing out in selected quarters of our field and a wavering commitment to the principles of classical hypothesis testing. Moving forward, we suggest open-science practices as a way of ensuring scientific hypotheses remain falsifiable and unconfirmed.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1699342</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1699342</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Editorial: Children's teaching]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-10-09T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Editorial</category>
        <author>Henrike Moll</author><author>Fanxiao Wani Qiu</author><author>Marina Bazhydai</author><author>Douglas Frye</author>
        <description></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1553491</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1553491</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Young children's transmission of information following self-discovery and instruction]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-10-02T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Didar Karadağ</author><author>Marina Bazhydai</author><author>Gert Westermann</author>
        <description><![CDATA[Children acquire knowledge through both independent exploration and other's instruction. While previous research suggests that children treat these sources of information differently, little is known about how they convey such knowledge to others. The current study investigated whether children distinguish between self-explored and instructed information when teaching a naïve learner and how this distinction may change as they develop. Two- and 5-year-old children (N = 82; 37 females; predominantly White) were shown novel boxes with distinct functions, which they learned about through either self-exploration or direct instruction. In a subsequent teaching phase, children were asked to demonstrate the boxes' functions to a naive adult. The results showed that 2-year-olds were more likely to demonstrate the instructed function first compared to the self-explored function (Cohen's d = 0.55), whereas five-year-olds showed no such preference. These findings suggest that socially acquired information carries different saliency for toddlers and older children, contributing to the under-investigated field of children's teaching in early childhood.]]></description>
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