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Theories on children and adolescent emotion dynamics were reviewed using data from 102 ecological momentary assessment studies with 19,928 participants and 689 estimates. We examined age-graded differences in emotional intensity, variability, instability, inertia, differentiation, and augmentation/blunting. Outcomes included positive versus negative affect scales, discrete emotions (anger, sadness, anxiety, and happiness), and we compared samples of youth with or without mental or physiological problems. Multilevel models showed more variable positive affect and sadness in adolescents compared with children, and more intense negative affect. Our additional descriptive review suggests a decrease in instability of positive and negative emotions from early to late adolescence. Mental health problems were associated with more variable and less intense positive affect, and more intense anxiety and heightened sadness variability. These results suggest systematic changes in emotion dynamics throughout childhood and adolescence, but the supporting literature proved to be limited, fragmented, and based on heterogeneous concepts and methodology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction: While disgust is functional in preventing contagion from pathogens, it also plays a role in various psychopathologies. Disgust responses toward dirt, bodily secretions, certain types of food, and sexual stimuli typically emerge during (early) childhood. However, there is a lack of research on how disgust develops. This cross‐ sectional study investigated whether there are age‐related differences in subjective, self‐reported disgust between early and late adolescence and whether there are differences for distinctive types of disgust (core‐disgust, sex‐related, food‐related). Methods: Using an online survey, 240 Dutch children (116 female, 124 male) aged 9 through 16 years rated the extent to which they found the different types of stimuli disgusting or not on a VAS scale.Results and Conclusions: The results showed that only the disgust responses to sex‐ related stimuli decreased with age, whereas disgust toward the other categories did not show any age‐related differences. Overall girls reported somewhat higher disgust ratings than boys for sex‐related stimuli, but not for the other categories. The present study offers important new angles for future research, which might further disentangle the mechanisms through which the changes occur.

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.

From the literature, we know that young children engage in inquiry as an organized activity aimed either at confirming or refuting the relevance of certain ideas. The current study provides a characterization of changes in inquiry using a multiple case study of four 5-year old children. Three computer-based tasks were presented to the children as multi-variable problem solving situations concerning moving objects. A description of the temporal unfolding of real-time action on a short-term time scale and long-term time scale of learning and development is provided. The results indicated that the development of inquiry did not follow linear growth but included advances and relapses, exploratory states and transitions. The data were compatible with the view that the child's thinking and acting form a complex dynamic system.

This study explored bidirectional sequential relations between the real-time language use of teachers and pupils in naturalistic science lessons from a dynamic approach. It also compared experienced teachers (N = 22) with relative starters (student teachers, N = 8) when it comes to such relations. Verbal interactions were transcribed and coded at the utterance level for syntactic complexity, lexical density of content word use, and open-ended teacher questions. The sequential analyses provided evidence for the existence of a bidirectional relation in our data, meaning that both teachers and pupils are sensitive to each other’s use of complex and dense language. In addition, the use of open-ended teacher questions was related to complex and dense pupil utterances. The comparison between experienced teachers and student teachers revealed that the sequential patterns were stronger in the case of experienced teachers, suggesting that there are more flexible adaptation processes in this group.

Traditional analyses of reasoning and interactions often describe the building of knowledge by comparing general outcomes of group data (e.g., averages, frequencies and percentages) and as a result, often neglect the underlying individual processes. In this paper, we present a case study of two dyads of children (four to six years old) working on a problem-solving task and aim to capture the moment-to-moment changes in a time serial data set. Particularly, we present the changes in the types of interactions and scientific reasoning skills (SRS) during a single problem-solving task. The three descriptive techniques implemented in the data analysis are: (1) a time-series analysis to track the behaviours from moment to moment; (2) transition matrices to describe behaviour changes; and (3) a hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC) with a hybrid clustering technique used to detect dyadic patterns. Our results describe the intra-individual variability of the dyads, supporting the assumption of the n...

Under the premise that language learning is bidirectional in nature, this study aimed to investigate syntactic coordination within teacher-student interactions by using cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA). Seven teachers’ and a group of their students’ interactions were repeatedly measured in the course of an intervention in early science education. Results showed changes in the proportion of recurrent points; in case of simple sentences teachers and students became less coordinated over time, whereas in case of complex sentences teachers and students showed increasing coordination. Results also revealed less rigid (more flexible) syntactic coordination, although there were no changes in the relative contribution of teacher and students to this. In the light of the intervention under investigation this is an important result. This means that teachers and students learn to use more complex language and coordinate their language complexity better in order to co-construct science discourse. The application of CRQA provides new insights and contributes to better understanding of the dynamics of syntactic coordination.

The complex dynamic systems theory approach to second language development has great explanatory power in accounting for the development of speaking as an emergent process. CDST approaches focus on the process of development, rather than on the products of learning, and often include the learner’s variability over time as an important source of information. In this chapter a CDST perspective is given of speaking in a second language. The individually owned and variable process of speaking development is illustrated with longitudinal speaking data of identical twins as they learn English as a second language in Taiwan. Our observations emphasize the individual nature of the development of speaking in a second language, which has important implications for effective language teaching for L2 speaking.

In this essay, we discuss an emergent developmental science. It provides an approach to development that redefines its theoretical and methodological basis in the general theory of complex dynamic systems. Its methodological research choices are in line with a focus on actual developmental processes, as they occur in individual cases, such as individual children, families, or relationships. Intraindividual variability based on frequent short-term as well as long-term measurements provides an important source of information. Theoretically, we advocate a model of a network of dynamically interacting components, generating a wide variety of developmental trajectories, in line with the idiosyncratic nature of developmental systems.

The aim of this study was to investigate interpersonal coordination in young children during dyadic problem solving, by using Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis (CRQA). We examined the interactions of seven dyads of children (Mage= 5.1 years) in a longitudinal design (6 sessions) with a sequence of problem-solving tasks increasing in difficulty. An innovative implementation of CRQA is presented in order to study the attractor dynamics of dyadic coordination. The analysis consisted of distinguishing two recurrent states in the relationship between children and the task. In other words, the analysis is focused on how the dyadic interaction oscillates between two stable states that for their recurrent presence are considered to be attractors. The distributed dyadic interaction (DDI) state indicates that both children contribute equally to the solution of the task. The unequal dyadic interaction (UDI) state indicating that only one of the children contributes actively to the solution of the task. Results showed that the DDI was more frequent than the UDI but that the dynamics of these two attractor states were quite similar. The behaviors within these states increased in complexity over time, although they did so in DDI more strongly than UDI. The overall recurrence, which indicates the global level of coordination between the individuals in the dyad across all time points, was moderately correlated with the performance of the children.

Intraindividual variability is a key component in explaining children's development and learning. Studying this type of variability on the micro‐timescale can help us understand real‐time constructive processes and the subsequent long‐term development. The aim of this article is to study the process of children's understanding of floating and sinking during one single‐task session. A total of 38 kindergartners were asked to explain the floating or sinking of 14 different objects. The results reveal that the majority of children showed a high degree of intraindividual variability. In general, most children had a decrease in variability of both content and complexity of explanations during one task session and stabilized in both complexity and content toward the end of the task. The analyses indicated that hypothesis testing was not related to changes in children's explanations. These results can be the starting point for further research about change on different, nested timescales.

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.

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.

When speaking to young children, adults adapt their language to that of the child. In this article, we suggest that this child-directed speech (CDS) is the result of a transactional process of dynamic adaptation between the child and the adult. The study compares developmental trajectories of three children to those of the CDS of their caregivers. Furthermore, a mathematical-conceptual model is built that captures the essential dynamics of adaptation in a series of coupled equations. This model is sensitive to changes in the language development of the child. The results show evidence for a dynamic form of adaptation, although there are also clear individual differences.

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.

Across different domains, from sports to science, some individuals accomplish excellent levels of performance. For over 150 years, researchers have debated the roles of specific nature and nurture components to develop excellence. In this article, we argue that the key to excellence does not reside in specific underlying components, but rather in the ongoing interactions among the components. We propose that excellence emerges out of dynamic networks consisting of idiosyncratic mixtures of interacting components such as genetic endowment, motivation, practice, and coaching. Using computer simulations we demonstrate that the dynamic network model accurately predicts typical properties of excellence reported in the literature, such as the idiosyncratic developmental trajectories leading to excellence and the highly skewed distributions of productivity present in virtually any achievement domain. Based on this novel theoretical perspective on excellent human performance, this article concludes by suggesting policy implications and directions for future research.

Contains fulltext : 102981.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) 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. 14 p.

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.

In order to study the development of scientific reasoning in children, it is necessary and also challenging to compare performances of children over different tasks and/or situations. Previous research indicates that children's performance is highly influenced by the context, which stresses the need for a task-independent measure. In this paper, skill theory (Fischer, 1980) is used as a developmental ruler. Various types of analyses of the cognitive content and structure of scientific explanations in young children are presented, which show how a coding scheme based on skill theory can provide a more thorough and multifaceted view of the child's cognitive development than standard measurements or instruments. We also demonstrate how skill theory can be used in the context-specific nature of cognitive performances and fluctuations in performance level. Skill theory promises to be a good system as a less task-specific performance measure, both in research contexts and in educational settings. Where: Netherlands journal of Psychology, Volume 67, 9-19 Application of skill theory to compare scientific reasoning of young children in different tasks Netherlands journal of Psychology | Skill theory as a performance measure 9 Science education for pre-schoolers has been highly promoted in the last decade (e.g. Eshach & Fried, 2005). Studies on science education often focus on scientific reasoning. The term 'scientific reasoning' can refer to two separate types of reasoning (Crowley & Galco, 2001; Zimmerman, 2000). The first type concerns the experimentation skills of children (e.g. Klahr & Nigam, 2004; Schauble, 1996; see also the review of Zimmerman, 2000). The second form, which this article focuses on, refers to the conceptual (change in) understanding of more specific scientific phenomena. Intervention studies have focused on both kinds of reasoning. In many cases, researchers use highly specific performance measures. In a previous study, we argued that the level of scientific reasoning and the effectiveness of an intervention (aimed at enhancing children's level of scientific reasoning) cannot be measured by studying one single task or task domain, since a task can be seen as an important contributor