Roberta Golinkoff | University of Delaware (original) (raw)

Papers by Roberta Golinkoff

Infancia Y Aprendizaje, Mar 27, 2017

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Jul 1, 2008

Current Directions in Psychological Science, Oct 1, 2015

Topics in Language Disorders, Oct 1, 2022

Acta Psychologica, Aug 1, 2023

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 27, 2006

…there are no single effective pushes to the developing system, but rather a combination of influ... more …there are no single effective pushes to the developing system, but rather a combination of influences that lead to observable change (Nelson 1996, p. 85). In this quotation, Katherine Nelson (1996) captured the spirit of this volume-and of this chapter. We live in a multifactorial world. If we are to understand the complex behaviors characteristic of humans, we will have to embrace systems-based models that offer a more comprehensive and integrative account of development than single-factor explanations. As Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998) argued, systems operate at many levels, from the multiple proximal inputs that directly affect the child to the more distal effects including the time and context in which these inputs are encountered and evaluated by the child. Much of the current research in language development that does not rely on language production suffers from a more limited perspective on development, from what Bronfenbrenner (1974) suggested is the "science of the behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults" (p. 3). Indeed, much of our research is also conducted at a single point in time as opposed to longitudinally and on a single

Child Development, Sep 1, 2009

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2006

Imagine a world in which children are encouraged 10 parrot answers. to fill in Ihe blanks. and 10... more Imagine a world in which children are encouraged 10 parrot answers. to fill in Ihe blanks. and 10 nOI go beyond the facts. Imagine a world in which onc size fits all (as in today's educational standards), and no size fils any. Madeleine l'Englc (1962) describes just such II world in her classic book, A Wrinkle i/I Timt!. Below them the lown was laid QuI in harsh angular patterns. The houses in the OU1skins were all exactly alike. small square boxes painled gray.... In front of all the houses children were playing. Some were skipping ropes. some were bouocing balls. Meg fell vaguely that~omelhing was wrong with lheir play.... "Look!" Charles Wallaee said suddenly. "The)"re skipping and bouncing in rh)'thm! Everyone's doing il at exaetl)' the same moment." This wos so. As the s1cipping rope hit the pavemenl, so did the boll. As the rope curved over the head of the jumping child, lhe child with lhe ball coughl lhe ball. Down came the ropes. Down came the balls. Over and over again.... All in rh),thm. All identical. Like the houses. Like the palhs. Like lhe nowers. (p. 103)

Psychology of Music, Jun 9, 2019

In music, we "feel the beat" through rhythm. During successful social interactions, individuals e... more In music, we "feel the beat" through rhythm. During successful social interactions, individuals establish an interpersonal rhythm through back-and-forth exchanges. Consequently, these two disparate domains share a common reliance on rhythm. This study investigates whether our sense of musical rhythm relates to our social competence. Ninety-eight undergraduate students (M = 20.9 years, SD = 2.8 years) participated in a rhythm reproduction task and completed Riggio's Social Skills Inventory to examine whether the two skills are related. Scores on the rhythm task predicted participants' scores on one part of the inventory-the Social Control subscale-which measures how well individuals can adjust and adapt to different social exchanges. Critically, performance on the musical rhythm task did not correlate with every social subscale but only with that related to social exchanges. The results suggest that a core rhythmic ability might underpin performance in both musical and social domains.

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2019

Infant Behavior & Development, Feb 1, 2020

Infants must learn to carve events at their joints to best understand who is doing what to whom o... more Infants must learn to carve events at their joints to best understand who is doing what to whom or whether an object or agent has reached its intended goal. Recent behavioral research demonstrates that infants do not see the world as a movie devoid of meaning, but rather as a series of sub-events that include agents moving in different manners along paths from sources to goals. This research uses behavioral and electrophysiological methods to investigate infants' (10-14 months) attention to disruptions within relatively unfamiliar human action that does not rely on goal-objects to signal attainment (i.e., Olympic figure skating). Infants' visual (Study 1, N = 48) and neurophysiological (Study 2, N = 21) responses to pauses at starting points, endpoints, and within-action locations were recorded. Both measures revealed differential responses to pauses at endpoints relative to pauses elsewhere in the action (i.e., starting point; within-action). Eyetracking data indicated that infants' visual attention was greater for events containing pauses at endpoints relative to events with pauses at starting points or within-actions. ERP activity reflecting perceptual processes in early-latency windows (< 200 ms) and memory updating processes in long-latency windows (700−1000 ms) showed differential activation to disruptions at the end of a figure-skating action compared to other locations. Mid-latency windows (250−750 ms), in contrast, showed enhanced activation at frontal regions across conditions, suggesting electrophysiological resources may have been recruited to encode disruptions within unfamiliar dynamic human action. Combined, results hint at broad sensitivity to endpoints as a mechanism that supports infants' proclivity for carving continuous and complex event streams into meaningful units. Findings have potential implications for language development as these units are mapped onto budding linguistic representations. We discuss empirical and methodological contributions for action perception and address potential merits and pitfalls of applying behavioral techniques in conjunction with brain-based measures to study infant development. 1. Introduction Action flows around us continuouslyfrom the hustle and bustle of city streets to the fluidity and precision of classical ballet. Adults are adept at carving up this continuity to understand, predict, and remember events, yet even infants demonstrate prowess in

Child Development Perspectives, Nov 2, 2018

Rich learning opportunities in and out of school are critical for children to develop positively.... more Rich learning opportunities in and out of school are critical for children to develop positively. Learning Landscapes is a new initiative that marries the fields of urban design and developmental science to bring playful learning opportunities to places where children and families spend time. Through this initiative, we have transformed parks, bus stops, grocery stores, and other public places into venues for playful learning interactions. In this article, we review the research on these projects, and map the vision and next steps of this initiative. By bringing learning opportunities to children and families who need it most, our goal is to equip parents and educators with the contexts and tools they need to support all children in developing the skills for success in school and life.

Infancy

Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success ... more Early screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success in school and interpersonal relationships. The paucity of reliable behavioral instruments for this age group prompted the development of a new touchscreen language screener for 2‐year‐olds that relies on language comprehension. Developmental literature guided selection of age‐appropriate markers of language disorder risk that are culturally and dialectally neutral and could be reliably assessed. Items extend beyond products of linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and syntax) and tap the process by which children learn language, also known as fast mapping. After piloting an extensive set of items (139), two phases of testing with over 500 children aged 2; 0–2; 11 were conducted to choose the final 40‐item set. Rasch analysis was used to select the best fitting and least redundant items. Norms were created based on 270 children. Sufficient test‐retest reliability, Cronbach's alpha, and con...

Journal of Communication Disorders

First Language

Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increas... more Previous research demonstrates that children delineate more nuanced color boundaries with increased exposure to their native language. As socioeconomic status (SES) is known to correlate with differences in the amount of language input children receive, this study attempts to extend previous research by asking how both age (age 3 vs 5) and SES (under-resourced vs advantaged) might impact color name acquisition of preschool children. The results confirm the findings of previous research, showing that older children labeled the color continuum more accurately than did younger participants. In addition, we found that while SES did not make a difference in how children labeled the continuum using basic color terms (e.g. blue), basic color terms with achromatic modifiers (e.g. light blue), and compound terms (e.g. blueish-green), 5-year-olds from more advantaged economic environments used significantly more non-basic color terms (e.g. turquoise) compared to their counterparts from under-...

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society, 2021

Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, parti... more Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, particularly in majority Dual Language Learning (DLL) classrooms. The current study examined 1) early science opportunities across classroom contexts in majority Spanish-English DLL Head Start classrooms, 2) the languages (i.e., English and Spanish) that teachers used to engage DLL children in science, 3) and how teachers’ discussion of scientific and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas related to children’s academic outcomes. In a sample of 411 children (ages 3-5) from 34 Head Start classrooms, the current study found that teachers discussed and encouraged more practices during science lessons than circle time, dramatic play, and story time. There were no differences in teachers’ discussion of core ideas across contexts. Teachers used the same amount of English and Spanish to discuss practices and core ideas. Teaching physical science was associated with children’s science outc...

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021

Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the publi... more Public space interventions offer one example of how to translate cognitive science into the public square. Here, we detail several successful projects and the six principles of learning that underlie them that support caregiver-child engagement, interaction, and the use of content area-specific language. Policy and community implications are also discussed.

Mind, Brain, and Education, 2021

ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, ... more ABSTRACTParkopolis, the life‐sized board game, was designed to promote conversation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. We investigated whether this exhibit also prompted questioning. Caregivers' and children's STEM‐related question‐asking was compared between Parkopolis (i.e., experimental group) and a STEM‐themed control exhibit. Groups (N = 197) of children and caregivers visiting two exhibits in a museum were observed. Observations revealed that caregivers and children asked more mathematical questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Caregivers also asked more spatial questions in Parkopolis. In addition, when all STEM‐related question topics (i.e., mathematical, spatial, and scientific thinking) were combined, children asked more STEM‐related questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Finally, children responded to a higher proportion of caregivers' questions in Parkopolis than in the control. Factors that promoted this questi...

Infancia Y Aprendizaje, Mar 27, 2017

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Jul 1, 2008

Current Directions in Psychological Science, Oct 1, 2015

Topics in Language Disorders, Oct 1, 2022

Acta Psychologica, Aug 1, 2023

Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 27, 2006

Child Development, Sep 1, 2009

Oxford University Press eBooks, Sep 7, 2006

Psychology of Music, Jun 9, 2019

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2019

Infant Behavior & Development, Feb 1, 2020

Child Development Perspectives, Nov 2, 2018

Infancy

Journal of Communication Disorders

First Language

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society, 2021

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021

Mind, Brain, and Education, 2021

Education Sciences, 2020

Children from under-resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging behind their p... more Children from under-resourced communities regularly enter formal schooling lagging behind their peers. These deficits in areas such as language development, reading readiness, and even in the kind of spatial skills that predict later mathematical knowledge, may persist throughout their lifespan. To address such gaps, policymakers have focused largely on schooling as the great equalizer. Yet, children only spend 20% of their waking hours in school. How can developmental scientists and educators address this "other 80%" for the benefit of children's development? One answer is the Learning Landscapes initiative, which involves crafting carefully planned play experiences that focus on learning outcomes, particularly for children and families from under-resourced communities. Playful learning, a broad pedagogical approach featuring child-directed play methods, provides a unique way to foster learning and engagement organically within the built environment. Learning Landscapes already incorporates several well-documented projects. The Ultimate Block Party brought over 50,000 people to Central Park to engage in playful learning activities. Supermarkets became hotspots for caregiver-child interaction by simply adding prompts for caregiver-child interaction through signage in everyday "trapped" experiences. Urban Thinkscape transformed a bus stop and adjacent lot into a hub for playful learning while families were waiting for public transportation. Finally, Parkopolis is a life-size human board game that fosters STEM and reasoning skills in public spaces. This paper reflects on data from these projects while reflecting on lessons learned and future directions.

Languages, 2023

An important cue to the meaning of a new noun is its accompanying classifier. For example, in Eng... more An important cue to the meaning of a new noun is its accompanying classifier. For example, in English, X in “a sheet of X” should refer to a broad, flat object. A classifier is required in Chinese to quantify nouns. Using children’s overt responses in an object/picture selection task, past re-search found reliable semantic knowledge of classifiers in Mandarin-reared children at around age 3. However, it is unclear how children’s semantic knowledge differs across different types of classifiers, and how this difference develops with age. Here we use an arguably more sensitive measure of children’s language knowledge (the intermodal preferential looking paradigm) to examine Mandarin-reared 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds’ semantic knowledge of four types of classifiers indicating animacy (human vs. animal distinction), configuration (how objects are arrayed), ob-ject shape, and vehicle function. Multiple factors were matched across classifier types: the number of classifiers, perceived familiarity and perceived typicality of the target, and the visual similar-ity of the two images paired together. Children’s performances differed across classifier types, as they were better with animacy classifiers than with configuration and vehicle-function classifiers. Their comprehension was reliable for animacy, object-shape, and vehicle-function classifiers but not for configuration classifiers. Furthermore, we did not find conclusive evidence for an age-dependent improvement in child performance. The analysis including the oldest (5-year-olds) and youngest (3-year-olds) children revealed a marginally significant age effect.