Geänderte Inhalte

The current study explored the dynamics of parent-child coordinated attention to novel and familiar objects during a play session, to examine whether parents or children are more likely to lead instances of coordinated joint attention to novel or familiar objects, and how children learn from periods of child-led or parent-led joint attention. Particularly, we investigated whether (i) parents or children lead more instances of joint attention when playing with novel relative to familiar objects, (ii) parents preferentially label novel relative to familiar objects, and (iii) children's learning of novel word-object associations is affected by object labelling frequency and children's sustained attention towards the objects. We found that not only do children lead more instances of joint attention, but, relative to their caregivers, children lead more instances of joint attention to familiar objects relative to novel objects. Parents also appeared to follow their child’s attention and labelled familiar objects more often than novel objects. Furthermore, we found no evidence for children’s recognition of the novel word-object associations. Our findings highlight the contingent nature of social interactions between caregivers and infants, with children leading and parents following their child’s lead, especially with regard to more familiar objects in the child’s environment.

Research characterises the child as an active learner, who attends more to and selectively retains information they actively elicit better than information they passively receive. At the same time, children learn best from knowledgeable others who tailor information to children’s learning progress. Bringing these disparate findings together requires examining children’s active learning in social interactions. The current study examines whether the active learning advantage persists in social interactions with others and is influenced by the pedagogical status of their social partner (mother, father or friend). We tested 4- to 5-year-old children with their social partners (Nfriend = 47, Nmother = 44, Nfather = 53) during a word learning task using a novel setup where two participants can interact with visual objects on a transparent touchscreen while observing each other. Participants could either actively choose objects to hear their labels or passively observe their partner's choices. Early in the task, there was an overall active benefit, although this pattern appeared to be predominantly driven by interactions between peers. Later in the task, learning appeared to be dynamic and more influenced by the social partner with whom the child was interacting, especially when considering interactions with their peers and their fathers. Together, these findings underscore the temporal and social dynamics of an active learning benefit in children's social interactions.

Thole Hoppen ist seit Oktober 2025 Leiter (Lehrstuhlvertretung) der Abteilung Klinische Psychologie und Psychopathologie. Zudem ist er approbierter Psychologischer Psychotherapeut (Fachkunde: Verhaltenstherapie für Erwachsene).