There is growing evidence indicating positive, causal effects of acute physical activity on cognitive performance of school children, adolescents, and adults. However, only a few studies examined these effects in kindergartners, even though correlational studies suggest moderate relationships between motor and cognitive functions in this age group. One aim of the present study was to examine the correlational relationships between motor and executive functions among 5- to 6-year-olds. Another aim was to test whether ...

Recent research has found that even preschoolers give more resources to others who have previously given resources to them, but the psychological bases of this reciprocity are unknown. In our study, a puppet distributed resources between herself and a child by taking some from a pile in front of the child or else by giving some from a pile in front of herself. Although the resulting distributions were identical, three- and five-year-olds reciprocated less generously when the puppet had taken rather than given resources. ...

Tracking objects that are hidden and then moved is a crucial ability related to object permanence, which develops across several stages in early childhood. In spatial rotation tasks, children observe a target object that is hidden in one of two or more containers before the containers are rotated around a fixed axis. Usually, 30-month-olds fail to find the hidden object after it was rotated by 180°. We examined whether visual discriminability of the containers improves 30-month-olds’ success in this task and whether ...

Der Beitrag beleuchtet didaktische Maßnahmen, die unter dem Begriff „Wünschenswerte Erschwernisse“ zusammengefasst werden. Diese Maßnahmen erschweren zwar kurzfristig das Lernen, langfristig aber fördern sie das Behalten und den Transfer des Gelernten. Vier dieser wünschenswerten Erschwernisse sind empirisch besonders gut belegt: 1) Das verteilte Lernen, 2) das verschachtelte Lernen, 3) der Testungseffekt und 4) der Generierungseffekt. Zu jeder dieser wünschenswerten Erschwernisse werden aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse ...

We examined the effect of distributed practice on the mathematical performance of third and seventh graders (N = 213) in school. Students first received an introduction to a mathematical topic, derived from their curriculum. Thereafter, they practiced in one of two conditions. In the massed condition, they worked on three practice sets in 1 day. In the distributed condition, they worked on one practice set per day for 3 consecutive days. Bayesian analyses of the performance in two follow‐up tests 1 and 6 weeks after ...

The present article is concerned with studies on magnitude estimations that strived to uncover the underlying mental representation(s) of magnitudes. We point out a number of methodological differences and shortcomings that make it difficult drawing general conclusions. To solve this problem, we propose a taxonomy by which those studies could be classified, taking into account central methodological aspects of magnitude estimation tasks. Finally, we suggest perspectives for future research on magnitude estimations, ...

This study tested whether second graders use benchmark-based strategies when solving a number line estimation (NLE) task. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions based on the availability of benchmarks provided on the number line. In the bounded condition, number lines were only bounded at both sides by 0 and 200, while the midpoint condition included an additional benchmark at the midpoint and children in the quartile condition were provided with a benchmark at every quartile. First, the inclusion of ...

We examined whether body parts attached to abstract stimuli automatically force embodiment in a mental rotation task. In Experiment 1, standard cube combinations reflecting a human pose were added with (1) body parts on anatomically possible locations, (2) body parts on anatomically impossible locations, (3) colored end cubes, and (4) simple end cubes. Participants (N = 30) had to decide whether two simultaneously presented stimuli, rotated in the picture plane, were identical or not. They were fastest and made less ...

The ability of children and adults to generate symbolic and non-symbolic magnitude estimations was examined in the light of their familiarity with numbers. Children (6-year-old kindergartners, 7-year-old first graders, and 9-year-old third graders) and adults made symbolic estimations either by saying number words that matched numbers of dots (i.e., perception task) or by generating numbers of dots that matched given number words (i.e., production task). In the non-symbolic estimation task, participants generated the ...