Name: experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children
Uploaded: 2019-03-01T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children at JoVE.com

The research studies using the self-distancing paradigm described here were supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (215464) to Angela L. Duckworth, Ethan Kross, and Stephanie M. Carlson. The authors would also like to thank the families and children who participated in these studies and the undergraduate research assistants who helped with data collection and coding.

All methods described here were approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Minnesota and complied with guidelines for research with human subjects. Written informed consent was obtained from a parent or guardian of the child participants, and verbal assent was obtained from children given they were too young to provide written consent.
1. Procedure
<ol>
	<li>Randomly assign 4-6-year-old children to one of three experimental conditions: self-immersed, third-person, or exe...

<ol>
	<li>Nigg, J. T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Annual+research+review:+On+the+relations+among+self-regulation,+self-control,+executive+functioning,+effortful+control,+cognitive+control,+impulsivity,+risk-taking,+and+inhibition+for+developmental+psychopathology.">Annual research review: On the relations among self-regulation, self-control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk-taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology.</a> Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 58, 361-383 (2017).</li><li>Blair, C., Razza, P. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Relating+effortful+control,+executive+function,+and+false+belief+understanding+to+emerging+math+and+literacy+ability+in+kindergarten.">Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten.</a> Child Development. 78 (2), 647-663 (2007).</li><li>Howse, R. B., Calkins, S. D., Anastopoulos, A. D., Keane, S. P., Shelton, T. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Regulatory+contributors+to+children's+kindergarten+achievement.">Regulatory contributors to children's kindergarten achievement.</a> Early Education and Development. 14 (1), 101-120 (2003).</li><li>Moffitt, T. E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+gradient+of+childhood+self-control+predicts+health,+wealth,+and+public+safety.">A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (7), 2693-2698 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Making+meaning+out+of+negative+experiences+by+self-distancing.">Making meaning out of negative experiences by self-distancing.</a> Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (3), 187-191 (2011).</li><li>Sigel, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+distancing+hypothesis:+A+causal+hypothesis+for+the+acquisition+of+representational+thought.">The distancing hypothesis: A causal hypothesis for the acquisition of representational thought.</a> Early schooling: The national debate. , 129-150 (1970).</li><li>Liberman, N., Trope, Y. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Traversing+psychological+distance.">Traversing psychological distance.</a> Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 18 (7), 364-369 (2014).</li><li>Mischel, W., Baker, N. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cognitive+appraisals+and+transformations+in+delay+behavior.">Cognitive appraisals and transformations in delay behavior.</a> Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 31 (2), 254-261 (1975).</li><li>Carlson, S. M., Davis, A. C., Leach, J. G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Less+is+more+executive+function+and+symbolic+representation+in+preschool+children.">Less is more executive function and symbolic representation in preschool children.</a> Psychological Science. 16 (8), 609-616 (2005).</li><li>Apperly, I. A., Carroll, D. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=How+do+symbols+affect+3-to+4-year-olds'+executive+function?+Evidence+from+a+reverse-contingency+task.">How do symbols affect 3-to 4-year-olds' executive function? Evidence from a reverse-contingency task.</a> Developmental Science. 12 (6), 1070-1082 (2009).</li><li>Prencipe, A., Zelazo, P. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Development+of+affective+decision+making+for+self+and+Other:+Evidence+for+the+integration+of+first-and+third-person+perspectives.">Development of affective decision making for self and Other: Evidence for the integration of first-and third-person perspectives.</a> Psychological Science. 16 (7), 501-505 (2005).</li><li>Karniol, R., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Why+superman+can+wait:+Cognitive+self-transformation+in+the+delay+of+gratification+paradigm.">Why superman can wait: Cognitive self-transformation in the delay of gratification paradigm.</a> Journal of Clinical Child &amp; Adolescent Psychology. 40 (2), 307-317 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Self-distancing:+Theory,+research,+and+current+directions.">Self-distancing: Theory, research, and current directions.</a> Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 55, 81-136 (2017).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O., Mischel, W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=When+asking+"why"+does+not+hurt"+Distinguishing+rumination+from+reflective+processing+of+negative+emotions.">When asking "why" does not hurt" Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions.</a> Psychological Science. 16, 709-715 (2005).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Making+meaning+out+of+negative+experiences+by+self-distancing.">Making meaning out of negative experiences by self-distancing.</a> Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (3), 187-191 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Self-talk+as+a+regulatory+mechanism:+How+you+do+it+matters.">Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.</a> Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 106 (2), 304-324 (2014).</li><li>Grossmann, I., Kross, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Exploring+Solomon's+paradox:+Self-distancing+eliminates+the+self-other+asymmetry+in+wise+reasoning+about+close+relationships+in+younger+and+older+adults.">Exploring Solomon's paradox: Self-distancing eliminates the self-other asymmetry in wise reasoning about close relationships in younger and older adults.</a> Psychological Science. 25 (8), 1571-1580 (2014).</li><li>Kross, E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Third-person+self-talk+reduces+Ebola+worry+and+risk+perception+by+enhancing+rational+thinking.">Third-person self-talk reduces Ebola worry and risk perception by enhancing rational thinking.</a> Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. 9 (3), 387-409 (2017).</li><li>Moser, J. S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Third-person+self-talk+facilitates+emotional+control+without+engaging+cognitive+control:+Converging+evidence+from+ERP+and+fMRI.">Third-person self-talk facilitates emotional control without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI.</a> Scientific Reports. 7 (4519), 1-9 (2017).</li><li>Nook, E. C., Schleider, J. L., Somerville, L. H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+linguistic+signature+of+psychological+distancing+in+emotion+regulation.">A linguistic signature of psychological distancing in emotion regulation.</a> Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 146 (3), 337-346 (2017).</li><li>Dolcos, S., Albarracin, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+inner+speech+of+behavioral+regulation:+Intentions+and+task+performance+strengthen+when+you+talk+to+yourself+as+a+You.">The inner speech of behavioral regulation: Intentions and task performance strengthen when you talk to yourself as a You.</a> Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 44, 636-642 (2014).</li><li>White, R. E., Carlson, S. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=What+would+Batman+do?+Self-distancing+improves+executive+function+in+young+children.">What would Batman do? Self-distancing improves executive function in young children.</a> Developmental Science. 19, 419-426 (2016).</li><li>Singer, D. G., Singer, J. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> The house of make-believe: Children's play and the developing imagination. , (1990).</li><li>White, R. E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+"Batman+effect":+Improving+perseverance+in+young+children.">The "Batman effect": Improving perseverance in young children.</a> Child Development. 88 (5), 1563-1571 (2017).</li><li>Grenell, A., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Individual+differences+in+the+effectiveness+of+self-distancing+for+young+children's+emotion+regulation.">Individual differences in the effectiveness of self-distancing for young children's emotion regulation.</a> British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 37 (1), 84-100 (2019).</li><li>Grenell, A., Vaisarova, J., Carlson, S. 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The child self-distancing paradigm described herein is important because it is developmentally appropriate and capitalizes on young children&#39;s love for role-play23. Previous research shows that this method can be successfully implemented with children between 4 and 6 years of age and that children who create the most theoretical distance from the self by pretending to be a popular media character show better performance on self-regulation tasks than children who use the first-person perspectiv...

Self-regulation is the ability to deliberately control one&#39;s thoughts, actions, and emotions. Self-regulation involves the interaction between &#34;reactive&#34; and &#34;deliberate&#34; processes and is a general concept that includes several different types of skills such as emotion regulation, executive function, perseverance, and effortful control (i.e., parent-reported temperament measure of self-regulation)1. Several studies have found that self-regulation is associated with and predictive of many important cognitive and social outcomes2,3. Additionally, early self-regulation skills have been found to be predictive of long-term wealth and health outcomes4. This previous research highlights the importance of intervening early to improve young children&#39;s self-regulation skills for more positive life outcomes later.
One strategy for improving young children&#39;s self-regulation is self-distancing. Self-distancing refers to creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by having individuals think about their thoughts, feelings, or actions from an outsider&#39;s perspective5. Self-distancing is one form of psychological distancing. Psychological distancing refers to creating mental distance between a stimulus and response. This distance allows individuals to reflect and demonstrate greater control of their emotions, actions, and thoughts6,7. Most of the previous research on psychological distancing with children has focused on creating distance by transforming the task stimuli. For example, having children think about treats in an abstract way such as imagining that marshmallows are clouds during a delay of gratification task8 or replacing actual treats with symbols (e.g., a pile of rocks to represent a pile of jelly beans) during a reverse- contingency task9,10 promotes better performance. However, a few studies have created psychological distance in other ways such as by having children make decisions for another person instead of for themselves11 or thinking about an individual who would perform well on the task, like Superman12. These studies also showed benefits of psychological distancing for children&#39;s ability to delay gratification11,12.
While self-distancing seems like another promising way to improve different aspects of children&#39;s self-regulation, the majority of the research on self-distancing has been conducted with adults. Self-distancing has been studied with adults mainly in the domain of emotion regulation. In these studies, adults are asked to use visual imagery or language to create distance from the self13. For example, they are instructed to recall a past event that evokes negative emotions by visualizing it either through their own eyes (non-distanced) or from an outsider&#39;s perspective or as if they were &#34;a fly on the wall&#34; (self-distanced)13,14,15. In other studies, adults are asked to use first-person (non-distanced) or third-person speech (self-distanced) while thinking about past negative emotions16,17,18,19,20,21. These studies suggest that taking a distanced perspective helps adults focus on why they are feeling what they are feeling instead of focusing on the negative emotions themselves and results in better coping when recalling these past negative emotions13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21.
Recently, a self-distancing paradigm for children was created by modifying the self-distancing conditions used in the adult literature to be developmentally appropriate for young children22 and creating an additional self-distancing condition based on children&#39;s love for role-play23. The self-immersed condition was adopted from the adult literature and is meant to elicit an exaggerated egocentric or first-person perspective. Theoretically, the self-immersed condition should be more detrimental to children&#39;s performance than a control condition in which children are not given any distancing instructions. In the control condition, children may take on a first-person perspective by default, but they are not as immersed in this perspective as children in the self-immersed condition. In both the self-immersed and control conditions, participants should not be creating distance from the self. The third-person condition creates some distance from the self by asking children to think about themselves using their own name. This condition allows children to think about their own thoughts, feelings, and actions from a distanced perspective. Finally, an additional condition called the exemplar condition was created by looking at past research with children on role-play such as a study by Karniol and colleagues12 in which children were asked to pretend to be Superman during a delay of gratification task. In the exemplar condition, children are instructed to take the perspective of another person by pretending to be a media character. Having children pretend to be someone else creates even more distance from the self than the third-person condition since it asks children to think as if they were someone else with different thoughts, feelings, and skills. It also allows children to use their love for role-play, which peaks in early childhood23. During the target task, children are given either verbal or visual (e.g., stickers, costumes) reminders of their self-distancing condition. Allowing children to use the different self-distancing strategies while performing self-regulation tasks avoids children having to retrospectively remember situations in which they needed to exert self-regulation. While the adult literature allows researchers to study the difference between taking a non-distanced and distanced perspective, this child self-distancing paradigm allows children to take on a broader range of distances from the self (self-immersed, third-person, and exemplar) and allows researchers to test the effectiveness of these varying amounts of distance from the self on&#160;children&#39;s self-regulation.
In this article, we describe the self-distancing paradigm in detail, including the materials needed and the procedure for using this paradigm with young children. Additionally, we discuss results from studies that have used the self-distancing paradigm to examine its effects on young children&#39;s (3-6-year-olds) self-regulation. Finally, we discuss ways that the self-distancing paradigm can be used in future research, potential modifications to the paradigm, and implications for using it.
The target task that children complete while using the self-distancing instructions varies depending on the focus of the study. The following protocol demonstrates how the self-distancing paradigm can be used during a perseverance task24. However, the self-distancing paradigm can be applied to a number of behavioral tasks that involve effort on the part of the child. The task must be sufficiently challenging so that not all children will succeed even without the task manipulation, and yet not too far beyond their developmental level such that they cannot understand the instructions or perform the task under any circumstances. The following illustration of the self-distancing paradigm was used with typically developing 4- and 6-year-olds24.

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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Child-sized table</td>
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			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">2 Child-sized chairs (one for child and one for experimenter)&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;">Camera to record children working on the task for coding their behaviors later</td>
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			<td height="105" style="height:105px;width:216px;">A laminated sheet of paper with pictures of four media characters that are popular with children of the study&#8217;s age range in their specific culture</td>
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			<td>In past studies, Batman, Superman, Bob the Builder, Rapunzel, Elsa (Frozen), and Dora the Explorer have been used.</td>
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			<td height="84" style="height:84px;width:216px;">Props associated with each media character that children can wear while working on the target task</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">For example, a cape for Batman, a tool belt for Bob the Builder, a tiara for Rapunzel, and a backpack for Dora the Explorer.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="336" style="height:336px;width:216px;">Laptop/computer to play audio reminders if audio reminders are used</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">These recordings should say the following for each condition every 60 seconds: 
			 
			Self-immersed: &#34;Am I working hard?&#34; 
			 
			Third- person: &#34;Is [child&#8217;s name] working hard?&#34; 
			 
			Exemplar: &#34; Is [media character&#8217;s name] working hard?&#34; 
			 
			This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</td>
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			<td height="231" style="height:231px;width:216px;">Plain stickers to write &#34;I&#34; or the child&#39;s name to be used as reminders for the self-immersed and third-person condition</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">Stickers can be placed on the apparatus being used or on children&#39;s hands to remind them of their self-distancing strategy. These stickers would have the letter &#34;I&#34; for the self-immersed condition or their name spelled out for the third-person condition. This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.</td>
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			<td height="210" style="height:210px;width:216px;">Stickers with pictures of 4 media characters chosen for exemplar condition</td>
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			<td>Stickers with pictures of the media characters used in the study can be purchased and placed on the apparatus being or on the children&#39;s hands to remind them of their self-distancing strategy. This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="147" style="height:147px;width:216px;">Ipad or tablet with developmentally approariate and entertaining game for children in the age range being studied downloaded onto it</td>
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			<td>&#34;Where&#39;s My Water&#34; is one example of an app that can be used for 4-6-yea-olds. The app should be developmentally appropariate for the age range being studied and a game that children of that age want to play. This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Laptop/computer with go/no-go task program described in the protocol&#160;</td>
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			<td>This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Cardboard keyboard overlay to cover keys that are not needed for the go/no-go task</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Sticker illustrating iPad game to put on the &#34;break&#34; key on the computer keyboard</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children

Self-distancing (i.e., creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by adopting a less egocentric perspective) has been studied as a way to improve adolescents' and adults' emotion regulation. These studies instruct adolescents and adults to use visual imagery or language to create distance from the self before engaging in self-regulation tasks and when thinking about past and future events. For example, adults are asked to recall past, negative emotional experiences from either a first-person perspective (no distance) or a third-person perspective (self-distanced). These studies show that a self-distanced perspective allows adults to cope more adaptively when recalling negative feelings. However, the self-distancing paradigm used with adults was not developmentally appropriate for young children. This modified self-distancing paradigm involves instructing children to think about their thoughts, feelings, and actions from different perspectives that vary in their distance from the self while completing a self-regulation task. The paradigm involves randomly assigning children to use one of three perspectives: self-immersed, third-person, or exemplar. In the self-immersed condition, children are asked to think about themselves using the first-person perspective (e.g., "How am I feeling?") and no distance is created from the self. In the third-person condition, children are asked to create distance from the self by using the third-person perspective (e.g., "How is [child's name] feeling?"). In the exemplar condition, the greatest distance from the self is created by asking children to pretend to be a media character and to think about that character's thoughts and feelings (e.g., "How is Batman feeling?"). Studies using the self-distancing paradigm with 4-6-year-olds have found that as the amount of distance from the self increases (self-immersed &lt; third-person &lt; exemplar), children perform better on self-regulation tasks. These findings suggest that the strategies implemented in the self-distancing protocol may be useful to include in self-regulation interventions for young children.

Overall effectiveness of self-distancing 
The self-distancing paradigm has been used in several studies focusing on young children&#39;s self-regulation including executive function skills, perseverance, and emotion regulation. To determine the effectiveness of self-distancing, children&#39;s performance on the target task is compared across the different self-distancing conditions (self-immersed, third-person, and exemplar). Studies with children between the ages of...

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Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children

An experimental paradigm was created to measure the effects of self-distancing in young children (4-6-year-olds). Self-distancing is a process through which individuals adopt a less egocentric perspective. This paradigm has been used to examine the effects of self-distancing on young children&#39;s self-regulation.

Self-distancing (i.e., creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by adopting a less egocentric perspective) has been studied as a way to ...

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Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Investigators have long been interested in the human propensity for the rapid detection of threatening stimuli. However, until recently, research in this domain has focused almost exclusively on adult participants, completely ignoring the topic of threat detection over the course of development. One of the biggest reasons for the lack of developmental work in this area is likely the absence of a reliable paradigm that can measure perceptual biases for threat in children. To address this issue, we recently designed a modified visual search paradigm similar to the standard adult paradigm that is appropriate for studying threat detection in preschool-aged participants. Here we describe this new procedure. In the general paradigm, we present participants with matrices of color photographs, and ask them to find and touch a target on the screen. Latency to touch the target is recorded. Using a touch-screen monitor makes the procedure simple and easy, allowing us to collect data in participants ranging from 3 years of age to adults. Thus far, the paradigm has consistently shown that both adults and children detect threatening stimuli (e.g., snakes, spiders, angry/fearful faces) more quickly than neutral stimuli (e.g., flowers, mushrooms, happy/neutral faces). Altogether, this procedure provides an important new tool for researchers interested in studying the development of attentional biases for threat.

Here we describe a touch-screen visual search paradigm that can be used to study threat detection across the lifespan. The paradigm has already been used in various studies demonstrating that both children and adults detect threatening stimuli like snakes, spiders, and angry faces faster than non-threatening stimuli.

Investigators have long been interested in the human propensity for the rapid detection of threatening stimuli. However, until recently, research in this ...

A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity

Feeding difficulties and feeding disorders are a commonly occurring problem for young children, particularly children with developmental delays including autism. Behavior analytic interventions for the treatment of feeding difficulties oftentimes include escape extinction as a primary component of treatment. The use of escape extinction, while effective, may be problematic as it is also associated with the emergence of challenging behavior (e.g., extinction burst). Such challenging behavior may be an acceptable side effect in treatment cases where feeding problems are severe and chronic (e.g., failure to thrive). However, in more acute cases (e.g., selective eating), the negative side effect may be unwarranted and undesired. More recent research on the behavioral treatment of food selectivity has begun to evaluate treatments for feeding difficulties that do not include escape extinction (e.g., demand fading, behavioral momentum), with some success. However, research to date reveals individual differences in responsiveness to such treatments and no clear preferable treatment has emerged. This manuscript describes a multi-component treatment package that includes shaping, sequential presentation and simultaneous presentation, for the treatment of food selectivity in four young children with developmental delays. This treatment package extends the literature on the behavioral treatment for food selectivity and offers a multi-component treatment protocol that may be clinically applicable across a range of treatment scenarios and settings.

Feeding difficulties are a common problem for children with developmental disorders, including autism, and behavioral interventions often include escape extinction. Recent research has begun to evaluate treatments that do not include escape extinction. This manuscript describes a multicomponent treatment package that does not use escape extinction to treat feeding difficulties.

Feeding difficulties and feeding disorders are a commonly occurring problem for young children, particularly children with developmental delays including ...

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

In many situations humans are influenced by the behavior of other people and their relationships with them. For example, in stressful situations supportive behavior of other people as well as positive social relationships can act as powerful resources to cope with stress. In order to study the interplay between these variables, this protocol describes two effective experimental manipulations of social relationships and supportive behavior in the laboratory. In the present article, these two manipulations are implemented in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)&#8212;a standard stress induction paradigm in which participants are subjected to a simulated job interview. More precisely, we propose (a) a manipulation of the relationship between different protagonists in the TSST by making a shared social identity salient and (b) a manipulation of the behavior of the TSST-selection committee, which acts either supportively or unsupportively. These two experimental manipulations are designed in a modular fashion and can be applied independently of each other but can also be combined. Moreover, these two manipulations can also be integrated into other stress protocols and into other standardized social interactions such as trust games, negotiation tasks, or other group tasks.

Previous research on the social dimension of stress has focused on two important variables: social identity and social support. This protocol introduces an effective experimental manipulation of these two social variables and describes their implementation in a standard stress induction paradigm (Trier Social Stress Test).

In many situations humans are influenced by the behavior of other people and their relationships with them. For example, in stressful situations ...

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children &#8211; Working Memory (CABC-WM)

The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children - Working Memory (CABC-WM) is a computer-based battery designed to assess different components of working memory in young school-age children. Working memory deficits have been identified in children with language-based learning disabilities, including dyslexia1,2 and language impairment3,4, but it is not clear whether these children exhibit deficits in subcomponents of working memory, such as visuospatial or phonological working memory. The CABC-WM is administered on a desktop computer with a touchscreen interface and was specifically developed to be engaging and motivating for children. Although the long-term goal of the CABC-WM is to provide individualized working memory profiles in children, the present study focuses on the initial success and utility of the CABC-WM for measuring central executive, visuospatial, phonological loop, and binding constructs in children with typical development. Immediate next steps are to administer the CABC-WM to children with specific language impairment, dyslexia, and comorbid specific language impairment and dyslexia.

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children &amp;#8211; Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Working memory predicts a significant amount of variance for a variety of cognitive tasks, including speaking, reading, and writing. However, few tools are available to assess working memory in children. We present an innovative, computer-based battery that comprehensively assesses different components of working memory in school-age children.

The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children - Working Memory (CABC-WM) is a computer-based battery designed to assess different components of ...

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

In a typical eye tracking study using the visual world paradigm, participants' eye movements to objects or pictures in the visual workspace are recorded via an eye tracker as the participant produces or comprehends a spoken language describing the concurrent visual world. This paradigm has high versatility, as it can be used in a wide range of populations, including those who cannot read and/or who cannot overtly give their behavioral responses, such as preliterate children, elderly adults, and patients. More importantly, the paradigm is extremely sensitive to fine grained manipulations of the speech signal, and it can be used to study the online processing of most topics in language comprehension at multiple levels, such as the fine grained acoustic phonetic features, the properties of words, and the linguistic structures. The protocol described in this article illustrates how a typical visual world eye tracking study is conducted, with an example showing how the online processing of some semantically complex statements can be explored with the visual world paradigm.

The visual world paradigm monitors participants' eye movements in the visual workspace as they are listening to or speaking a spoken language. This paradigm can be used to investigate the online processing of a wide range of psycholinguistic questions, including semantically complex statements, such as disjunctive statements.

In a typical eye tracking study using the visual world paradigm, participants' eye movements to objects or pictures in the visual workspace are recorded ...

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories

Associated word list procedures can elicit false memories in predictable ways by inducing associative processing, thus making it harder to monitor the accuracy of memories. The purpose of the method presented here was to induce false memories using lists of either semantically or phonologically related words and to assess the effects of imagery instructions on the recall and recognition of those false memories. To do this, we used a modified version of the Deese Roediger McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We adapted word lists from previous DRM studies to suit imagery procedures and created an automated presentation to present the word lists in classroom settings. We then recruited undergraduate classes and instructed some of the classes to create mental images of the list words as they were being presented, while instructing the other classes to simply remember the words. The automated presentation presented word lists to participants, one word at a time, alternating between phonologically and semantically related lists. Participants used paper-pencil recall packets to immediately recall list items, complete a distractor activity, and take a subsequent final recognition test. Often, participants immediately recalled and later recognized words that were related to the list items but were not actually presented; these are known as critical lures and indicate a false memory. The protocol detailed here describes a four-step procedure - list presentation, immediate recall, distractor phase, and final recognition - that can assess the effects of list type and imagery instruction within the DRM paradigm on memory. The automated nature of the list presentation provides the ability to systematically vary variables of interest, and the paper and pencil method of data collection affords an easily accessible method for collecting data in classroom settings. The protocol also offers options to modify the procedure to a more traditional DRM paradigm without imagery and/or list type manipulations. The use of this protocol can provide results relevant to both classroom learning and cognitive science principles.

The method presented here induced false memories using lists of related words and also assessed the effects of imagery instructions on the recall and recognition of those false memories. This protocol details a modified version of the Deese Roediger McDermott (DRM) paradigm.

Associated word list procedures can elicit false memories in predictable ways by inducing associative processing, thus making it harder to monitor the ...

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is currently a paucity of research exploring how preschool children with autism understand sentences using different types of cues. The mechanisms underlying sentence comprehension remains largely unclear. The present study presents a protocol to examine the sentence comprehension abilities of preschool children with autism. More specifically, a visual world paradigm of eye-tracking is used to explore the moment-to-moment sentence comprehension in the children. The paradigm has multiple advantages. First, it is sensitive to the time course of sentence comprehension and thus can provide rich information about how sentence comprehension unfolds over time. Second, it requires minimal task and communication demands, so it is ideal for testing children with autism. To further minimize the computational burden of children, the present study measures eye movements that arise as automatic responses to linguistic input rather than measuring eye movements that accompany conscious responses to spoken instructions.

We present a protocol to examine the use of morphological cues during real-time sentence comprehension by children with autism.

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is ...

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior

Collective human behavior such as group movement frequently shows surprising patterns and regularities, such as the emergence of leadership. Recent literature has revealed that these patterns, often visible at the global level of the group, are based on self-organized, individual behaviors that follow several simple local parameters. Understanding the dynamics of human collective behavior can help to improve coordination and leadership in group and crowd scenarios, such as identifying the ideal placement and number of emergency exits in buildings.
In this article, we present the experimental paradigm HoneyComb, which can be used to systematically investigate conditions and effects of human collective behavior. This paradigm uses a computer-based multi-user platform, providing a setting that can be shaped and adapted to various types of research questions. Situational conditions (e.g., cost-benefit ratios for specific behavior, monetary incentives and resources, various degrees of uncertainty) can be set by experimenters, depending on the research question. Each participant's motions are recorded by the server as hexagonal coordinates with timestamps at an accuracy of 50 ms and with individual IDs. Thus, a metric can be defined on the playfield, and movement parameters (e.g., distances, velocity, clustering, etc.) of participants can be measured over time. Movement data can in turn be combined with non-computerized data from questionnaires garnered within the same experiment setup.
The HoneyComb paradigm is paving the way for new types of human movement experiments. We demonstrate here that these experiments can render results with sufficient internal validity to meaningfully deepen our understanding of human collective behavior.

Here, we present the computer-based, multi-agent game HoneyComb, which enables experimental investigations of collective human movement behavior via black-dot-avatars on a virtual 2D hexagonal playfield. Different experimental conditions, like variable&#160;incentives on goal fields or vision radius, can be set, and their effects on human movement behavior can be investigated.

Collective human behavior such as group movement frequently shows surprising patterns and regularities, such as the emergence of leadership. Recent ...

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

The analysis of functional abilities and their development in early childhood (0-6 years old) are fundamental aspects among young children with certain types of developmental difficulties that can facilitate prevention, through programmed interventions adapted to the needs of each user (student or patient). There are, however, few investigations to date, that have analyzed the use of automated tools for recording and interpreting the results of the initial assessment. Here, a protocol is presented to examine the functional abilities in early childhood in young children, aged between 3-6 years old, with intellectual disabilities, but the protocol can also be used for ages 0 to 6 years. The protocol makes use of a computer application, eEarlyCare, that facilitates the interpretation of the results of systematic observations, which are recorded in natural environments by professionals trained in early intervention. The software can be used to analyze 11 functional areas (Food Autonomy, Personal Care and Hygiene, Dressing and Undressing Independently, Sphincter Control, Functional Mobility, Communication and Language, Daily Life Routines, Adaptive Behavior and Attention) and a total of 114 different behaviors. Its use facilitates the analysis of the observed abilities and greatly assists early intervention. Compared to other observational methods, it allows a more efficient use of personal and material resources. The use of the computer application facilitates the recording of the observation results, which helps with organization and reflection on the observations. The software displays the observation results on-screen compared to normal developmental parameters. This information can be referred to for decision-making about the most suitable intervention program for each user (student or patient). Likewise, clustering techniques are applied to analyze the relation between the type of intellectual disabilities and functional development identified with the software, a relation that is intended to serve as a guide for early-care professional intervention.

We present a protocol to use a computational tool to record and analyze the functional abilities of children aged 3-6 years old. The protocol facilitates the comparison of these abilities throughout their development and can be used to assess developmental difficulties.

The analysis of functional abilities and their development in early childhood (0-6 years old) are fundamental aspects among young children with certain ...

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

Previous studies have found that older adults have greater difficulties in processing syntactically complex sentences than younger adults. However, the exact regions where the difficulties arise have not been fully identified. In this study, a maze task was implemented to investigate how older adults and younger adults differentially processed two types of sentences with different levels of syntactic complexity, namely subject relative clauses and object relative clauses. Participants were asked to choose between two alternatives at each segment of the sentences. The task required participants to engage in a strictly incremental mode of processing. The reading times for each segment were recorded, allowing the quantification of the difficulty of sentence reading. The task allowed us to identify the exact locations of the processing difficulty and thus facilitate a more accurate assessment of the age-related decline in sentence processing. The results indicate that the effect of ageing was found mainly at the head nouns, but not at other regions of the sentences, a finding which suggests that the maze task is an effective method to identify the exact location of the ageing effect on sentence processing. The implications of this experimental paradigm for investigating the effect of ageing on sentence processing are discussed.

Here, we present a protocol to examine the age-related decline in sentence processing using a maze task that allowed us to localize the processing difficulty at each word of the sentences during reading.

Previous studies have found that older adults have greater difficulties in processing syntactically complex sentences than younger adults. However, the ...