Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning
The effect of interpersonal behavioral synchrony on children's behavior is an emerging field rich with research potential. While studies demonstrate its effect on affiliative and prosocial outcomes, the role of synchronized movement on children's specific learning outcomes has not yet been...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171033 |
| _version_ | 1811696180508229632 |
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| author | Bazhydai, Marina Ke, Han Thomas, Hannah Wong, Malcolm K. Y. Westermann, Gert |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences Bazhydai, Marina Ke, Han Thomas, Hannah Wong, Malcolm K. Y. Westermann, Gert |
| author_sort | Bazhydai, Marina |
| collection | NTU |
| description | The effect of interpersonal behavioral synchrony on children's behavior is an emerging field rich with research potential. While studies demonstrate its effect on affiliative and prosocial outcomes, the role of synchronized movement on children's specific learning outcomes has not yet been investigated experimentally. One possibility is that synchrony, as a coordinated social activity, encourages perceived social bonds, leading to heightened attention, and better information retention. Equally likely is that physiological, rather than social learning, mechanisms mediate the effect, given the previously demonstrated role of autonomic arousal in attentional fluctuations, cognitive engagement, problem solving, exploration, and curiosity. The present study investigated the behavioral and physiological effects of synchrony conceptualized as induced, interpersonal, behavioral, movement-based interaction, on word learning in 2.5-year-old children. In a laboratory experiment, toddlers engaged in either a synchronous or an asynchronous movement-based interaction with an adult experimenter while listening to an upbeat children's song. After the (a)synchronous movement episode, the same experimenter engaged children in a word learning task. During the (a)synchrony and learning phases, children's physiological arousal was continuously recorded, resulting in heart rate and skin conductance response measures. Following a caregiver-child free play break, children were tested on their novel word retention. The results indicated that children learned novel labels at equal rates during the learning phase in both conditions, and their retention at test did not differ between conditions: although above chance retention of novel labels was found only following the synchronous, but not the asynchronous episode, the cross-episode comparisons did not reach statistical significance. Physiological arousal indices following the (a)synchrony episode did not differ between conditions and did not predict better word learning, although skin conductance response was higher during the learning than the movement episode. This study contributes to our understanding of the underlying cognitive and physiological mechanisms of interpersonal behavioral synchrony in the knowledge acquisition domain and paves the way to future investigations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:35:16Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/171033 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:35:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1710332023-10-15T15:30:29Z Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning Bazhydai, Marina Ke, Han Thomas, Hannah Wong, Malcolm K. Y. Westermann, Gert School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Psychology Toddlers Word Learning The effect of interpersonal behavioral synchrony on children's behavior is an emerging field rich with research potential. While studies demonstrate its effect on affiliative and prosocial outcomes, the role of synchronized movement on children's specific learning outcomes has not yet been investigated experimentally. One possibility is that synchrony, as a coordinated social activity, encourages perceived social bonds, leading to heightened attention, and better information retention. Equally likely is that physiological, rather than social learning, mechanisms mediate the effect, given the previously demonstrated role of autonomic arousal in attentional fluctuations, cognitive engagement, problem solving, exploration, and curiosity. The present study investigated the behavioral and physiological effects of synchrony conceptualized as induced, interpersonal, behavioral, movement-based interaction, on word learning in 2.5-year-old children. In a laboratory experiment, toddlers engaged in either a synchronous or an asynchronous movement-based interaction with an adult experimenter while listening to an upbeat children's song. After the (a)synchronous movement episode, the same experimenter engaged children in a word learning task. During the (a)synchrony and learning phases, children's physiological arousal was continuously recorded, resulting in heart rate and skin conductance response measures. Following a caregiver-child free play break, children were tested on their novel word retention. The results indicated that children learned novel labels at equal rates during the learning phase in both conditions, and their retention at test did not differ between conditions: although above chance retention of novel labels was found only following the synchronous, but not the asynchronous episode, the cross-episode comparisons did not reach statistical significance. Physiological arousal indices following the (a)synchrony episode did not differ between conditions and did not predict better word learning, although skin conductance response was higher during the learning than the movement episode. This study contributes to our understanding of the underlying cognitive and physiological mechanisms of interpersonal behavioral synchrony in the knowledge acquisition domain and paves the way to future investigations. Published version This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarship Programme [DS-2014-14] and the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD [ES/S007113/1]). 2023-10-10T06:30:07Z 2023-10-10T06:30:07Z 2022 Journal Article Bazhydai, M., Ke, H., Thomas, H., Wong, M. K. Y. & Westermann, G. (2022). Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1008404-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1008404 1664-0640 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171033 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1008404 36506988 2-s2.0-85143502758 13 1008404 en Frontiers in Psychology © 2022 Bazhydai, Ke, Thomas, Wong and Westermann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences::Psychology Toddlers Word Learning Bazhydai, Marina Ke, Han Thomas, Hannah Wong, Malcolm K. Y. Westermann, Gert Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title | Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title_full | Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title_fullStr | Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title_short | Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning |
| title_sort | investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers word learning |
| topic | Social sciences::Psychology Toddlers Word Learning |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171033 |
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