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This study examined the relationship between early parental treatment, specifically reading to young children and later cognitive development with a Bayesian perspective. Previous research established a positive link between parental reading to infants and their cognitive development, such as receptive vocabulary, reading comprehension and motivation to read. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, this study analysed individuals aged 9 months to 14 years to investigate the effects of early reading to young children on nine cognitive variables. Bayesian statistical analysis controlled for pre‐existing differences and covariates to establish a causal association between reading and cognitive development. The results indicated that reading to infants and toddlers positively impacted their cognitive development beyond reading skills. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of the Bayesian approach in determining scientific significance and underscore the importance of early literacy interventions in promoting cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do children consider temporal distance in their reasoning about the world? Using a novel method that relied minimally on verbal ability, we asked N = 106 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds to judge which of two characters felt more 'happy'/'sad' right now: one engaging in a pleasant/unpleasant activity tomorrow or another engaging in this same activity when they are a year older. That is, we examined whether children understood that the closer in time a future event, the more intense the currently felt emotion. Starting at age 4, children correctly judged which child was more 'happy'/'sad' right now. However, 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds tended not to explain their judgements by referring to temporal distance, per se. Results suggest that children are sensitive to temporal distance early in development, but do not yet verbally express this understanding. Implications for theories about children's future thinking and future areas of research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children frequently use Google to answer their questions, yet what they think about Google's capacity and limitations is unclear. This study explores children's beliefs about Google's capacity to answer questions. American children ages 9 and 10 (n = 44; 18 boys and 26 girls) viewed factual questions directed towards Google or a person. After viewing each question, they reported their confidence in the informant's accuracy, the time it would take the informant to obtain the answer and how the informant would obtain the answer. Finally, they generated questions that the internet would be capable or incapable of answering. Children believed Google would be more accurate and faster than a person at answering questions. Children consistently generated appropriate questions that the internet would be good at answering, but they sometimes struggled to generate questions that the internet would not be good at answering. Implications for children's learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self‐memory system depends on the prioritization and capture of self‐relevant information, so may be disrupted by difficulties in attending to, encoding and retrieving self‐relevant information. The current study compares memory for self‐referenced and other‐referenced items in children with ADHD and typically developing comparison groups matched for verbal and chronological age. Children aged 5–14 (N = 90) were presented with everyday objects alongside an own‐face image (self‐reference trials) or an unknown child's image (other‐referenced trials). They were asked whether the child shown would like the object, before completing a surprise source memory test. In a second task, children performed, and watched another person perform, a series of actions before their memory for the actions was tested. A significant self‐reference effect (SRE) was found in the typically developing children (i.e. both verbal and chronological age‐matched comparison groups) for the first task, with significantly better memory for self‐referenced than other‐referenced objects. However, children with ADHD showed no SRE, suggesting a compromised ability to bind information with the cognitive self‐concept. In the second task, all groups showed superior memory for actions carried out by the self, suggesting a preserved enactment effect in ADHD. Implications and applications for the self‐memory system in ADHD are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]