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The current study examined the level of friendship satisfaction of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their nominated friends (with and without diagnosis of ASD). A total of 77 target children with ASD and friends from 49 nominated friendships participated in the study. Relatively high levels of friendship satisfaction were reported by both target children and their nominated friends with no overall difference between dyads involving typically developing friends and friends with ASD. Analysis at the individual dyad level showed a high level of agreement on the reported level of satisfaction across the target participants and their friends. Limitations and directions for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is a large research base on the psychological impacts of violent and prosocial visual media, there is little research addressing the impacts of violent and prosocial music, and which facets of the music have the greatest impact. Four experiments tested the impact of lyrics and/or musical tone on aggressive and prosocial behavior, and on underlying psychological processes, using purpose-built songs to avoid the effect of music-related confounds. In study one, where mildly aggressive, overtly aggressive and violent lyrics were compared to neutral lyrics, any level of lyrical aggression caused an increase in behavioral aggression, which plateaued for all three aggression conditions. Violent lyrics were better recalled than other lyrics one week later. In studies two-three no significant effects of lyrics, or of aggressive versus nonaggressive musical tone, were found on aggressive or prosocial behavior. In terms of internal states, violent lyrics increased hostility/hostile cognitions in all studies, and negatively impacted affective state in three studies. Prosocial lyrics decreased hostility/hostile cognitions in three studies, but always in tandem with another factor. Aggressive musical tone increased physiological arousal in two studies and increased negative affect in one. In study four those who listened to violent lyrics drove more aggressively on a simulated drive that included triggers for aggression. Overall, violent lyrics consistently elicited hostility/hostile cognitions and negative affect, but these did not always translate to aggressive behavior. Violent music seems more likely to elicit behavioral aggression when there are aggression triggers and a clear way to aggress. Implications are discussed., (© 2024 The Authors. Aggressive Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Existing research is inconsistent regarding the effects of gesture production on narrative recall. Most studies have examined the effects of gesture production during a recall phase, not during encoding, and findings regarding gesture's effects are mixed. The present study examined whether producing gestures at encoding could benefit an individual's narrative recall and whether this effect is moderated by verbal memory and spatial ability. This study also investigated whether producing certain types of gesture is most beneficial to recalling details of a narrative. Participants read a narrative aloud while producing their own gestures at pre-specified phrases in the narrative (Instructed Gesture condition), while placing both their hands behind their backs (No Gesture condition) or with no specific instructions regarding gesture (Spontaneous Gesture condition). Participants completed measures of spatial ability and verbal memory. Recall was measured through both free recall, and specific recall questions related to particular phrases in the narrative. Spontaneous gesture production at encoding benefited free recall, while instructed gestures provided the greatest benefit for recall of specific phrases where gesture had been prompted during encoding. Conversely, for recall of specific phrases where gesture had not been prompted during encoding, instructions to either gesture or not gesture suppressed recall for those higher in verbal memory. Finally, producing iconic and deictic gestures provided benefits for narrative recall, whilst beat gestures had no effect. Gestures play an important role in how we encode and subsequently recall information, providing an opportunity to support cognitive capacity., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

While diagnostic assessments for autism routinely screen for reduced frequency of gestures, evidence supporting reduced gesture production in autism is inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify differences in frequency of gestures between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Included studies compared frequency of gestures between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Database searches (APA PsycInfo, ERIC, MEDLINE, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global) and a call for unpublished data on the International Society for Gesture Studies listserv identified research from January 1994 to March 2023. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Quasi-Experimental Designs. Quantitative synthesis involved a narrative review of all findings and meta-analysis of articles allowing effect size calculations, stratified by the type of gesture. Thirty-one articles comparing frequency of gestures between 701 autistic and 860 neurotypical individuals were included in the narrative review, 25 of which were also included in the meta-analysis. Compared to neurotypical individuals, meta-analyses found that autistic individuals produced significantly less total, deictic, and emblematic gestures. While the number of iconic gestures appeared comparable between groups, studies investigating iconic gestures exhibited an almost equal trend of both positive and negative effect sizes, which were mostly nonsignificant. The way gesture production was measured, age, observer familiarity, and task structure (but not overall study quality) moderated the effect size, albeit inconsistently across the types of gestures. Findings have implications relating to profiling gesture use in diagnostic assessments for autism and highlight gaps in our understanding of differences in gesture production in autism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigates differences in the language environments experienced by multilingual and monolingual infants in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) technology was used to collect day-long audio-recordings from 181 one-year-old infants (age range from 12 to 21 months). We examined whether infants' multilingual status predicts the amount of educators' language input (adult word count, AWC), child vocalizations (CVC) and conversational turns (CTC), as well as interaction effects on AWC, CVC and CTC of infants' multilingual status and other infant, home and ECEC characteristics. Multilevel mixed effects models revealed no main effect of infants' multilingual status on the language environment outcome variables. Instead, infant gender significantly predicted adult word count, with female infants hearing more words from educators than male infants. There was a significant interaction effect between the infants' multilingual status and both their age and length of time in an ECEC setting on child vocalizations. While monolingual infants produced more vocalizations as their age increased, multilingual infants did not show this increase in vocalizations with age. Further, the difference between monolingual and multilingual children's vocalizations decreased as the length of time in ECEC increased. There were no significant predictors of conversational turns. Findings from this study suggest that early childhood educators do not adjust their talk according to the multilingual status of the infants. However, multilingual infants do not increase their vocalizations as their age increases to the same extent as do their monolingual peers. The interaction effect between multilingualism and the length of ECEC attendance also implies that ECEC environments may be particularly beneficial for supporting multilingual infants' vocalizations. This study highlights the need to provide pedagogical support to educators to help them to encourage multilingual infants' vocalizations in ECEC settings., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial or nonfinancial interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Research has shown that gesture production supports learning across a number of tasks. It is unclear, however, whether gesture production during encoding can support narrative recall, who gesture production benefits most, and whether certain types of gestures are more beneficial than others. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of gesture production during the encoding of a narrative on subsequent narrative recall, and whether individuals' levels of verbal and nonverbal memory moderated this effect. Additionally, this study investigated whether producing certain types of gestures during encoding was more beneficial than others. Participants (N = 90, M age = 20.43) read aloud a narrative while under instruction to produce gestures, under no specific instruction to produce gestures, or were required to keep their hands behind their back to prevent them from gesturing. Participants completed measures assessing verbal and nonverbal memory. While gesture production during encoding benefitted narrative recall (as measured through specific questions), verbal memory moderated the effect, such that gesture production was more beneficial for individuals with higher than lower verbal memory. Furthermore, producing representational gestures during encoding benefitted recall of points in the narrative at which those gestures were produced, while beat gestures had no effect. Findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying the links between gesture and learning, as well as practical implications in instructional settings., (© 2022 The Authors. Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Cognitive Science Society (CSS).)

While observing and producing gesture can enhance native language learning, research in foreign word learning is limited. English-speaking university students were verbally presented with Japanese verbs with their English translations in one of three conditions: no gesture, observing an instructor's iconic gestures, or observing and reproducing the instructor's gestures. Participants verbally recalled the words immediately following training and after a one-week delay. Both observing only as well as observing and reproducing gestures at encoding enhanced learning and were equally beneficial for both the short and longer term beyond verbal learning alone. Reproducing the instructor's gestures during learning increased the rate of spontaneous iconic gesture production during recall, though the effects of this spontaneous gesture production at test were inconsistent. Findings emphasise the importance of an instructor's gesture production during foreign language learning, and suggest that motor imagery plays a key role in the beneficial effects of gesture on learning., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Both speech and gesture play a vital role in human communication. Gesture itself provides an external support to a spoken message. As a consequence, when presented together with speech, gesture has the ability to benefit learning across a variety of tasks, including narrative comprehension. However, the exact mechanisms underlying how the observation of gestures benefits learning are yet to be well understood and cannot be understood without further investigation into the types of gesture that benefit learning. Specifically, gestures themselves are not a homogeneous set, with different kinds of gestures having varying effects on learning. In the current study, we examined the effects of observing iconic gestures that either reinforce (i.e., reinforcing gestures) or contradict (i.e., contradictory gestures) the content of accompanying speech on narrative comprehension in preschool-aged children. Children were presented with a short video narrative that contained either reinforcing gestures, contradictory gestures, or no gestures accompanying the verbal narrative. Results indicated that observing reinforcing gestures significantly benefited narrative comprehension beyond when no gestures were observed. However, observing contradictory gestures was neither significantly beneficial nor significantly detrimental to narrative comprehension beyond observing reinforcing or no gestures. The results from the current study provide valuable insight into the benefits of observing different kinds of iconic gestures on narrative comprehension in preschool-aged children., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

During early childhood, children find spatial tasks such as following novel route directions challenging. Spatial tasks place demands on multiple cognitive processes, including language comprehension and memory, at a time in development when resources are limited. As such, gestures accompanying route directions may aid comprehension and facilitate task performance by scaffolding cognitive processes, including language and memory processing. This study examined the effect of presenting gesture during encoding on spatial task performance during early childhood. Three- to five-year-olds were presented with verbal route directions through a zoo-themed spatial array and, depending on assigned condition (no gesture, beat gesture, or iconic/deictic gesture), accompanying gestures. Children presented with verbal route directions accompanied by a combination of iconic (pantomime) and deictic (pointing) gestures verbally recalled more than children presented with beat gestures (rhythmic hand movements) or no gestures accompanying the route directions. The presence of gesture accompanying route directions similarly influenced physical route navigation, such that children presented with gesture (beat, pantomime, and pointing) navigated the route more accurately than children presented with no gestures. Across all gesture conditions, location information (e.g., the penguin pond) was recalled more than movement information (e.g., go around) and descriptive information (e.g., bright red). These findings suggest that speakers' gestures accompanying spatial task information influence listeners' recall and task performance., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)