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The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant development. The study investigated the development of infants at 10–11 months of age between 2020 and 2023 by using the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development-2020 (KSPD2020), an individualized developmental scale, and the Kinder Infant Developmental Scale (KIDS), a developmental questionnaire. We compared the results of the KSPD2020 with those of a pre-pandemic developmental research and compared the developmental age (DA) of KIDS with children's chronological age (CA). Moreover, the same developmental research was conducted again on the same children at 18–24 months of age. DA for receptive language and expressive language was lower in the KIDS compared to CA in the investigation at 10–11 months. However, in the investigation at 18–24 months, there were no areas where KIDS' DA was lower than CA, and DA in the areas of manipulation, receptive language, social relationship with adults, discipline, and eating was higher than CA. On the other hand, using the KSPD2020, there were no differences when compared to pre-pandemic data in the investigation at 10–11 months. Furthermore, the investigation at 18–24 months showed that developmental quotient (DQ) was lower in the Language-Social (L-S) areas than in the investigation at 10–11 months. The lower DQ of L-S in this study was also evident in comparison to the 18–24 months pre-pandemic data. These results suggested that to investigate the medium- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's development, it is necessary to use not only parent-filled questionnaires but also individualized developmental scales. In addition, the finding that results may differ depending on the method of developmental assessment is considered important not only for developmental researchers but also for professionals involved in supporting children's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movement synchrony is an essential feature of rituals and collective displays around the world. Previous studies have shown that synchronous movements increase observers' perceived group entitativity and fighting capacity in agonistic contexts; however, little is known about the developmental roots of synchrony‐dominant attributions. In this study, adult participants (Exp 1), 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children (Exp 2) and 7‐ to 8‐year‐old children (Exp 3) predicted outcomes of zero‐sum conflicts between two groups of animated agents after each group exhibited either synchronised or non‐synchronised movements. Predictions were made for conflicts between two individual members from different groups (individual‐conflict condition) and between all members of the two groups (group‐conflict condition). Results showed that none of the participant groups showed a synchrony‐dominant preference in the individual‐conflict condition. In the group‐conflict condition, most adult participants expected the groups exhibiting synchronised movements to be socially dominant. Although 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children did not show more biased expectations than can be accounted for by chance, adult‐like synchrony‐dominant preference was found in 7‐ to 8‐year‐old children. Moreover, justifications of the synchrony‐dominant expectation in both adults and 7‐ to 8‐year‐old children showed that this expectation was driven by the perceived entitativity of the synchronous group. These findings show that the expectation of group dominance based on synchronous movements is strongly developed in school‐age children, explaining the developmental origins of intergroup attitudes as well as the cognitive mechanisms children employ when making judgments in intergroup contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]