@article{ElsnerPfeifer2012,
  author    = {Elsner, Birgit and Pfeifer, Caroline},
  title     = {Movement or goal Goal salience and verbal cues affect preschoolers' imitation of action components},
  series = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  volume    = {112},
  journal   = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0022-0965},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jecp.2012.02.010},
  pages     = {283 -- 295},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {The impact of goal salience and verbal cues given by the model on 3- to 5-year-olds' reproduction of action components (movement or goal) was investigated in an imitation choice task. Preschoolers watched an experimenter moving a puppet up or down a ramp, terminating at one of two target objects. The target objects were either differently colored plastic bowls (low-salient group) or sociofunctionally relevant objects (high-salient group). While demonstrating the action in several trials, the model verbalized either the movement, the goal, both the movement and the goal, or none of the components. Children imitated the action on a second ramp with reversed positions of the target objects, so they needed to decide whether to reproduce the observed movement or the observed end state. In the high-salient group, preschoolers preferentially imitated the goal component, whereas in the low-salient group, they did not show a preference for one of the components. Across trials, preschoolers preferentially imitated the goal when this component or both components were verbalized, whereas they showed no preference when the movement or none of the components was emphasized. Yet, verbal cues seemed to have stronger effects in the low-salient condition. We conclude that sociofunctional salience of action goals and communicative cues of the model affect young children's representation of observed actions, leading to a selective reproduction of those action components that are relevant to the child.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ElsnerPfeiferParkeretal.2013,
  author    = {Elsner, Birgit and Pfeifer, Caroline and Parker, Charlene and Hauf, Petra},
  title     = {Infants' perception of actions and situational constraints - an eye-tracking study},
  series = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  volume    = {116},
  journal   = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0022-0965},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jecp.2012.11.014},
  pages     = {428 -- 442},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Rational action understanding requires that infants evaluate the efficiency of a movement in achieving a goal with respect to situational constraints. In contrast, recent accounts have highlighted the impact of perceptual characteristics of the demonstrated movement or constraints to explain infants' behavior in so-called rational imitation tasks. The current study employed eye tracking to investigate how 13- to 15-month-old infants distribute their visual attention to different aspects of an action demonstration. In three tasks (touchlight, house, and obstacle), infants watched videos in which a model performed an unusual action while she was or was not restricted by situational constraints. Infants' overall looking to the demonstration as well as looking to four segments of the video (initial segment, constraint demonstration, action performance, and final segment) and to specific areas (constraint area of interest [AOI] and action AOI) was analyzed. Overall, infants looked longer at the demonstration in the constraint condition compared with the no-constraint condition. The condition differences occurred in the two video segments where the constraint or action was displayed and were especially profound for the constraint AOI. These findings indicate that infants processed the situational constraints. However, the pattern of condition differences varied slightly in the three tasks. In sum, the data imply that infants process perceptual characteristics of the movement or constraints and that low-level perceptual processes interact with higher level cognitive processes in infants' action perception.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MeckelmannPfeiferRauh2013,
  author    = {Meckelmann, Viola and Pfeifer, Caroline and Rauh, Hellgard},
  title     = {Family relationships in childhood, pubertal timing, and subsequent reproductive strategies among adolescents},
  series = {South African journal of psychology},
  volume    = {43},
  journal   = {South African journal of psychology},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0081-2463},
  doi       = {10.1177/0081246312474408},
  pages     = {22 -- 33},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {The evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper was investigated on the empirical basis of a longitudinal sample of 26 adolescent girls and boys who were born in Berlin during German reunification, as well as their mothers. Consistent with the theory, pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was predicted by the quality of parental relations in childhood, and pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was a significant predictor of the age at first intercourse. The results suggest that there are different developmental pathways for girls and boys with respect to the predictions of the evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky et al. The findings also support the hypothesis that early onset of reproduction and frequent reproduction may be two different aspects of a quantitative reproductive strategy.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{MeckelmannPfeiferRauh2017,
  author    = {Meckelmann, Viola and Pfeifer, Caroline and Rauh, Hellgard},
  title     = {Family relationships in childhood, pubertal timing, and subsequent reproductive strategies among adolescents},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-403611},
  pages     = {22},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper was investigated on the empirical basis of a longitudinal sample of 26 adolescent girls and boys who were born in Berlin during German reunification, as well as their mothers. Consistent with the theory, pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was predicted by the quality of parental relations in childhood, and pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was a significant predictor of the age at first intercourse. The results suggest that there are different developmental pathways for girls and boys with respect to the predictions of the evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky et al. The findings also support the hypothesis that early onset of reproduction and frequent reproduction may be two different aspects of a quantitative reproductive strategy.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PfeiferElsner2013,
  author    = {Pfeifer, Caroline and Elsner, Birgit},
  title     = {Preschoolers' encoding of rational actions - the role of task features and verbal information},
  series = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  volume    = {116},
  journal   = {Journal of experimental child psychology},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0022-0965},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jecp.2012.12.005},
  pages     = {532 -- 544},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {In the current study, we first investigated whether preschoolers imitate selectively across three imitation tasks. Second, we examined whether preschoolers' selective imitation is influenced by differences in the modeled actions and/or by the situational context. Finally, we investigated how verbal cues given by the model affect preschoolers' imitation. Participants (3- to 5-year-olds) watched an adult performing an unusual action in three imitation tasks (touch light, house, and obstacle). In two conditions, the model either was or was not restricted by situational constraints. In addition, the model verbalized either the goal that was to be achieved, the movement, or none of the action components. Preschoolers always acted on the objects without constraints. Results revealed differences in preschoolers' selective imitation across the tasks. In the house task, they showed the selective imitation pattern that has been interpreted as rational, imitating the unusual action more often in the no-constraint condition than in the constraint condition. In contrast, in the touch light task, preschoolers imitated the unusual head touch irrespective of the model's constraints or of the verbal cues that had been presented. Finally, in the obstacle task, children mostly emulated the observed goal irrespective of the presence of the constraint, but they increased their imitation of the unusual action when the movement had been emphasized. Overall, our data suggest that preschoolers adjust their imitative behavior to context-specific information about objects, actions, and their interpretations of the model's intention to teach something.},
  language  = {en}
}