TY - JOUR A1 - Adam, Maurits A1 - Reitenbach, Ivanina A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Agency cues and 11-month-olds’ and adults’ anticipation of action goals JF - Cognitive Development N2 - For the processing of goal-directed actions, some accounts emphasize the importance of experience with the action or the agent. Other accounts stress the importance of agency cues. We investigated the impact of agency cues on 11-month-olds’ and adults’ goal anticipation for a grasping-action performed by a mechanical claw. With an eyetracker, we measured anticipations in two conditions, where the claw was displayed either with or without agency cues. In two experiments, 11-month-olds were predictive when agency cues were present, but reactive when no agency cues were presented. Adults were predictive in both conditions. Furthermore, 11-month-olds rapidly learned to predict the goal in the agency condition, but not in the mechanical condition. Adults’ predictions did not change across trials in the agency condition, but decelerated in the mechanical condition. Thus, agency cues and own action experience are important for infants’ and adults’ online processing of goal-directed actions by non-human agents. KW - Infants KW - Eyetracking KW - Action processing KW - Anticipatory gaze shifts KW - Agency Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.02.008 SN - 0885-2014 SN - 1879-226X VL - 43 SP - 37 EP - 48 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Groppe, Karoline A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Executive function and weight status in children BT - a one-year longitudinal perspective JF - Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence N2 - There is considerable evidence for an association between obesity and impaired executive function (EF) in adolescents and adults. However, little research has examined EF in overweight or obese children. Furthermore, data on EF in underweight individuals is lacking. In addition, there is no consensus on the directionality of the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and EF, and longitudinal studies are rare. Thus, the present study examined whether children differ in their performance on a battery of EF tasks depending on their weight status (underweight, normal-weight, overweight), and investigated the longitudinal cross-lagged associations between EF and BMI. Hot EF (delay of gratification, affective decision-making), cool EF (attention shifting, inhibition, working memory [WM] updating), and BMI were assessed in 1,657 German elementary-school children at two time points, approximately one year apart. Overweight children exhibited slightly poorer attention shifting, WM updating, and affective decision-making abilities as compared to normal-weight children. Unexpectedly, they did not show any deficits in inhibition or delay of gratification. EF levels of underweight children did not differ significantly from those of normal-weight children. Furthermore, poor attention shifting and enhanced affective decision-making predicted a slightly higher BMI one year later, and a higher BMI also predicted poorer attention shifting and WM updating one year later. The latter association between BMI and subsequent EF scores, however, diminished when controlling for socioeconomic status. Results indicate that hot and cool EF plays a role in the weight development of children, and might be a promising factor to address in preventive interventions. KW - Hot and cool executive function KW - Overweight KW - Underweight KW - Middle childhood KW - Longitudinal Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2015.1089981 SN - 0929-7049 SN - 1744-4136 VL - 23 IS - 2 SP - 129 EP - 147 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holl, Anna Katharina A1 - Kirsch, Fabian A1 - Rohlf, Helena L. A1 - Krahe, Barbara A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Longitudinal reciprocity between theory of mind and aggression in middle childhood JF - International Journal of Behavioral Development N2 - Theory of mind is one of the most important cognitive factors in social information-processing, and deficits in theory of mind have been linked to aggressive behavior in childhood. The present longitudinal study investigated reciprocal links between theory of mind and two forms of aggression – physical and relational – in middle childhood with three data waves over 3 years. Theory of mind was assessed by participants’ responses to cartoons, and physical and relational aggression were assessed through teacher reports in a community sample of 1657 children (mean age at Time 1: 8 years). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that theory of mind was a negative predictor of subsequent physical and relational aggression, both from Time 1 to Time 2 as well as from Time 2 to Time 3. Moreover, relational aggression was a negative predictor of theory of mind from Time 1 to Time 2. There were no significant gender or age differences in the tested pathways. The results suggest that reciprocal and negative longitudinal relations exist between children’s theory of mind and aggressive behavior. Our study extends current knowledge about the development of such relations across middle childhood. KW - Aggressive behavior KW - theory of mind KW - middle childhood KW - longitudinal study KW - relational aggression KW - physical aggression Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025417727875 SN - 0165-0254 SN - 1464-0651 VL - 42 IS - 2 SP - 257 EP - 266 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER -