Training kindergarten children on learning from their mistakes.

This study investigated whether feedback on their errors and speed improves kindergarten children's performance in an executive function (EF) task. Children from Switzerland (N = 213, 49% female, M = 6.4 years) were tested in the Hearts and Flowers task pre- and post-training and trained either on a variant of this task with (n = 71) or without feedback (n = 72), or on a control learning task (n = 70).

Monitoring and control processes within executive functions: Is post-error slowing related to pre-error speeding in children?

Both pre-error speeding and post-error slowing reflect monitoring and control strategies. Post-error slowing is relatively well-established in children, whereas pre-error speeding is much less studied. Here we investigated (a) whether kindergarten and first-grade children show pre-error speeding in a cognitive control task (Hearts and Flowers) and, if so, (b) whether post-error slowing is associated with pre-error speeding.

Duration of face mask exposure matters: evidence from Swiss and Brazilian kindergartners' ability to recognise emotions.

Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children's recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children's exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (= 38) and Brazil (= 41).

What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures.

Adults and infants as young as 4 months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index-finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12-month-old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with different hand shapes: index finger, whole hand, and pinky finger.

Correlates of infant pointing frequency in the first year.

This study examines the emergence of concurrent correlates of infant pointing frequency with the aim of contributing to its ontogenetic theories. We measured monthly from 8 to 12 months infants' (N = 56) index-finger pointing frequency along with several candidate correlates: (1) family socioeconomic status (SES), (2) mothers' pointing production, and (3) infants' point following to targets in front of and behind them. Results revealed that (1) infants increased their pointing frequency across age, but high-SES infants had a steeper increase, and a higher pointing frequency than low-SES infants from 10 months onward, (2) maternal pointing frequency was not associated with infant pointing frequency at any age, (3) infants' point following abilities to targets behind their visual fields was positively associated with their pointing frequency at 12 months, after pointing had already emerged around 10 months.

Relation of infants' and mothers' pointing to infants' vocabulary measured directly and with parental reports.

Infants' and parents' pointing gestures predict infants' concurrent and prospective language development. Most studies have measured vocabulary size using parental reports. However, parents tend to underestimate or overestimate infants' vocabulary necessitating the use of direct measures alongside parent reports.

The Relationship between Executive Functions, Working Memory, and Intelligence in Kindergarten Children.

Executive functions (EF), working memory (WM), and intelligence are closely associated, but distinct constructs. What underlies the associations between these constructs, especially in childhood, is not well understood. In this pre-registered study, along with the traditional aggregate accuracy and RT-based measures of EF, we investigated post-error slowing (PES) in EF as a manifestation of metacognitive processes (i.

Gradual Route to Productivity: Evidence from Turkish Morphological Causatives.

Becoming productive with grammatical categories is a gradual process in children's language development. Here, we investigated this transition process by focusing on Turkish causatives. Previous research examining spontaneous and elicited production of Turkish causatives with familiar verbs attested the onset and early stages of productivity at ages 2 to 3 (Aksu-Koç & Slobin, 1985; Nakipoğlu, Uzundag, & Sarıgül, 2021).

Hearts, flowers, and fruits: All children need to reveal their post-error slowing.

Slowing down responses after errors (i.e., post-error slowing [PES]) is an established finding in adults.

Influence of causal language on causal understanding: A comparison between Swiss German and Turkish.

Young children have difficulties in understanding untypical causal relations. Although we know that hearing a causal description facilitates this understanding, less is known about what particular features of causal language are responsible for this facilitation. Here, we asked two questions.

[Social and functional results of brachial plexus birth injury].

Long-term results of obstetrical brachial plexus injury were studied. The medical records of 10 females and 9 males (range 16-59 years, mean 27.8) who responded to a questionnaire were reviewed.

The management of trigger thumb in children.

Trigger thumb in children is an uncommon condition. We reviewed 41 patients with 53 trigger thumbs. Although the current accepted approach to the treatment of congenital trigger thumbs is a prolonged period of observation, our findings indicate that all of our patients eventually required surgical release of the flexor pollicis longus tendon.

Congenital constriction band syndrome.

A retrospective study of 55 patients with congenital constriction band syndrome was performed. Multiple extremity involvement was found to be the most common clinical feature associated with the disease, and 34% of the patients studied were premature at birth. Malformations included constriction bands, clubfoot, intrauterine amputation, syndactyly, and acrosyndactyly (fenestrated syndactyly).

Evaluation of a uniform operative technique to treat syndactyly.

Twenty-two patients with upper extremity syndactyly (58 webs) have been treated in the last decade (1976 to 1985) by one hand surgeon using one technique. Nineteen patients had syndrome complexes or other associated anomalies that made treatment more difficult. The postoperative follow-up averaged 4 years.

Macrodactyly involving both hands and both feet.

A case is reported of a child with macrodactyly of both hands and both feet and very rare postaxial involvement of the upper limbs.

Double fingernails on the small fingers.

This report describes the unusual presence of dorsal skin and a fingernail on the palmar surface of both small fingers, with a normal nail on the dorsal surface. This child has a normal karyotype. There has been one previous report in the literature of a similar anomaly associated with a chromosome 6 abnormality.

Osteoid osteoma of the proximal femur: new techniques in diagnosis and treatment.

The nonspecific symptoms and radiographic findings associated with osteoid osteoma in the proximal femur mimic inflammatory conditions and delay diagnosis. A review of four cases showed high resolution computerized axial tomography in conjunction with a radioisotope bone scan best demarcated the location and size of the lesion. The combination of careful preoperative localization and intraoperative use of a radiation probe made adequate resection possible while limiting the amount of bone excised.

Evaluation of the operative treatment of syndactyly.

A review of the records of 61 patients with 176 surgically treated webs was completed to evaluate the results of the different operative techniques used to separate the fingers. The postoperative follow-up period averaged 14 years, with a range from 2 to 38 years. The patients were assessed in two groups: those with major associated anomalies and those in whom syndactyly was the principal anomaly.

Congenital radial head dislocation.

Fifty patients with 77 congenitally dislocated radial heads were reviewed to assess the diagnostic features, functional limitations, symptomatology, and results of treatment. Twenty-three patients had associated anomalies of the affected upper extremity, and 35 had anomalies in other parts of the body. In six patients no other anomaly was found, all six had bilateral involvement.

Abnormal dermatoglyphics in arthrogryposis multiplex congenita.

Dermatoglyphic abnormalities have been found in patients with arthrogryposis multiple congenita. These unusual features, which appear to be pathognomonic, indicate an early prenatal pathogenesis and may aid in differential diagnosis.

Bone cement and antibiotics.

Antibiotics of various kinds were added to the powdered polymer of methylmethacrylate in a concentration of 1 g antibiotic/40 g cement, prior to the addition of the liquid monomer. Specimens were subjected to mechanical testing by loading them in direct compression on a 20-ton Instron Universal Testing Machine, and load deflection curves were recorded. It was found that the addition of antibiotics does have an effect on the mechanical strength of the cement--the loss was small, less than 10% for both the compressive strength and the elastic modulus, provided the antibiotic was in powder form.