When children can explain why they believe a claim, they suggest a better empirical test for that claim.

We tested the hypothesis that children's ability to reflect on the causes of their uncertainty about a surprising claim allows them to better target their empirical investigation of that claim-and that this ability increases with age. We assigned 4-7-year-old children (=174, M= 68.77 months, 52.

Checking out the unexplained: With age, children become increasingly skeptical of surprising claims.

When presented with surprising claims, older children investigate such claims more often than younger children. The present study tests whether older children (6-7-year-olds) are more skeptical than younger children (4-5-year-olds) about surprising claims that lack supporting evidence because they expect informants to provide evidence for them. To test this hypothesis, we presented 140 4-7-year-old children (47-96 months, 46.

Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood.

Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.

Child internalizing and externalizing behaviors: Interplay between maternal depressive symptoms and child inhibitory control.

Maternal depression is a risk factor for child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Aiming to investigate the moderating role of child inhibitory control on this relationship, we invited a sub-sample of dyads from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort study (MoBa) for a lab-based assessment ( = 92,  = 68 months, Range = 59-80, 50% girls). Maternal depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), while child behaviors were measured using the Child Behavior Check List, and inhibitory control using a child friendly version of the Flanker-task.

Preschool Children Rarely Seek Empirical Data That Could Help Them Complete a Task When Observation and Testimony Conflict.

Children (N = 278, 34-71 months, 54% girls) were told which of two figurines turned on a music box and also observed empirical evidence either confirming or conflicting with that testimony. Children were then asked to sort novel figurines according to whether they could make the music box work or not. To see whether children would explore which figurine turned on the music box, especially when the observed and testimonial evidence conflicted, children were given access to the music box during their sorting.

Young children update their trust in an informant's claim when experience tells them otherwise.

Across two experiments, an adult informant presented 220 preschoolers (34-71 months of age) with either a correct claim or an incorrect claim about how to activate a music box by using one of two toy figures. Children were then prompted to explore the figures and to discover whether the informant's claim was correct or incorrect. Children who discovered the claim to be incorrect no longer endorsed it.

Saccadic reaction times in infants and adults: Spatiotemporal factors, gender, and interlaboratory variation.

Saccade latency is widely used across infant psychology to investigate infants' understanding of events. Interpreting particular latency values requires knowledge of standard saccadic RTs, but there is no consensus as to typical values. This study provides standard estimates of infants' (n = 194, ages 9 to 15 months) saccadic RTs under a range of different spatiotemporal conditions.

Perceptual interference processing in preschool children, with and without prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Background: Prenatal exposure to maternal depression, with or without maternal medical antidepressant treatment, may pose a risk to the child's cognitive and behavioral development. Targeting one of the core functions of behavioral regulation, we investigated both behavioral and neural indices of interference suppression in both exposed and control participants at preschool age.

Methods: Children (N = 80, M = 68.

Behavior and inhibitory control in children with prenatal exposure to antidepressants and medically untreated depression.

Purpose: The present study investigates child development following prenatal exposure to maternal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; N = 28), versus prenatal exposure to medically untreated depression (N = 42), and no exposure (N = 33).

Methods: When the children reached 5-6 years of age, child cognitive abilities were measured using selected tests from Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-r), Neuropsychological Assessment II (NEPSY-II), and the Attention Network Test. Maternal reports of child behavioral problems were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Prenatal SSRI exposure: Effects on later child development.

The aim of this review is to integrate research on the pharmacological mechanisms of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the following effects on fetal brain development and child cognitive function seen in children with prenatal exposure to SSRIs. As antidepressants are transferred from the mother to the fetus through the placenta, the fetus is vulnerable to alterations in neurotransmission and possibly altered neural functioning. Because of this risk, pregnant women suffering from depression are often advised to discontinue their use of antidepressants during pregnancy.