Today’s Friday Feature is Cynthia Boo!

Cynthia Boo is a graduate student working with Dr. Letty Naigles in the Child Language Lab. She is currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Developmental Psychology division at UConn. Prior to coming to UConn, Cynthia completed her bachelor’s in Psychology at Juniata College in PA and master’s in General Psychology at The New School for Social Research in NY. 

 

Cynthia is currently working on the “Early Predictors to School Age Language: Individual and Interactional Child and Parent Factors” project (IRB Protocol #: H18-208AARH; PI: Dr. Naigles), where she is investigating autistic and non-autistic children’s storytelling abilities. She is interested in how these groups of children differ, or are similar, in their abilities to tell stories based on books and from their personal experiences, as well as various factors that may contribute to their storytelling abilities (i.e., overall language and cognitive functioning). 

 

Cynthia’s primary research interests are on the social communication and pragmatic language abilities of school-aged autistic children. Her current research investigates these children’s use of discourse markers (e.g., “like”, “well,” “um”) in their naturalistic speech. As a fourth-year graduate student, Cynthia is gearing up to collect data for her dissertation, which will assess the ways autistic and non-autistic dyads of friends communicate with one another as they play games in the lab (stay tuned!). 

When she is not in the lab, Cynthia enjoys cooking and trying new recipes. She also loves to explore the trails all around Connecticut with her dog, Mochi. When she needs a break, Cynthia likes to whip out her old Pokemon games as it reminds her of her childhood. Her favorite Pokemon game has been Let’s Go Pikachu! 

 

 

When asked to think about a classroom, there are some key features that stand out in one’s mind.  A classroom has desks with chairs, probably a carpet for read-aloud instruction, a teacher’s desk, and computers.  There is another aspect of classrooms that tends to stand out in one’s mind when remembering their years in school…decorations.  Most people can remember bright posters telling them “Reading is awesome!” or “The Steps of the Scientific Method”.  For years these posters have been thought to not only motivate and serve as reminders for students, but to also provide a source of sensory stimulation to help in child development.

Researchers have begun to question the impacts of such colorful decorations and backgrounds on development of the senses and cognitive abilities.  This questioning comes from the knowledge that some colors are known to distract and alter performance of a task in adults.  So, why would certain colors and patterns not also affect children who have less-developed attention spans?

Most often colors have the ability to alter focus when there is a contrast of brightness between two objects as well as multiple brightly colored objects in close proximity.  It has been found that too much color whether it be from decorations in a child’s environment or the colors of a screen, have the ability to overstimulate children.  But what is the effect of this overstimulation?

A recent study examined the ability of preschoolers to sustain attention on a given task.  These tasks included puzzle making, lego reconstruction, and completing a visual task after a read aloud.  These tasks were completed by each child once on a surface that was colorful, and once on a surface that was white.  Their attention spans were also observed in rooms with lots of colorful posters and those with white walls. Attention was measured based off of certain behaviors such as frustration, eye movements, missing a piece, and how the child searched for pieces.  

This study revealed that colorful backgrounds both within the direct work environment as well as in the background make it more difficult to sustain their attention to a task and can cause them to become distracted.  Children in the study had a difficult time completing tasks that required them to discriminate between pieces on a colorful background.  Attention is a crucial part of being able to complete tasks, often those involved with learning, which suggests that colorful environments and play areas may hinder children’s learning abilities.  More research is needed to investigate how these processes are disrupted but it is suggested to limit colorful objects in the child’s environment.

 

Marissa Robarge

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Read the full article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5083879/

 

It’s hard to think of a place in everyday life where you aren’t exposed to technology.  Whether it be your smartphone in your pocket, the television in the waiting room, or the computer on your desk, the fact is that technology is integrating its way more and more into our lives.  While the newest devices seem to make tasks easier and more convenient, it may be impacting your child’s cognitive abilities.

 

There have been numerous studies that focus on the effect of technology on maintaining focus and the ability to self-regulate, but new research has begun to shed light on the impact of screen-media on children’s fine-motor skill development, and as a result various cognitive functions.  Fine-motor skills refer to one’s ability to control and coordinate the movement of the hands and fingers, which is seen in tasks like grasping, touching, and placing objects.  Fine-motor skills are crucial in completing learning and cognitive tasks and thus can be a good indicator of one’s learning abilities.  

 

A study evaluating preschool children found that higher screen-media usage (such as television and smartphones) has a negative impact on fine-motor skill development.  Specifically, researchers found that children had a difficult time drawing figures when asked.  Researchers believe screen-media type technology has a negative effect on fine motor skills because the tasks required to use these devices are repetitive, e.g. swiping and tapping, so various aspects of motor development are not stimulated.  

 

More research is needed in this area of development but current research recommends varying tasks to improve skill level.  Suggested tasks include sand play, dough-molding, bead threading, and block building.

 

Read the full article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088520062200031X

 

Marissa Robarge

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

 

Today’s Friday Feature is Marissa Robarge!

Marissa Robarge is a research assistant at UConn KIDS.  She is an undergraduate Biological Sciences student at UConn’s Storrs Campus.

This is Marissa’s first semester working as a research assistant and she is very excited about this opportunity!  She hopes to gain more background in the research process and looks forward to working with so many new people.

Marissa enjoys studying Biology, especially when she can be hands on with the organisms (see the image below!). Her true passion is working with kids, especially building connections and assisting children with special needs.  She plans on pursuing a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy in hopes of working as a pediatric occupational therapist.

In her free time, Marissa sails with UConn’s Club Sailing Team, goes on hikes, and enjoys spending time with friends and family.