Babies learn so much from looking at faces. At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many parents around the world began to worry that face masking could hinder child development and facial recognition. A study done by researchers at the University of California, Davis, alleviated this concern and found that babies can still form memories of faces even when they’re masked.

In this study, researchers used eye tracking to study the impact face masks have on facial recognition in infants. With the background knowledge that babies look at unfamiliar images longer than familiar ones, the study found that babies could recognize a masked face when it was unmasked. However, babies had a hard time recognizing masked faces that they initially saw unmasked. This was something many other individuals also experienced. 

Facial recognition is a crucial part of cognitive development. It helps babies learn how to communicate, understand emotions, establish relationships, and navigate the world around them. Babies are continuing to learn and thrive today, even with face masking. 

Read the full article here.

Humans all sigh. Most of the time, it’s a reflexive action that few consciously consider. Sighing is merely an expression of our out-breath and an exhalation. 

Our body undergoes some amazing changes as a result of managing this exhalation. The ability to sigh is linked to how the body adapts after experiencing stress because when we concentrate on the exhale, we can inhale more deeply. Giving emotions the ability to change allows us to literally breathe more deeply.

Sighing is important, it’s a way to release stress from your body. The change might not be immediate, however in the long term, researchers believe that practicing this skill is beneficial. Through sighing we can learn to eliminate unwanted material from our bodies and minds by using our exhalation and opening ourselves up to new feelings like happiness, relief, vitality, enlivenment, and contentment.

 

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Hsin-Yu Huang

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Today’s Friday Feature is Caroline G. Richter! 

Caroline G. Richter was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UConn from 2021-2022. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham collaborating with Dr. Fumiko Hoeft, Professor of Psychological Science and Director of BrainLENS at UConn. She’s originally from Brazil, where she received her BA in Psychology and MA in Developmental Psychology; she earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Louisville.

In her lab, they conduct research with typically developing children and with children who are neurodiverse. They are interested in understanding the cognitive and socio-emotional aspects that contribute to the variability on the academic achievement and adaptive outcomes of children who are neurodiverse. They focus their work particularly on children with Specific Learning Disability, Williams syndrome, and Down syndrome. They hope that the results of their research can be used to inform targeted assessments and interventions, leading to improvements in the quality of life of children and their families. You can find more about their lab here: Science of Child Development and Neurodiversity (STARS) Laboratory. 

 

Currently, Caroline is studying how socio-emotional constructs, such as motivation, resilience, and stigma impact mental health and academic outcomes of children (11-14-year-olds) who have a learning difference, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, or ADHD. You can learn more about their study in the BrainLENS website and here. 

In her free time, Caroline enjoys meditating, doing yoga, hiking, reading, traveling, and spending time with her husband, friends, and family. Caroline also loves to spend time with her pets from Brazil.

No one is immune to stress – children encounter stress in situations like preparing for their first day of school or studying for a big test. Stress can be manageable in moderate doses alongside a support system, but prolonged and heightened amounts of stress can be challenging to cope with. 

For children, stress can manifest in transitioning to novel routines, like joining a travel sports team or moving to a different town. Our body’s stress response is a temporary “fight or flight” system and produces many physiological effects, like quickened heart rate and increased oxygen use. Research has shown that the body has three different stress responses–positive, tolerable, and toxic stress responses–with each response differing in how the body responds to stress. The most harmful stress response to children is the toxic stress response, which may occur after having to endure long periods of hardship with little to no support system. Toxic stress may prolong cortisol activation, and makes it difficult to return to a baseline stress level. Toxic stress can disrupt child development, including cognitive development, and can also increase a child’s risk for stress-related diseases. 

Stressors that can lead to toxic stress in children include parental divorce, malnutrition, bullying, loss of a family member, and household disorder. Children experiencing toxic stress may be showing symptoms like little self control, memory difficulty, anxiety, depression, and behavioral abnormalities. The methods for treating toxic stress include several types of therapy, like CBT and child-parent psychotherapy, along with mind-body techniques. Other interventions focus on parents and strengthening the relationship between child and parent. 

Overall, one of the most important aspects of a child’s stress response is having a support system they can rely on. Having loving caregivers can make the world of difference for a child experiencing prolonged periods of stress. 

Kylie Robinshaw

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Read the full article here 

Oftentimes, parents know when their kids’ schedules are too full but succumb to the pressure of making sure their kids do not miss out on anything. They want their children to have all the experiences and resources possible. However, packing too much into a child’s daily schedule can hinder development. The challenge becomes knowing how much is too much for children.

One major consequence that can result from overscheduling children is stress. Children and teens often complain that they have no time to relax. Parents are constantly asking them to complete new tasks and criticize their child’s methods of relaxing. This can lead the child to feel guilty, ruining the entire purpose of taking a break. 

A second consequence that can be seen from overscheduling children is their inability to fill time on their own. This can lead to false expectations of children thinking their parents will constantly create a schedule for them. Children have a hard time entertaining themselves and thus become even more dependent on their parents.

Ultimately, it’s important for parents to recognize that implementing free time into their child’s daily schedule is equally as important as providing them with the necessary resources and activities. Free time helps children figure out solutions on their own, fostering frustration tolerance, problem-solving, and flexibility. These are all traits that are essential for the rest of their lives. 

Read the full article here

Emma Dineen

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Molly Wright is a seven years old child under Minderoo Foundation. In this video she is speaking about the method she experienced in the Minderoo Foundation that adults can do to help or play games with children to improve children’s learning ability in different aspects. Her speech increased public awareness of the vital significance of brain development in a child’s early years of life and the effects it has on their future. It emphasizes the real advantages of constructive, reciprocal “serve and return” relationships on a child’s lifelong learning, behavior, and well-being with the hope of inspiring and energizing parents, caregivers, and community members to interact with kids more deeply and frequently.

Read the full article here

Hsin-Yu Huang

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Emma Dineen is a research assistant at UConn KIDS. She is a sophomore at UConn double majoring in Psychological Sciences and Human Development and Family Sciences. This is Emma’s first semester working with UConn KIDS, and she is very excited about everything she is going to learn this semester.

Emma developed her love of working with kids through babysitting and working in an elementary school. After she graduates, Emma plans to go to graduate school to further her education in developmental psychology.

On campus, Emma is a Floor Mentor for the Public Health House Learning Community and a member of the UConn Kickline team. Her favorite thing to do at UConn is going to sports games; especially basketball. In her spare time, Emma loves to dance, hike, read, and spend time with her two dogs: Izzy and Pippa.

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As children grow up and become teenagers, it’s common for them to decrease the frequency at which they talk with their parents and the amount of information they choose to share. Before encouraging your child to open up to you, it is important to know why children may choose to withhold information in the first place. Adolescents may keep information to themselves if they think that it could become material for gossip or if it may incite negative judgment. When children tell you something sensitive, remember that it requires them to become vulnerable and may be something that they prefer to keep private. Further, children may not share stories with their parents out of fear that it might cost them their autonomy or prompt unwanted advice. 

If you have a young child that’s open or maybe an older child that’s beginning to close off, here are a couple of tips for strengthening communication between your child and you. First, be sure that you are making time to regularly engage and interact with your children; an easy way to do this is through family mealtimes, as eating meals as a family creates a setting that encourages conversation. When children share stories with you, make sure you’re not making any assumptions about their behavior or feelings; instead, ask them about their own emotions to better understand how they’re feeling. Further, it’s okay to connect with what your child is sharing and to relate it to your own stories, but ensure that you don’t accidentally steal their thunder, as it may make them feel like their story isn’t as special. 

Finally, children may be upfront about why they aren’t communicating with their parents as much. When this happens, it’s vital to consider what changes you need to make in order to improve communication with your child, as it will ultimately help your child feel more comfortable sharing information with you. 

In all, to encourage open communication with your children, make sure that you’re making time to socialize with them and letting them know that any conversation is welcome. 

Kylie Robinshaw

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Read the full article here

According to Professor Ryan Kelly, “Sleep has both this short-term effect and long-term effect on mental health. In our samples, we also consistently find teens don’t get enough sleep.” In a survey conducted by Professor Ryan Kelly and his fellow coworkers, parents also noted deteriorating mental health functioning in the teens who participated. Particularly reliable predictors of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and aggression include daytime sleepiness, shorter sleep length, more night awakenings, and more variability in sleep duration across multiple nights.

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Hsin-Yu Huang

UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Parents always want the best for their children. In this process, there are several resources to teach how a parent can prepare their child for success, tiger parent or free choices. However, science provided a different option, the science that can predict a child’s future from parents’ choices, just like how a simple butterfly leads to a hurricane. There are several forces in the process when a child grow up, every single force could be the critical one, but how can we know? It turns out, research shows that growing up in the same home, or neighborhood doesn’t make children more alike. But it doesn’t make your parenting less important, they are just more likely to develop different types of children, even under the same kind of parenting. Your first child might want to be you in the future while your other child doesn’t. You are flapping your butterfly wings to shape the future of your child.

Read the full article here

Hsin-Yu Huang

UConn KIDS Research Assistant