Baby and child lab

Brief description

Our research group aims to:

• unveil the most fundamental and basic representations that infants use to start navigating the social world around them;
• study the social development of children and adolescents;
• investigate the role of executive functioning for the development of the child;
• develop innovative ways to support children in their cognitive development and learning; and
• develop interventions to help children and adolescents cope with difficult situations.

On-going research activities:

Each member brings her/his own expertise and lines of research. This is a list of ongoing projects:

• Early roots of understanding leadership and social power (Margoni)
• How children reason about individual freedom and social equality (Margoni)
• The use of technologies in relation to the prevention and intervention of social exclusion, antisocial behavior, bullying and cyberbullying (Caravita)
• Children’s understanding of the moral worth of non-human animals (ten Braak & Margoni)
• The role of the context in children’s executive functioning (ten Braak)
• Exploring the effectiveness of gameplay to reduce mild depression in adolescents (Øverland)
• How to help typically developing children and children with learning difficulties or disabilities to understand mathematics (Granone)

Recent relevant publications
- a selection of 5 articles:

Margoni, F., Surian, L. & Baillargeon, R. (2023). The Violation-of-Expectation paradigm: A conceptual overview. Psychological Review, in press.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000450

Nava, F., Margoni, F., Herath, N., & Nava, E. (2023). Age-dependent changes in intuitive and deliberative cooperation. Scientific Reports, 13, 4457.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31691-9

Belacchi, C., Altoe, G., & Caravita, S. C. (2023). Latent groups and latent traits of participation in bullying via factor mixture analysis: An exploratory study. Social Development, 32, 152-170.

Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/sode.12625

Nag, H., Nærland, T., & Øverland, K. (2023). The Importance of School Leadership Support when Working with Students with Smith-Magenis Syndrome–AQ Methodology Study. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 70, 340-356.

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1034912X.2021.1888893

Ten Braak, D., Lenes, R., Purpura, D. J., Schmitt, S. A., & Størksen, I. (2022). Why do early mathematics skills predict later mathematics and reading achievement? The role of executive function. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 214, 105306.

Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096521002241

Granone, F., Stokke, M., Damnotti, S., Chicco, C., & Pollarolo, E. (2022). Mothers’ Perception about Mediated Learning Strategies Used in the Home Environment for Supporting the Transfer Ability in Children with Down Syndrome: An Exploratory Investigation. Disabilities, 2(2), 264-279. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/2/2/19