{"id":38790,"date":"2016-04-28T13:25:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T17:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=38790"},"modified":"2016-04-28T14:04:35","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T18:04:35","slug":"brock-researchers-to-study-how-parents-rate-their-kids-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/04\/brock-researchers-to-study-how-parents-rate-their-kids-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock researchers to study how parents rate their kids\u2019 memory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"page-intro dropcap\">How accurate are you in being able to estimate your child\u2019s ability to plan for the future?\u00a0It\u2019s a question Brock University Assistant psychology Professor Caitlin Mahy and master&#8217;s student Tessa Mazachowsky are aiming to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The two are researching the development of children\u2019s abilities to think, plan and remember things for the future.<\/p>\n<p>Mahy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/webfm_send\/32158\" target=\"_blank\">earlier research<\/a>\u00a0explored when and how prospective memory develops in children. \u201cProspective memory\u201d is a process in which we remember to carry out a plan we made earlier, such as going to a friend\u2019s birthday party.<\/p>\n<p>Now, she and Mazachowsky want to add parental perceptions into the mix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first study to look at children\u2019s future thinking from the parents\u2019 perspective,\u201d says Mahy.<\/p>\n<p>The duo are seeking approximately 200 parents \u2014 mothers, fathers or both \u00ad\u2014 to fill out a questionnaire asking them to rate how well their children perform tasks in five categories of future thinking:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prospective memory: how well does your child remember to do things in the future?<\/li>\n<li>Planning: how good is your child at making a plan and following through with that plan?<\/li>\n<li>Saving: can they save money in their piggy bank? Do they save a picture to show Grandma later?<\/li>\n<li>Delayed gratification: do they wait for two cookies later, or take the one cookie they are offered now?<\/li>\n<li>Future planning: are they able to imagine themselves in future scenarios and plan accordingly? i.e. can they imagine that they need a tent, blanket, cooking materials, etc. for a camping trip?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of the 200 parents, the researchers would like at least 80 to bring their children to Brock so that the children can perform future thinking, planning and prospective memory tasks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re looking to compare the parents\u2019 answers on the questionnaire to the child\u2019s actual behavioural performance on the tasks, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re going to be bringing some of the parents and children in,\u201d says Mazachowsky.<\/p>\n<p>Mahy explains that, for those parents choosing just to do the questionnaire, the researchers will focus on the parents\u2019 consistency in answering questions from the five different categories of future thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Mahy says it\u2019s important for researchers to know if parents correctly gauge their children\u2019s future thinking skills.<\/p>\n<p>A parent who has an accurate picture of their child\u2019s skills will know if the child might need extra encouragement and support for developing memory and planning skills, says Mahy.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pull-quote\">The really critical thing in becoming an independently functioning adult is to plan for the future and remember to do things on our own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe your child is a little bit behind with understanding saving so maybe it\u2019s a good time to start introducing concepts of savings and allowance,\u201d she says. \u201cOr maybe it\u2019s way too early. You give your child a quarter and they\u2019re going to want to spend it immediately; they might not have that ability yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mahy explains that knowing how memory and planning develop in children is vital to laying a good foundation for their future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe really critical thing in becoming an independently functioning adult is to plan for the future and remember to do things on our own: we might have to remember to take medications, we have to meet with a friend after work,\u201d she says. \u201cThe impact of forgetting in some areas can be quite serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is really important to understand how this develops in children and at what stages of development forgetting is \u2018normal\u2019 and at what stage this may become a concern,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n<p>The duo aims to make the questionnaire a standardized tool that other researchers can use in their investigations of future thinking.<\/p>\n<p>To participate in the research, or for more information, contact: Tessa Mazachowsky, <a href=\"mailto:tm10nt@brocku.ca\">tm10nt@brocku.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How accurate are you in being able to estimate your child\u2019s ability to plan for the future?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":38791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38795,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38790\/revisions\/38795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}