Ebru Ger
Biographic Data
| ID | 1464323 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ebru Ger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ebru |
| FAMILY NAME | Ger |
| SIGNATURE | GER E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bern |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6140-1807 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Learning from Storybooks: Using Shared Book Reading to Target 5- to 7-Year-Olds’ Metacognitive Monitoring
Kindergarten children are generally overconfident when it comes to estimating their performance. In particular, they have difficulties reporting uncertainty, a skill considered to be fundamental to their emerging monitoring skills. Based on Efklides’ (2008) model of metacognition and research on interactive book reading, we created an age-appropriate “monitoring” storybook in which characters express certainty and uncertainty, prompting children …
Children Learn Causatives Despite Pervasive Ellipsis: Evidence from Turkish
In this study, we explore how children learn causatives from the language they are exposed to in their everyday lives. Previous research has argued that argument structure is a crucial facilitator for learning causatives. Here, we examine the role of argument structure in the acquisition of morphological and lexical causatives. We use Turkish as a test case which allows argument ellipsis and ask whether reliable argument expression is a key facto…
Looking Behind vs. Front to Follow Points: The Longitudinal Link between Maternal Pointing and Infant Vocabulary Development
The present study examined whether mothers’ pointing and the interaction between maternal pointing and infants’ point-following performance predict infants’ receptive and expressive vocabulary. At each month from 8 to 12, Turkish-speaking mother–infant dyads ( N = 56) participated in the decorated room paradigm to determine pointing frequency and the point-following paradigm to determine whether infants follow points to surrounding pictures. Rece…
The Effect of Framing on Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuals: Evidence from Two Cohorts of Turkish University Students
Framing—how issues are communicated—can influence attitudes. This study examined (1) the impact of value-framing on attitudes toward homosexuality among Turkish university students in 2012 and 2024, (2) cohort differences over time, and (3) socio-demographic predictors. Participants were 199 psychology students (161 female; M age = 21). Attitudes were most positive after equality framing, followed by neutral, then morality framing. Cohorts did no…
Do children have insights into their performance in an inhibitory control task: An explorative study with 9- and 11-year-olds
Accurate self-evaluation of one's performance is a key metacognitive skill that supports self-regulated learning and academic success, yet it develops gradually throughout childhood. This study examined the performance and self-evaluations of performance of 3rd grade (9 years) and 5th grade (11 years) children on an inhibitory control task. An adaptation of the Hearts and Flowers task was used, in which children first solved a congruent (Hearts) …
Children Find Others’ Misfortune Funnier Than Adults
This study investigated the perceived funniness of misfortune in children and adults, examining the role of the misfortune victims’ facial expressions. Participants included 100 psychology undergraduates and 97 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds from a middle‐European country. Participants were presented with pictures in which misfortune victims exhibited either angry or painful expressions (affective), funny expressions (comic), or no visible facial expression (…
Duration of face mask exposure matters: Evidence from Swiss and Brazilian kindergartners’ ability to recognise emotions
Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children’s recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children’s exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (N = 38) and Brazil (N = 41). Brazil represented longer mask exposure due to a st…
Influences of early and intense L2 exposure on L1 causal verb production: Comparison of 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old bilingual and monolingual children
This study investigates the influences of early and intense L2 exposure on children’s L1 causative verb production, assessed by an experimental causative verb production task. Turkish expresses causality by morphological and lexical means, whereas English does so by periphrastic and lexical means. Learning L2 English might enhance L1 Turkish causative verb production by highlighting the parallels and contrasts in causal expressions between the la…
What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures
Adults and infants as young as 4 months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index‐finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12‐month‐old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with d…
Relation of infants' and mothers' pointing to infants' vocabulary measured directly and with parental reports
Infants' and parents' pointing gestures predict infants' concurrent and prospective language development. Most studies have measured vocabulary size using parental reports. However, parents tend to underestimate or overestimate infants' vocabulary necessitating the use of direct measures alongside parent reports. The present study examined whether mothers' index‐finger pointing, and infants' whole‐hand and index‐finger pointing at 14 months assoc…
Correlates of infant pointing frequency in the first year
This study examines the emergence of concurrent correlates of infant pointing frequency with the aim of contributing to its ontogenetic theories. We measured monthly from 8 to 12 months infants' ( N = 56) index‐finger pointing frequency along with several candidate correlates: (1) family socioeconomic status (SES), (2) mothers' pointing production, and (3) infants' point following to targets in front of and behind them. Results revealed that (1) …
Do typological differences in the expression of causality influence preschool children’s causal event construal
This study investigated whether cross-linguistic differences in causal expressions influence the mapping of causal language on causal events in three- to four-year-old Swiss-German learners and Turkish learners. In Swiss-German, causality is mainly expressed syntactically with lexical causatives (e.g., ässe ‘to eat’ vs. füettere ‘to feed’). In Turkish, causality is expressed both syntactically and morphologically – with a verbal suffix (e.g., yem…
Development of Infant Pointing from 10 to 12 months: The Role of Relevant Caregiver Responsiveness
Infants’ pointing frequency is a predictor of their later language abilities. Yet, predictors of pointing frequency in the first year of life are not well understood. Study 1 explored what factors in infants and caregivers at 10 months would predict the pointing frequency of infants at 12 months ( N = 35). Infant‐driven predictors were infants’ fine‐motor skills and point‐following abilities. Caregiver‐mediated predictors were caregivers’ pointin…
No prominent works on this page.
Development of Infant Pointing from 10 to 12 months: The Role of Relevant Caregiver Responsiveness
Infants’ pointing frequency is a predictor of their later language abilities. Yet, predictors of pointing frequency in the first year of life are not well understood. Study 1 explored what factors in infants and caregivers at 10 months would predict the pointing frequency of infants at 12 months ( N = 35). Infant‐driven predictors were infants’ fine‐motor skills and point‐following abilities. Caregiver‐mediated predictors were caregivers’ pointin…
Do typological differences in the expression of causality influence preschool children’s causal event construal
This study investigated whether cross-linguistic differences in causal expressions influence the mapping of causal language on causal events in three- to four-year-old Swiss-German learners and Turkish learners. In Swiss-German, causality is mainly expressed syntactically with lexical causatives (e.g., ässe ‘to eat’ vs. füettere ‘to feed’). In Turkish, causality is expressed both syntactically and morphologically – with a verbal suffix (e.g., yem…
Relation of infants' and mothers' pointing to infants' vocabulary measured directly and with parental reports
Infants' and parents' pointing gestures predict infants' concurrent and prospective language development. Most studies have measured vocabulary size using parental reports. However, parents tend to underestimate or overestimate infants' vocabulary necessitating the use of direct measures alongside parent reports. The present study examined whether mothers' index‐finger pointing, and infants' whole‐hand and index‐finger pointing at 14 months assoc…
Correlates of infant pointing frequency in the first year
This study examines the emergence of concurrent correlates of infant pointing frequency with the aim of contributing to its ontogenetic theories. We measured monthly from 8 to 12 months infants' ( N = 56) index‐finger pointing frequency along with several candidate correlates: (1) family socioeconomic status (SES), (2) mothers' pointing production, and (3) infants' point following to targets in front of and behind them. Results revealed that (1) …
Duration of face mask exposure matters: Evidence from Swiss and Brazilian kindergartners’ ability to recognise emotions
Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children’s recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children’s exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (N = 38) and Brazil (N = 41). Brazil represented longer mask exposure due to a st…
Influences of early and intense L2 exposure on L1 causal verb production: Comparison of 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old bilingual and monolingual children
This study investigates the influences of early and intense L2 exposure on children’s L1 causative verb production, assessed by an experimental causative verb production task. Turkish expresses causality by morphological and lexical means, whereas English does so by periphrastic and lexical means. Learning L2 English might enhance L1 Turkish causative verb production by highlighting the parallels and contrasts in causal expressions between the la…
What's the point? Infants' and adults' perception of different pointing gestures
Adults and infants as young as 4 months old orient to pointing gestures. Although adults are shown to orient faster to index‐finger pointing than other hand shapes, it is unknown whether hand shapes influence infants' perception of pointing. In this study, we used a spatial cueing paradigm on an eye tracker to investigate whether and to what extent adults and 12‐month‐old infants orient their attention in the direction of pointing gestures with d…
Do children have insights into their performance in an inhibitory control task: An explorative study with 9- and 11-year-olds
Accurate self-evaluation of one's performance is a key metacognitive skill that supports self-regulated learning and academic success, yet it develops gradually throughout childhood. This study examined the performance and self-evaluations of performance of 3rd grade (9 years) and 5th grade (11 years) children on an inhibitory control task. An adaptation of the Hearts and Flowers task was used, in which children first solved a congruent (Hearts) …
Children Find Others’ Misfortune Funnier Than Adults
This study investigated the perceived funniness of misfortune in children and adults, examining the role of the misfortune victims’ facial expressions. Participants included 100 psychology undergraduates and 97 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds from a middle‐European country. Participants were presented with pictures in which misfortune victims exhibited either angry or painful expressions (affective), funny expressions (comic), or no visible facial expression (…
Learning from Storybooks: Using Shared Book Reading to Target 5- to 7-Year-Olds’ Metacognitive Monitoring
Kindergarten children are generally overconfident when it comes to estimating their performance. In particular, they have difficulties reporting uncertainty, a skill considered to be fundamental to their emerging monitoring skills. Based on Efklides’ (2008) model of metacognition and research on interactive book reading, we created an age-appropriate “monitoring” storybook in which characters express certainty and uncertainty, prompting children …
Children Learn Causatives Despite Pervasive Ellipsis: Evidence from Turkish
In this study, we explore how children learn causatives from the language they are exposed to in their everyday lives. Previous research has argued that argument structure is a crucial facilitator for learning causatives. Here, we examine the role of argument structure in the acquisition of morphological and lexical causatives. We use Turkish as a test case which allows argument ellipsis and ask whether reliable argument expression is a key facto…
Looking Behind vs. Front to Follow Points: The Longitudinal Link between Maternal Pointing and Infant Vocabulary Development
The present study examined whether mothers’ pointing and the interaction between maternal pointing and infants’ point-following performance predict infants’ receptive and expressive vocabulary. At each month from 8 to 12, Turkish-speaking mother–infant dyads ( N = 56) participated in the decorated room paradigm to determine pointing frequency and the point-following paradigm to determine whether infants follow points to surrounding pictures. Rece…
The Effect of Framing on Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuals: Evidence from Two Cohorts of Turkish University Students
Framing—how issues are communicated—can influence attitudes. This study examined (1) the impact of value-framing on attitudes toward homosexuality among Turkish university students in 2012 and 2024, (2) cohort differences over time, and (3) socio-demographic predictors. Participants were 199 psychology students (161 female; M age = 21). Attitudes were most positive after equality framing, followed by neutral, then morality framing. Cohorts did no…
Psychology (9 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (7 works) · Developmental psychology (6 works) · Language Development and Disorders (5 works) · Linguistics (4 works) · Turkish (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (3 works)