Azzurra Ruggeri
Biographic Data
| ID | 3863673 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Azzurra Ruggeri |
| GIVEN NAMES | Azzurra |
| FAMILY NAME | Ruggeri |
| SIGNATURE | RUGGERI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Max Planck Institute for Human Development |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0839-1929 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Children seek out observations that can reveal a partner’s generosity
Humans face the adaptive challenge of assessing how much other people value them. Evidence suggests that the human mind is well-equipped for this task: people can rationally estimate, and collect information about, the weight that an interaction partner assigns to their welfare (the partner’s welfare-tradeoff ratio). Here we probe the developmental origins of this ability using an information-search task with 6- to 12-year-old children ( n = 97 )…
Active navigation enhances children’s spatial but not episodic memory
This paper uses a Yoked experimental design to investigate the selective advantage of active spatial navigation in 4- to 10-year-old children. Participants were presented with a map game in which they were asked to find the shortest way for a monster to get across town while collecting its five monster friends on the way. Active control was associated with better recall for path length and the area between paths, whereas no differences were obser…
Developing intellectual humility: Questions, dilemmas, and future directions
This article presents an overview and critique of current interdisciplinary research on the nature and development of intellectual humility (IH), with the aim of systematically outlining currently debated open questions. We focus on four specific areas of research: (1) theoretical questions regarding the nature of IH, (2) issues with the measurement of IH in development, (3) existing research on the development of IH and related socio-cognitive a…
Developmental changes in active learning of transitive relations
107). We find that age-related improvements in relational inference are accompanied by an increasing preference for "chained" study, such that overlapping relations are studied in consecutive trials. Using computational models of transitive inference, we show that these developmental changes are consistent with a growing tendency to link individual relations together into a single mental structure while learning. This process is facilitated when …
Active control of learning enhances memory across the lifespan
Children adapt their information search to goal and statistical structure of a problem
To be efficient, problem solvers need to be adaptive, tailoring their information search to the specific problem at hand. Across two studies, we investigated the emergence and early development of children's ability to adapt their information search to a given goal (Studies 1 and 2) and to the statistical structure of the problem space (Study 2) to maximize effectiveness. In Study 1, 3-6-year-olds ( n = 105) decided which of two cues to look up, …
Children Strategically Decide What to Practice
Adjusting practice to different goals and characteristics is key to learning, but its development remains unclear. Across 2 preregistered experiments, 190 4-to-8-year-olds (106 female; mostly White; data collection: December 2021–September 2022) and 31 adults played an easy and a difficult game, then chose one to practice before a test on either the easy, difficult, or a randomly chosen game. All children adjusted their active practice choices to…
Young children's adaptive partner choice in cooperation and competition contexts
Choosing adequate partners is essential for cooperation, but how children calibrate their partner choice to specific social challenges is unknown. In two experiments, 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 189, 49% girls, mostly White, data collection: 03.2021–09.2022) were presented with partners in possession of different positive qualities. Children then recruited partners for hypothetical tasks that differed with respect to the quality necessary for success.…
The differential impact of active learning on children’s memory
Successful active learning has often been quantified with respect to either the efficiency of information search or the accuracy of subsequent recall. In this article, we explored the hypothesis that children's memory is influenced by the types of information search strategies they implement, which may emphasize different aspects of the task stimuli. As a consequence, younger children's well-documented search inefficiency may turn out to be advan…
Children seek help based on how others learn
Do children consider how others learned when seeking help? Across three experiments, German children (N = 536 3-to-8 year olds, 49% female, majority White, tested 2017–2019) preferred to learn from successful active learners selectively by context: They sought help solving a problem from a learner who had independently discovered the solution to a previous problem over those who had learned through instruction or observation, but only when the cu…
Smart or just lucky? Inferring question-asking competence from strategies’ efficiency versus effectiveness
Previous research shows that children evaluate the competence of others based on how effectively someone accomplished a goal, that is, based on the observed outcome of an action (e.g., number of attempts needed). Here, we investigate whether 5- to 10-year-old children and adults infer competence from how efficiently someone solves a task by implementing question-asking strategies of varying expected information gains (EIG). Whereas the efficiency…
Developmental changes in exploration resemble stochastic optimization
Human development is often described as a 'cooling off' process, analogous to stochastic optimization algorithms that implement a gradual reduction in randomness over time. Yet there is ambiguity in how to interpret this analogy, due to a lack of concrete empirical comparisons. Using data from n = 281 participants ages 5 to 55, we show that cooling off does not only apply to the single dimension of randomness. Rather, human development resembles …
Children’s failure to control variables may reflect adaptive decision-making
Changing one variable at a time while controlling others is a key aspect of scientific experimentation and a central component of STEM curricula. However, children reportedly struggle to learn and implement this strategy. Why do children’s intuitions about how best to intervene on a causal system conflict with scientific practices? Mathematical analyses have shown that controlling variables is not always the most efficient learning strategy, and …
Finding the (most efficient) way out of a maze is easier than asking (good) questions
We investigate whether a spatial representation of a search task supports 4- to 7-year-old children's information-search strategies, relative to their performance in a question-asking game. Children played two computationally and structurally analogous search games: a spatial search task, the maze-exploration game, in which they had to discover the path through a maze by removing masks covering its passages; and a verbal search task, the 20-quest…
Children’s active physical learning is as effective and goal-targeted as adults’
We explore how children and adults actively experiment within the physical world to achieve different epistemic goals. In our experiment, one hundred one 4- to 10-year-old children and 24 adults either passively observed or used a touchscreen interface to actively interact with objects in a dynamic physical microworld with the goal of inferring one of two latent physical properties: relative object masses or local forces of attraction and repulsi…
“Alexa, let me ask you something different” Children's adaptive information search with voice assistants
In this study, we investigated how children interact with voice assistants, particularly focusing on what kinds of questions they ask and how they react to the responses obtained. We recorded 3- to 10-year-old children's (N = 43) spontaneous interactions with Amazon Alexa, and analyzed the questions they asked, as well as how they adjusted their information search based on the responses received. Our results confirm previous work in showing that …
How is the hypothesis space represented? Evidence from young children’s active search and predictions in a multiple-cue inference task
To successfully navigate an uncertain world, one has to learn the relationship between cues (e.g., wind speed, atmospheric pressure) and outcomes (e.g., rain). When learning, it is possible to actively manipulate the cue values to test hypotheses about this relationship directly. Across two studies, we investigated how 5- to 7-year-olds actively learned cue-outcome relationships, and what their behavior revealed about how they represented the hyp…
A developmental perspective on option generation and selection
Little is known about how children generate options for taking action in familiar situations or how they select which action option to actually perform. In this article, we explore the interplay between option generation and selection from a developmental perspective using sports as a testbed. In a longitudinal design with four measurement waves, we asked 6- to 13-year-old children ( N = 73) to generate and select action options in a soccer-relat…
Why is Toma late to school again?” Preschoolers identify the most informative questions
The current study investigates whether preschoolers are able to successfully identify the most effective among given questions, adapting their reliance on different types of questions ( constraint-seeking vs. hypothesis-scanning ) based on the quantitative measure of expected information gain . Children were presented with storybooks describing the reasons why a fictional character, Toma, was late to school over several days. In 3 experiments wit…
Sources of developmental change in the efficiency of information search
Children are active learners: they learn not only from the information people offer and the evidence they happen to observe, but by actively seeking information. However, children's information search strategies are typically less efficient than those of adults. In two studies, we isolate potential sources of developmental change in how children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults search for information. To do so, we develop a hierarchical version o…
The development of adaptive decision making: Recognition-based inference in children and adolescents
Judgments about objects in the world are often based on probabilistic information (or cues). A frugal judgment strategy that utilizes memory (i.e., the ability to discriminate between known and unknown objects) as a cue for inference is the recognition heuristic (RH). The usefulness of the RH depends on the structure of the environment, particularly the predictive power (validity) of recognition. Little is known about developmental differences in…
Sources of developmental change in the efficiency of information search
Children are active learners: they learn not only from the information people offer and the evidence they happen to observe, but by actively seeking information. However, children's information search strategies are typically less efficient than those of adults. In two studies, we isolate potential sources of developmental change in how children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults search for information. To do so, we develop a hierarchical version o…
Why is Toma late to school again?” Preschoolers identify the most informative questions
The current study investigates whether preschoolers are able to successfully identify the most effective among given questions, adapting their reliance on different types of questions ( constraint-seeking vs. hypothesis-scanning ) based on the quantitative measure of expected information gain . Children were presented with storybooks describing the reasons why a fictional character, Toma, was late to school over several days. In 3 experiments wit…
The development of adaptive decision making: Recognition-based inference in children and adolescents
Judgments about objects in the world are often based on probabilistic information (or cues). A frugal judgment strategy that utilizes memory (i.e., the ability to discriminate between known and unknown objects) as a cue for inference is the recognition heuristic (RH). The usefulness of the RH depends on the structure of the environment, particularly the predictive power (validity) of recognition. Little is known about developmental differences in…
The differential impact of active learning on children’s memory
Successful active learning has often been quantified with respect to either the efficiency of information search or the accuracy of subsequent recall. In this article, we explored the hypothesis that children's memory is influenced by the types of information search strategies they implement, which may emphasize different aspects of the task stimuli. As a consequence, younger children's well-documented search inefficiency may turn out to be advan…
Developmental changes in exploration resemble stochastic optimization
Human development is often described as a 'cooling off' process, analogous to stochastic optimization algorithms that implement a gradual reduction in randomness over time. Yet there is ambiguity in how to interpret this analogy, due to a lack of concrete empirical comparisons. Using data from n = 281 participants ages 5 to 55, we show that cooling off does not only apply to the single dimension of randomness. Rather, human development resembles …
Sources of developmental change in the efficiency of information search
Children are active learners: they learn not only from the information people offer and the evidence they happen to observe, but by actively seeking information. However, children's information search strategies are typically less efficient than those of adults. In two studies, we isolate potential sources of developmental change in how children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults search for information. To do so, we develop a hierarchical version o…
The development of adaptive decision making: Recognition-based inference in children and adolescents
Judgments about objects in the world are often based on probabilistic information (or cues). A frugal judgment strategy that utilizes memory (i.e., the ability to discriminate between known and unknown objects) as a cue for inference is the recognition heuristic (RH). The usefulness of the RH depends on the structure of the environment, particularly the predictive power (validity) of recognition. Little is known about developmental differences in…
Why is Toma late to school again?” Preschoolers identify the most informative questions
The current study investigates whether preschoolers are able to successfully identify the most effective among given questions, adapting their reliance on different types of questions ( constraint-seeking vs. hypothesis-scanning ) based on the quantitative measure of expected information gain . Children were presented with storybooks describing the reasons why a fictional character, Toma, was late to school over several days. In 3 experiments wit…
A developmental perspective on option generation and selection
Little is known about how children generate options for taking action in familiar situations or how they select which action option to actually perform. In this article, we explore the interplay between option generation and selection from a developmental perspective using sports as a testbed. In a longitudinal design with four measurement waves, we asked 6- to 13-year-old children ( N = 73) to generate and select action options in a soccer-relat…
“Alexa, let me ask you something different” Children's adaptive information search with voice assistants
In this study, we investigated how children interact with voice assistants, particularly focusing on what kinds of questions they ask and how they react to the responses obtained. We recorded 3- to 10-year-old children's (N = 43) spontaneous interactions with Amazon Alexa, and analyzed the questions they asked, as well as how they adjusted their information search based on the responses received. Our results confirm previous work in showing that …
How is the hypothesis space represented? Evidence from young children’s active search and predictions in a multiple-cue inference task
To successfully navigate an uncertain world, one has to learn the relationship between cues (e.g., wind speed, atmospheric pressure) and outcomes (e.g., rain). When learning, it is possible to actively manipulate the cue values to test hypotheses about this relationship directly. Across two studies, we investigated how 5- to 7-year-olds actively learned cue-outcome relationships, and what their behavior revealed about how they represented the hyp…
Children’s failure to control variables may reflect adaptive decision-making
Changing one variable at a time while controlling others is a key aspect of scientific experimentation and a central component of STEM curricula. However, children reportedly struggle to learn and implement this strategy. Why do children’s intuitions about how best to intervene on a causal system conflict with scientific practices? Mathematical analyses have shown that controlling variables is not always the most efficient learning strategy, and …
Finding the (most efficient) way out of a maze is easier than asking (good) questions
We investigate whether a spatial representation of a search task supports 4- to 7-year-old children's information-search strategies, relative to their performance in a question-asking game. Children played two computationally and structurally analogous search games: a spatial search task, the maze-exploration game, in which they had to discover the path through a maze by removing masks covering its passages; and a verbal search task, the 20-quest…
Children’s active physical learning is as effective and goal-targeted as adults’
We explore how children and adults actively experiment within the physical world to achieve different epistemic goals. In our experiment, one hundred one 4- to 10-year-old children and 24 adults either passively observed or used a touchscreen interface to actively interact with objects in a dynamic physical microworld with the goal of inferring one of two latent physical properties: relative object masses or local forces of attraction and repulsi…
Children seek help based on how others learn
Do children consider how others learned when seeking help? Across three experiments, German children (N = 536 3-to-8 year olds, 49% female, majority White, tested 2017–2019) preferred to learn from successful active learners selectively by context: They sought help solving a problem from a learner who had independently discovered the solution to a previous problem over those who had learned through instruction or observation, but only when the cu…
Smart or just lucky? Inferring question-asking competence from strategies’ efficiency versus effectiveness
Previous research shows that children evaluate the competence of others based on how effectively someone accomplished a goal, that is, based on the observed outcome of an action (e.g., number of attempts needed). Here, we investigate whether 5- to 10-year-old children and adults infer competence from how efficiently someone solves a task by implementing question-asking strategies of varying expected information gains (EIG). Whereas the efficiency…
Developmental changes in exploration resemble stochastic optimization
Human development is often described as a 'cooling off' process, analogous to stochastic optimization algorithms that implement a gradual reduction in randomness over time. Yet there is ambiguity in how to interpret this analogy, due to a lack of concrete empirical comparisons. Using data from n = 281 participants ages 5 to 55, we show that cooling off does not only apply to the single dimension of randomness. Rather, human development resembles …
Young children's adaptive partner choice in cooperation and competition contexts
Choosing adequate partners is essential for cooperation, but how children calibrate their partner choice to specific social challenges is unknown. In two experiments, 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 189, 49% girls, mostly White, data collection: 03.2021–09.2022) were presented with partners in possession of different positive qualities. Children then recruited partners for hypothetical tasks that differed with respect to the quality necessary for success.…
The differential impact of active learning on children’s memory
Successful active learning has often been quantified with respect to either the efficiency of information search or the accuracy of subsequent recall. In this article, we explored the hypothesis that children's memory is influenced by the types of information search strategies they implement, which may emphasize different aspects of the task stimuli. As a consequence, younger children's well-documented search inefficiency may turn out to be advan…
Active control of learning enhances memory across the lifespan
Children adapt their information search to goal and statistical structure of a problem
To be efficient, problem solvers need to be adaptive, tailoring their information search to the specific problem at hand. Across two studies, we investigated the emergence and early development of children's ability to adapt their information search to a given goal (Studies 1 and 2) and to the statistical structure of the problem space (Study 2) to maximize effectiveness. In Study 1, 3-6-year-olds ( n = 105) decided which of two cues to look up, …
Children Strategically Decide What to Practice
Adjusting practice to different goals and characteristics is key to learning, but its development remains unclear. Across 2 preregistered experiments, 190 4-to-8-year-olds (106 female; mostly White; data collection: December 2021–September 2022) and 31 adults played an easy and a difficult game, then chose one to practice before a test on either the easy, difficult, or a randomly chosen game. All children adjusted their active practice choices to…
Children seek out observations that can reveal a partner’s generosity
Humans face the adaptive challenge of assessing how much other people value them. Evidence suggests that the human mind is well-equipped for this task: people can rationally estimate, and collect information about, the weight that an interaction partner assigns to their welfare (the partner’s welfare-tradeoff ratio). Here we probe the developmental origins of this ability using an information-search task with 6- to 12-year-old children ( n = 97 )…
Active navigation enhances children’s spatial but not episodic memory
This paper uses a Yoked experimental design to investigate the selective advantage of active spatial navigation in 4- to 10-year-old children. Participants were presented with a map game in which they were asked to find the shortest way for a monster to get across town while collecting its five monster friends on the way. Active control was associated with better recall for path length and the area between paths, whereas no differences were obser…
Developing intellectual humility: Questions, dilemmas, and future directions
This article presents an overview and critique of current interdisciplinary research on the nature and development of intellectual humility (IH), with the aim of systematically outlining currently debated open questions. We focus on four specific areas of research: (1) theoretical questions regarding the nature of IH, (2) issues with the measurement of IH in development, (3) existing research on the development of IH and related socio-cognitive a…
Developmental changes in active learning of transitive relations
107). We find that age-related improvements in relational inference are accompanied by an increasing preference for "chained" study, such that overlapping relations are studied in consecutive trials. Using computational models of transitive inference, we show that these developmental changes are consistent with a growing tendency to link individual relations together into a single mental structure while learning. This process is facilitated when …
Child and Animal Learning Development (16 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Developmental psychology (14 works) · Cognitive psychology (13 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Artificial Intelligence (7 works) · MEDLINE (7 works) · PsycINFO (7 works) · Task (project management (6 works)