A New Perspective on Assessing Cognition in Children through Estimating Shared Intentionality

Abstract

This theoretical article aims to create a conceptual framework for future research on digital methods for assessing cognition in children through estimating shared intentionality, different from assessing through behavioral markers. It shows the new assessing paradigm based directly on the evaluation of parent-child interaction exchanges (protoconversation), allowing early monitoring of children’s developmental trajectories. This literature analysis attempts to understand how cognition is related to emotions in interpersonal dynamics and whether assessing these dynamics shows cognitive abilities in children. The first part discusses infants’ unexpected achievements, observing the literature about children’s development. The analysis supposes that due to the caregiver’s help under emotional arousal, newborns’ intentionality could appear even before it is possible for children’s intention to occur. The emotional bond evokes intentionality in neonates. Therefore, they can manifest unexpected achievements while performing them with caregivers. This outcome shows an appearance of protoconversation in adult-children dyads through shared intentionality. The article presents experimental data of other studies that extend our knowledge about human cognition by showing an increase of coordinated neuronal activities and the acquisition of new knowledge by subjects in the absence of sensory cues. This highlights the contribution of interpersonal interaction to gain cognition, discussed already by Vygotsky. The current theoretical study hypothesizes that if shared intentionality promotes cognition from the onset, this interaction modality can also facilitate cognition in older children. Therefore in the second step, the current article analyzes empirical data of recent studies that reported meaningful interaction in mother-infant dyads without sensory cues. It discusses whether an unbiased digital assessment of the interaction ability of children is possible before the age when the typical developmental trajectory implies verbal communication. The article develops knowledge for a digital assessment that can measure the extent of children’s ability to acquire knowledge through protoconversation. This specific assessment can signalize the lack of communication ability in children even when the typical trajectory of peers’ development does not imply verbal communication.

Computerized Assessment of Cognitive Development in Neurotypical and Neurodivergent Children

“…The literature analysis shows that the period of the appearance of intentionality in infants depends more on social interaction features rather than the child's age [24]. Confronting the "observational" and "experimental" research methods reveal different outcomes-a similar task shows different performances.…”

“…Confronting the "observational" and "experimental" research methods reveal different outcomes-a similar task shows different performances. Danilov and Mihailova [24] argued that the "observational" research design differed from the "experimental" design by two variables: emotional stimulation and child-caregiver interaction without sensory cues that enabled children to respond accurately to the test by using shared intentionality. Hence, the social environment and social interaction deficit are potential factors in cognitive development and a majority of developmental disabilities, respectively.…”

“…Simultaneously, the smartphone produced an electromagnetic field in the visible range of the spectrum. The human-computer system software stimulated interpersonal dynamics by rhythmic changes in the light (wavelengths of 700 and 400 nm alternately with 80 bpm) [24]. In this manner, the software stimulated shared intentionality in the study's bioengineering system (Figure 2).…”

“…Many endogenous and exogenous factors impact the dynamic caregiver-child biological system and require shared intentionality assessments for collecting dynamic data inputs. Recent studies have noted that shared intentionality is not a constant feature in all interpersonal dynamics [24]. Furthermore, these five factors challenge the interaction ability: social entrainment, motivation, emotional arousal, intellectual stimuli, and interactional synchrony [24].…”

“…A recent study has proposed a new assessment paradigm, other than the assessment of verbalperceptual skills, to diagnose cognitive delay at an earlier stage. According to Danilov and Mihailova, this new approach could be based directly on the evaluation of caregiver-child interactions [24]. To the best of our knowledge, the social environment is a key factor in cognitive development.…”