Frankie’s research interests lie broadly in early childhood social cognitive development, with a particular interest in children’s imitative behaviour and normative understanding across diverse contexts. He employs an experimental and cross-cultural approach to study factors that influence children’s social learning decisions of high-fidelity vs selective copying. Frankie is currently conducting and supervising research in Germany and Australia. Additionally, he has established, coordinated, and conducted developmental research with parents and children across Malaysian urban and Indigenous communities. Frankie is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher based in the Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipizig, Germany. He now holds an Honorary research appointment at the School of Psychology of the University of Queensland.
Journal Article: I copy you as I believe you know about our culture: combining imitation and selective trust literatures
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Corriveau, Kathleen H. (2023). I copy you as I believe you know about our culture: combining imitation and selective trust literatures. Infant and Child Development e2453. doi: 10.1002/icd.2453
Journal Article: Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45 e257, e257. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x22001200
Journal Article: The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3 (4) hbe2.280, 585-594. doi: 10.1002/hbe2.280
Journal Article: The man and the machine: Do children learn from and transmit tool-use knowledge acquired from a robot in ways that are comparable to a human model?
Fong, Frankie T.K., Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kang, Jemima and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The man and the machine: Do children learn from and transmit tool-use knowledge acquired from a robot in ways that are comparable to a human model?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 208 105148, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105148
Journal Article: When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (2), 330-337. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12366
Journal Article: A cross-cultural comparison: imitation of inefficient tool use in Australian and Malaysian preschool children
Fong, Frankie T. K., Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). A cross-cultural comparison: imitation of inefficient tool use in Australian and Malaysian preschool children. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5 (1), 37-47. doi: 10.1007/s41809-021-00077-6
Book Chapter: Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology
Nielsen, Mark, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Whiten, Andrew (2021). Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. (pp. 317-334) edited by Jeffrey J. Lockman. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.04.001
Journal Article: Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children
Wang, Zhidan, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Meltzoff, Andrew N. (2020). Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (1) bjdp.12356, 133-152. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12356
Journal Article: Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge
Fong, Frankie T. K., Mondloch, Catherine J. and Nelson, Nicole L. (2020). Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198 104879, 104879. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104879
(2019–2023) University of Texas at Austin - Grants
Foundations of cumulative culture: What drives children to innovate or imitate.
Doctor Philosophy
Imitation and childrens social vs material priorities
Doctor Philosophy
To imitate or innovate: A new look at children's social learning
Doctor Philosophy
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Corriveau, Kathleen H. (2023). I copy you as I believe you know about our culture: combining imitation and selective trust literatures. Infant and Child Development e2453. doi: 10.1002/icd.2453
Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45 e257, e257. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x22001200
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3 (4) hbe2.280, 585-594. doi: 10.1002/hbe2.280
Fong, Frankie T.K., Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kang, Jemima and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The man and the machine: Do children learn from and transmit tool-use knowledge acquired from a robot in ways that are comparable to a human model?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 208 105148, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105148
When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (2), 330-337. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12366
Fong, Frankie T. K., Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). A cross-cultural comparison: imitation of inefficient tool use in Australian and Malaysian preschool children. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5 (1), 37-47. doi: 10.1007/s41809-021-00077-6
Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology
Nielsen, Mark, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Whiten, Andrew (2021). Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. (pp. 317-334) edited by Jeffrey J. Lockman. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.04.001
Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children
Wang, Zhidan, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Meltzoff, Andrew N. (2020). Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (1) bjdp.12356, 133-152. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12356
Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge
Fong, Frankie T. K., Mondloch, Catherine J. and Nelson, Nicole L. (2020). Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198 104879, 104879. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104879
Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology
Nielsen, Mark, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Whiten, Andrew (2021). Social learning from media: the need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. (pp. 317-334) edited by Jeffrey J. Lockman. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.04.001
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Corriveau, Kathleen H. (2023). I copy you as I believe you know about our culture: combining imitation and selective trust literatures. Infant and Child Development e2453. doi: 10.1002/icd.2453
Rawlings, Bruce S, Davis, Helen Elizabeth, Anum, Adote, Burger, Oskar, Chen, Lydia, Morales, Juliet Carolina Castro, Dutra, Natalia, Dzabatou, Ardain, Dzokoto, Vivian, Erut, Alejandro, Fong, Frankie T K, Ghelardi, Sabrina, Goldwater, Micah, Ingram, Gordon, Messer, Emily, Kingsford, Jessica, Lew-Levy, Sheina, Mendez, Kimberley, Newhouse, Morgan, Nielsen, Mark, Pamei, Gairan, Pope-Caldwell, Sarah, Ramos, Karlos, Rojas, Luis Emilio Echeverria, Dos Santos, Renan A C, Silveira, Lara G S, Watzek, Julia, Wirth, Ciara and Legare, Cristine H (2023). Quantifying quality: The impact of measures of school quality on children's academic achievement across diverse societies. Developmental Science e13434, 1-17. doi: 10.1111/desc.13434
Burger, Oskar, Chen, Lydia, Erut, Alejandro, Fong, Frankie T. K., Rawlings, Bruce and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Developing Cross-Cultural Data Infrastructures (CCDIs) for research in cognitive and behavioral sciences. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 14 (2), 1-21. doi: 10.1007/s13164-022-00635-z
Dutra, Natália B., Chen, Lydia, Anum, Adote, Burger, Oskar, Davis, Helen E., Dzokoto, Vivian A., Fong, Frankie T. K., Ghelardi, Sabrina, Mendez, Kimberly, Messer, Emily J. E., Newhouse, Morgan, Nielsen, Mark G., Ramos, Karlos, Rawlings, Bruce, Dos Santos, Renan A. C., Silveira, Lara G. S., Tucker-Drob, Elliot M. and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Examining relations between performance on non-verbal executive function and verbal self-regulation tasks in demographically-diverse populations. Developmental Science, 25 (5) e13228, e13228. doi: 10.1111/desc.13228
Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization
Fong, Frankie T. K., Nielsen, Mark and Legare, Cristine H. (2022). Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45 e257, e257. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x22001200
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3 (4) hbe2.280, 585-594. doi: 10.1002/hbe2.280
Fong, Frankie T.K., Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kang, Jemima and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The man and the machine: Do children learn from and transmit tool-use knowledge acquired from a robot in ways that are comparable to a human model?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 208 105148, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105148
When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children
Fong, Frankie T. K., Imuta, Kana, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). When efficiency attenuates imitation in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (2), 330-337. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12366
Fong, Frankie T. K., Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2021). A cross-cultural comparison: imitation of inefficient tool use in Australian and Malaysian preschool children. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5 (1), 37-47. doi: 10.1007/s41809-021-00077-6
Xie, Linghao, Wang, Zhidan, Yu, Zhou and Fong, Frankie T. K. (2020). Relationship between SES and preschoolers’ sociality: the mediating effect of household screen media experience. Early Child Development and Care, 192 (7), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/03004430.2020.1838498
Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children
Wang, Zhidan, Fong, Frankie T. K. and Meltzoff, Andrew N. (2020). Enhancing same‐gender imitation by highlighting gender norms in Chinese pre‐school children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39 (1) bjdp.12356, 133-152. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12356
Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge
Fong, Frankie T. K., Mondloch, Catherine J. and Nelson, Nicole L. (2020). Interactive situations reveal more about children’s emotional knowledge. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 198 104879, 104879. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104879
Wang, Zhidan, Zhu, Xiaoyu, Meng, Jing, Wang, Haijing and Fong, Frankie T. K. (2020). Erratum: Overimitation of children with cochlear implants or hearing aids in comparison with children with normal hearing (vol 33, pg 84, 2020). Infants and Young Children, 33 (2), 118-118. doi: 10.1097/IYC.0000000000000166
Wang, Zhidan, Zhu, Xiaoyu, Meng, Jing, Wang, Haijing and Fong, Frankie T. K. (2020). Overimitation of children with cochlear implants or hearing aids in comparison with children with normal hearing. Infants and Young Children, 33 (1), 84-92. doi: 10.1097/IYC.0000000000000157
Preschool children's normative and instrumental learning
Fong, Tze Kiet (2019). Preschool children's normative and instrumental learning. PhD Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.429
(2019–2023) University of Texas at Austin - Grants
Note for students: Dr Frankie Fong is not currently available to take on new students.
Foundations of cumulative culture: What drives children to innovate or imitate.
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Imitation and childrens social vs material priorities
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
To imitate or innovate: A new look at children's social learning
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors: