ArticleNPJ science of learning2023
A randomized controlled trial on the digital socio-emotional competence training Zirkus Empathico for preschoolers.
Article in NPJ science of learning, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07097090 (Inclusion 4 Children), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Inclusion 4 Children (Https://inclusion4children.it)
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stakeholder acceptance of a robot-assisted social training scenario for autistic children compared to a tablet-computer-based approach.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Relationship between parenting stress and behavioral and emotional problems in preschool children: A mediation effect analysis.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Enhanced neural sensitivity to brief changes of happy over angry facial expressions in preschoolers: A fast periodic visual stimulation study.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of the ELLA Training for the Promotion of Emotional and Social Competences in Lithuanian Preschool Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), the digital socio-emotional competence training Zirkus Empathico was tested in 74 Central European children (5.1 (0.9) years; 34 females) within a longitudinal design (three time points: T1 = pre-training; T2 = immediately following 6-week training, T3 = 3-month follow-up). The pre-registered primary outcome was empathy, secondary outcomes included emotion recognition, prosocial behavior, and behavioral problem reduction; furthermore, children's neural sensitivity to facial expressions quantified with event-related potentials. Compared to controls (N = 38), Zirkus Empathico participants (N = 36) showed increases in empathy (d = 0.28 [-0.17, 0.76]), emotion recognition (d = 0.57 [0.01, 1.06]), prosocial behavior (d = 0.51 [0.05, 0.99]) and reduced behavioral problems (d = 0.54 [0.08, 1.03]). They also showed larger P3 amplitudes to happy vs. angry and neutral facial expressions post-training. Thus, Zirkus Empathico may be a promising digital training for social competence in preschoolers.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.