"Come on, let me tell you a story!" How children learn about the world (ATTUNE)

This project explores how young children develop their understanding of the world through stories and everyday interactions with their parents, observed in natural home settings.

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Mar 2026
Duration in months:

36
Funding:

FNR – Fonds National de la Recherche (INTER/DFG/25/18860401)/Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (RI 1797/12-1)
Principal Investigator(s):

Anna KORNADT

Michaela Riediger (external)

About

During their early years, children begin to form a picture of how they see the world and how they perceive other people. Books, movies, and audiobooks play a major role in how children acquire this knowledge. We are investigating these learning processes in our current research project. For our study, we create a playful setting in which children and parents, for example, read short stories together and discuss them. We want these conversations to be as close to everyday life as possible. That is why we visit families at home for our study. The research project is a collaboration with Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and is funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).