Professor Mark Nielsen
Professor
School of Psychology
+61 7 336 56414
McElwain Building (24A)
Level 4, Room 413
Level 4, Room 413
Researcher biography
Mark joined the School of Psychology in 2002 as a UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow after completing his PhD at La Trobe University. His research interests lie in a range of inter-related aspects of socio-cognitive development in young human children and non-human primates. His current research is primarily focused on charting the origins and development of human cultural cognition.
He is:
- a Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
- a member of: Association for Psychological Science; Society for Research in Child Development; Australasian Human Development Association
- an Associate Editor: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology; PLoS ONE
- an Editorial Consultant: Child Development; Developmental Science
Book Chapters
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
Kirkland, Kelly, Jetten, Jolanda and Nielsen, Mark (2019). But that's not fair! The experience of economic inequality from a child's perspective. The Social Psychology of Inequality. (pp. 187-199) edited by Jolanda Jetten and Kim Peters. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-28856-3_12
Shipton, Ceri and Nielsen, Mark (2018). The acquisition of biface knapping skill in the Acheulean. Evolution of Primate Social Cognition. (pp. 283-297) edited by Laura Desirèe Di Paolo, Fabio Di Vincenzo and Francesca De Petrillo. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-93776-2_18
Nielsen, Mark (2015). Pretend Play and Cognitive Development. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition. (pp. 870-876) Orlando, FL, USA: Elsevier . doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.23073-0
Nielsen, Mark and Susianto, Erna W. E. (2010). Failure to find over-imitation in captive orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus): Implications for our understanding of cross-generation information transfer. Developmental Psychology. (pp. 153-167) edited by Johan Håkansson. New York. NY, U.S.A.: Nova Science Publishers.
Nielsen, Mark G. and Slaughter, Virginia (2007). Multiple motivations for imitation in infancy. Imitation and social learning in robots, humans and animals. (pp. 343-359) edited by Nehaniv, C. L. and Dautenhahn, K.. United States: Cambridge University Press.
Nielsen, Mark and Slaughter, Virginia (2007). Multiple motivations for imitation in infancy. Imitation and Social Learning in Robots, Humans and Animals: Behavioural, Social and Communicative Dimensions. (pp. 343-360) edited by Nehaniv, Chrystopher L. and Dautenhahn, Kerstin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511489808.023
Randell, A. C. and Nielsen, M. G. (2006). Children's communication of pretend acts using social cues. Frontiers in Cognitive Psychology. (pp. 127-144) edited by M.A. Vanchevsky. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc..
Nielsen, M. G., Suddendorf, T. and Dissanayake, C. (2006). Imitation and self-recogntion in autism: In search of an explanation. Imitation and the Social Mind: Autism and Typical Development. (pp. 138-197) edited by S.J. Rogers and J.H.G. Williams. New York, NY United States: The Guilford Press.
Journal Articles
Wu, Yunyi, Cao, Xinyun, Nielsen, Mark, Mao, Yichen and Wang, Fuxing (2024). Dragging but not tapping promotes preschoolers’ numerical estimating with touchscreens. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 246 105989, 105989. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105989
Fong, Frankie T.K., Puebla, Guillermo and Nielsen, Mark (2024). The role of conventionality and design in children’s function judgments about malfunctioning artifacts. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 240 105835, 105835. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105835
Zhao, Mingxuan, Fong, Frankie T. K., Whiten, Andrew and Nielsen, Mark (2023). Children's distinct drive to reproduce costly rituals. Child development, 95 (4), 1-11. doi: 10.1111/cdev.14061
Zhao, Mingxuan, Fong, Frankie T. K., Whiten, Andrew and Nielsen, Mark (2023). Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 42 (1), 1-18. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12463
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, 32 (5) e2453. doi: 10.1002/icd.2453
Sommer, Kristyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2023). Revisiting the video deficit in technology-saturated environments: Successful imitation from people, screens, and social robots. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 232 105673, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105673
Cameron, Sophie, Wilks, Matti and Nielsen, Mark (2023). The effect of intent and character information on children's evaluations of third-party transgressions. Social Development, 32 (3), 976-989. doi: 10.1111/sode.12675
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, 27 (5) e13434, 1-17. doi: 10.1111/desc.13434
Mathiassen, Anna and Nielsen, Mark (2023). The role of ritual in children’s acquisition of supernatural beliefs. Religions, 14 (6) 797, 1-21. doi: 10.3390/rel14060797
Nielsen, Mark, Grant, Julie and Tomaselli, Keyan (2023). The
cost–benefit
trade‐off in young children's overimitation behaviour. Infant and Child Development, 32 (2) e2394, 1-11. doi: 10.1002/icd.2394
Kirby, James N., Kirkland, Kelly, Wilks, Matti, Green, Mitchell, Tanjitpiyanond, Porntida, Chowdhury, Nafisa and Nielsen, Mark (2023). Testing the bounds of compassion in young children. Royal Society Open Science, 10 (2) 221448, 1-14. doi: 10.1098/rsos.221448
Neldner, Karri, Wilks, Matti, Crimston, Charlie R., Jaymes, R. W. M. and Nielsen, Mark (2022). I may not like you, but I still care: children differentiate moral concern from other constructs. Developmental Psychology, 59 (3), 549-566. doi: 10.1037/dev0001485
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, 1-14. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x22001200
Cameron, Sophie, Wilks, Matti, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2022). The effect of moral character on children's judgements of transgressions. Cognitive Development, 63 101221, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2022.101221
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
Kirkland, Kelly, Jetten, Jolanda, Wilks, Matti and Nielsen, Mark (2021). How economic inequality affects prosocial behavior in children across development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 210 105202, 105202. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105202
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
Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The early ontogeny of infants’ imitation of on screen humans and robots. Infant Behavior and Development, 64 101614, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101614
Cameron, Sophie, Wilks, Matti and Nielsen, Mark (2021). Does helping now excuse cheating later? An investigation into moral balancing in children. Royal Society Open Science, 8 (7) 202296, 202296. doi: 10.1098/rsos.202296
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
Brinums, Melissa, Redshaw, Jonathan, Nielsen, Mark, Suddendorf, Thomas and Imuta, Kana (2021). Young children’s capacity to seek information in preparation for a future event. Cognitive Development, 58 101015, 101015. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101015
Kirkland, Kelly, Jetten, Jolanda, Wilks, Matti and Nielsen, Mark (2021). Children’s experience of economic inequality: how earning position influences prosocial behavior. Cognitive Development, 58 101043, 101043. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101043
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
Sommer, Kristyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet, Owen, Kathryn, Chiba, Andrea A., Forster, Deborah, Malmir, Mohsen and Nielsen, Mark (2021). Can a robot teach me that? Children's ability to imitate robots. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203 105040, 105040. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105040
Davis, Jacqueline, Redshaw, Jonathan, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine and Slaughter, Virginia (2021). Does neonatal imitation exist? Insights from a meta-analysis of 336 effect sizes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16 (6), 1745691620959834-1397. doi: 10.1177/1745691620959834
Davis, Jac T. M., Robertson, Ellen, Lew‐Levy, Sheina, Neldner, Karri, Kapitany, Rohan, Nielsen, Mark and Hines, Melissa (2021). Cultural components of sex differences in color preference. Child Development, 92 (4) cdev.13528, 1574-1589. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13528
Nielsen, Mark, Langley, Michelle C., Shipton, Ceri and Kapitány, Rohan (2020). Homo neanderthalensi s and the evolutionary origins of ritual in Homo sapiens. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375 (1805) 20190424, 20190424. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0424
Legare, Cristine H. and Nielsen, Mark (2020). Ritual explained: interdisciplinary answers to Tinbergen's four questions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375 (1805) 20190419, 1-5. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0419
Neldner, Karri, Reindl, Eva, Tennie, Claudio, Grant, Julie, Tomaselli, Keyan and Nielsen, Mark (2020). A cross-cultural investigation of young children's spontaneous invention of tool use behaviours. Royal Society Open Science, 7 (5) 192240, 192240. doi: 10.1098/rsos.192240
Kirkland, Kelly, Jetten, Jolanda and Nielsen, Mark (2020). The effect of economic inequality on young children's prosocial decision-making: economic inequality and prosociality. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 38 (4), 512-528. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12334
Sommer, Kristyn, Davidson, Rebecca, Armitage, Kristy L., Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2020). Preschool children overimitate robots, but do so less than they overimitate humans. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 191 104702, 104702. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104702
Sommer, Kristyn, Nielsen, Mark, Draheim, Madeline, Redshaw, Jonathan, Vanman, Eric J. and Wilks, M. (2019). Children's perceptions of the moral worth of live agents, robots, and inanimate objects. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 187 104656, 1-22. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.06.009
Wilks, Matti, Redshaw, Jonathan, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2019). A cross-cultural investigation of children’s willingness to imitate prosocial and antisocial groups. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 185, 164-175. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.04.018
Redshaw, Jonathan, Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine, Crimston, Jessica and Suddendorf, Thomas (2019). Individual differences in neonatal 'imitation' fail to predict early social cognitive behaviour. Developmental Science, 23 (2) e12892, e12892. doi: 10.1111/desc.12892
Owada, Kei, Nielsen, Mark, Lau, Colleen L., Yakob, Laith, Clements, Archie C. A., Leonardo, Lydia and Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J. (2019). Functional illiteracy burden in soil-transmitted helminth (STH) endemic regions of the Philippines: an ecological study and geographical prediction for 2017. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 13 (6) e0007494, e0007494. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007494
Neldner, Karri, Redshaw, Jonathan, Murphy, Sean, Tomaselli, Keyan, Davis, Jacqueline, Dixson, Barnaby and Nielsen, Mark (2019). Creation across culture: children’s tool innovation is influenced by cultural and developmental factors. Developmental Psychology, 55 (4), 877-889. doi: 10.1037/dev0000672
Owada, Kei, Nielsen, Mark, Lau, Colleen, Yakob, Laith, Clements, Archie, Leonardo, Lydia and Soares Magalhães, Ricardo (2019). Determinants of spatial heterogeneity of functional illiteracy among school-aged children in the Philippines: an ecological study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16 (1) 137, 137. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16010137
Kapitány, Rohan and Nielsen, Mark (2019). Ritualized objects: how we perceive and respond to causally opaque and goal demoted action. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 19 (1-2), 170-194. doi: 10.1163/15685373-12340053
Wilks, Matti, Kirby, James and Nielsen, Mark (2018). Developmental changes in young children's willingness to copy the antisocial actions of ingroup members in a minimal group context. Developmental Psychology, 55 (4), 709-721. doi: 10.1037/dev0000667
Kapitány, R., Kavanagh, C., Whitehouse, H. and Nielsen, M. (2018). Examining memory for ritualized gesture in complex causal sequences. Cognition, 181, 46-57. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.005
Kapitány, Rohan, Davis, Jacqueline T., Legare, Cristine and Nielsen, Mark (2018). An experimental examination of object-directed ritualized action in children across two cultures. PLoS One, 13 (11) e0206884, e0206884. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206884
Owada, Kei, Lau, Colleen L., Leonardo, Lydia, Clements, Archie C A, Yakob, Laith, Nielsen, Mark, Carabin, Hélène and Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J (2018). Spatial distribution and populations at risk of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura co-infections and infection intensity classes: an ecological study. Parasites and Vectors, 11 (1) 535, 535. doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-3107-y
Oostenbroek, Janine, Redshaw, Jonathan, Davis, Jacqueline, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia and Suddendorf, Thomas (2018). Re-evaluating the neonatal imitation hypothesis. Developmental Science, 22 (2) e12720, e12720. doi: 10.1111/desc.12720
Nash, Jeremy S., Imuta, Kana and Nielsen, Mark (2018). Behavioral investments in the short term fail to produce a sunk cost effect. Psychological Reports, 122 (5), 33294118790908-1793. doi: 10.1177/0033294118790908
Nielsen, Mark (2018). The social glue of cumulative culture and ritual behavior. Child Development Perspectives, 12 (4), 264-268. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12297
Green, Mitchell, Kirby, James N. and Nielsen, Mark (2018). The cost of helping: an exploration of compassionate responding in children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 36 (4), 673-678. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12252
Neldner, Karri, Crimston, Charlie, Wilks, Matti, Redshaw, Jonathan and Nielsen, Mark (2018). The developmental origins of moral concern: an examination of moral boundary decision making throughout childhood. PLoS One, 13 (5) e0197819, e0197819. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197819
Redshaw, Jonathan, Suddendorf, Thomas, Neldner, Karri, Wilks, Matti, Tomaselli, Keyan, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2018). Young children from three diverse cultures spontaneously and consistently prepare for alternative future possibilities. Child Development, 90 (1), 51-61. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13084
Nielsen, Mark, Tomaselli, Keyan and Kapitány, Rohan (2018). The influence of goal demotion on children's reproduction of ritual behavior. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39 (3), 343-348. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.02.006
Wilks, Matti, Kirby, James and Nielsen, Mark (2018). Children imitate antisocial in-group members. Developmental Science, 21 (6) e12675, e12675. doi: 10.1111/desc.12675
Nielsen, Mark, Fischer, Ronald and Kashima, Yoshihisa (2018). Shamanism and the social nature of cumulative culture. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41 e81. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X17002126
Neldner, Karri, Mushin, Ilana and Nielsen, Mark (2017). Young children's tool innovation across culture: Affordance visibility matters. Cognition, 168, 335-343. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.07.015
Nielsen, Mark, Haun, Daniel, Kaertner, Joscha and Legare, Cristine H. (2017). The persistent sampling bias in developmental psychology: a call to action. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 162, 31-38. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.017
Nielsen, Mark and Whiten, Andrew (2017). Early stone tools and cultural transmission resetting the null hypothesis: comment. Current Anthropology, 58 (5), 659-660.
Wilks, Matti and Nielsen, Mark (2017). Children disassociate from antisocial in-group members. Journal of experimental child psychology, 165, 37-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.06.003
Kapitany, Rohan and Nielsen, Mark (2017). Are yawns really contagious? A critique and quantification of yawn contagion. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 3 (2), 134-155. doi: 10.1007/s40750-017-0059-y
Owada, Kei, Nielsen, Mark, Lau, Colleen L., Clements, Archie C. A., Yakob, Laith and Soares Magalhaes, Ricardo J. (2017). Measuring the effect of soil-transmitted helminth infections on cognitive function in children: systematic review and critical appraisal of evidence. Advances in Parasitology, 98, 1-37. doi: 10.1016/bs.apar.2017.05.002
Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2017). There is no compelling evidence that human neonates imitate. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40 e392, e392. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X16001898
Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2016). Comprehensive Longitudinal Study Challenges the Existence of Neonatal Imitation in Humans. Current Biology, 26 (10), 1334-1338. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.047
Nielsen, Mark, Mushin, Ilana, Tomaselli, Keyan and Whiten, Andrew (2016). Imitation, collaboration, and their interaction among Western and Indigenous Australian preschool children. Child Development, 87 (3), 795-806. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12504
Kapitany, Rohan and Nielsen, Mark (2016). The ritual stance and the precaution system: the role of goal-demotion and opacity in ritual and everyday actions. Religion, Brain and Behavior, 7 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/2153599X.2016.1141792
Wilks, Matti, Kapitany, Rohan and Nielsen, Mark (2016). Preschool's children's learning proclivities: when the ritual stance trumps the instrumental stance. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 34 (3), 402-414. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12139
Nielsen, Mark and Haun, Daniel (2016). Why developmental psychology is incomplete without comparative and cross-cultural perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371 (1686), 1-7. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0071
Kapitany, Rohan and Nielsen, Mark (2015). Adopting the ritual stance: The role of opacity and context in ritual and everyday actions. Cognition, 145, 13-29. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.08.002
Legare, Cristine H. and Nielsen, Mark (2015). Imitation and innovation: the dual engines of cultural learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19 (11), 688-699. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.08.005
Shipton, Ceri and Nielsen, Mark (2015). Before cumulative culture: the evolutionary origins of overimitation and shared intentionality. Human Nature, 26 (3), 331-345. doi: 10.1007/s12110-015-9233-8
Nielsen, Mark, Kapitany, Rohan and Elkins, Rosemary (2015). The perpetuation of ritualistic actions as revealed by young children's transmission of normative behavior. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36 (3), 191-198. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.11.002
Neldner, Karri, Collier-Baker, Emma and Nielsen, Mark (2015). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens) know when they are ignorant about the location of food. Animal Cognition, 18 (3), 683-699. doi: 10.1007/s10071-015-0836-6
Nielsen, Mark and Shipton, Ceri (2015). Childhood and the evolution of higher-effort teaching. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 38 (1) e52, 34-35. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X14000545
Nielsen, Mark, Gigante, Julia and Collier-Baker, Emma (2014). Direct cost does not impact on young children's spontaneous helping behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 5 (DEC) 1509, 1-7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01509
Wilks, Matti, Collier-Baker, Emma and Nielsen, Mark (2014). Preschool children favor copying a successful individual over an unsuccessful group. Developmental Science, 18 (6), 1014-1024. doi: 10.1111/desc.12274
Tear, Morgan J. and Nielsen, Mark (2014). Video games and prosocial behavior: a study of the effects of non-violent, violent and ultra-violent gameplay. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 8-13. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.09.002
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C., Aboutalebi, Maedeh and Slaughter, Virginia (2014). Knowledge and Belief Understanding Among Iranian and Australian Preschool Children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45 (10), 1643-1654. doi: 10.1177/0022022114548484
Cowan, David G., Vanman, Eric J. and Nielsen, Mark (2014). Motivated empathy: the mechanics of the empathic gaze. Cognition and Emotion, 28 (8), 1522-1530. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2014.890563
Nielsen, Mark, Tomaselli, Keyan, Mushin, Ilana and Whiten, Andrew (2014). Exploring tool innovation: a comparison of Western and Bushman children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 126, 384-394. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.05.008
Turner, Cameron R., Nielsen, Mark and Collier-Baker, Emma (2014). Groups' actions trump injunctive reaction in an incidental observation by young children. PLoS One, 9 (9) e107375, e107375.1-e107375.10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107375
Nielsen, Mark, Mushin, Ilana, Tomaselli, Keyan and Whiten, Andrew (2014). Where culture takes hold: "overimitation" and its flexible deployment in Western, Aboriginal, and Bushmen children. Child Development, 85 (6), 2169-2184. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12265
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2014). Iranian Mothers' Disciplinary Strategies and Theory of Mind in Children: A Focus on Belief Understanding. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45 (7), 1110-1123. doi: 10.1177/0022022114534772
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Cultural and family influences on children's theory of mind development: a comparison of Australian and Iranian school-age children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, OnlineFirst (4), 1-14. doi: 10.1177/0022022113513921
Tear, Morgan J. and Nielsen, Mark (2013). Failure to demonstrate that playing violent video games diminishes prosocial behavior. PLoS ONE, 8 (7) e68382, e68382.1-e68382.7. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068382
Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia and Dissanayake, Cheryl (2013). Object-directed imitation in children with high-functioning autism: testing the social motivation hypothesis. Autism Research, 6 (1), 23-32. doi: 10.1002/aur.1261
Oostenbroek, Janine, Slaughter, Virginia, Nielsen, Mark and Suddendorf, Thomas (2013). Why the confusion around neonatal imitation? A review. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 31 (4), 328-341. doi: 10.1080/02646838.2013.832180
Nielsen, Mark (2013). Young children's imitative and innovative behaviour on the floating object task. Infant and Child Development, 22 (1), 44-52. doi: 10.1002/icd.1765
Suddendorf, Thomas, Oostenbroek, Janine, Nielsen, Mark and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Is newborn imitation developmentally homologous to later social-cognitive skills?. Developmental Psychobiology, 55 (1), 52-58. doi: 10.1002/dev.21005
Nielsen, Mark (2012). Childhood and advances in human tool use. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35 (4), 232-233. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X11001932
Nielsen, Mark (2012). Imitation, pretend play, and childhood: Essential elements in the evolution of human culture?. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 126 (2), 170-181. doi: 10.1037/a0025168
Nielsen, Mark, Subiaul, Francys, Galef, Bennett, Zentall, Thomas and Whiten, Andrew (2012). Social learning in humans and nonhuman animals: Theoretical and empirical dissections. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 126 (2), 109-113. doi: 10.1037/a0027758
Nielsen, Mark, Moore, Chris and Mohamedally, Jumana (2012). Young children overimitate in third-party contexts. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112 (1), 73-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.01.001
Zmyj, Norbert, Daum, Moritz M., Prinz, Wolfgang, Nielsen, Mark and Aschersleben, Gisa (2012). Fourteen-month-olds' imitation of differently aged models. Infant and Child Development, 21 (3), 250-266. doi: 10.1002/icd.750
Nielsen, Mark, Cucchiaro, Jessica and Mohamedally, Jumana (2012). When the transmission of culture is child's play. PLoS One, 7 (3) e34066, e34066.1-e34066.6. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034066
Fletcher, Renee and Nielsen, Mark (2012). Product-based television and young children's pretend play in Australia. Journal of Children and Media, 6 (1), 5-17. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2011.633397
Nielsen, Mark and Blank, Cornelia (2011). Imitation in young children: When who gets copied is more important than what gets copied.. Developmental Psychology, 47 (4), 1050-1053. doi: 10.1037/a0023866
Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark and von Gehlen, Rebecca (2011). Children's capacity to remember a novel problem and to secure its future solution. Developmental Science, 14 (1), 26-33. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00950.x
Nielsen, Mark and Hudry, Kristelle (2010). Over-imitation in children with autism and Down syndrome. Australian Journal of Psychology, 62 (2), 67-74. doi: 10.1080/00049530902758613
Nielsen, Mark and Tomaselli, Keyan (2010). Overimitation in Kalahari Bushman children and the origins of human cultural cognition. Psychological Science, 21 (5), 729-736. doi: 10.1177/0956797610368808
Nielsen, Mark (2009). The imitative behaviour of children and chimpanzees: A window on the transmission of cultural traditions. Revue de primatologie, 1, 2-13.
Nielsen, Mark (2009). 12-Month-Olds Produce Others' Intended but Unfulfilled Acts. Infancy, 14 (3), 377-389. doi: 10.1080/15250000902840003
Nielsen, Mark Gregory and Carpenter, Malinda (2008). Tools, TV and trust: Introduction to the special issue on imitation in typically developing children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101 (4), 225-227. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2008.09.005
Nielsen, Mark and Carpenter, Malinda (2008). Reflecting on imitation in autism: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101 (3), 165-169. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2008.06.004
Slaughter, Virginia, Nielsen, Mark and Enchelmaier, Petrina (2008). Interacting socially with human hands at 24 months of age. Infancy, 13 (2), 185-195. doi: 10.1080/15250000701795721
Nielsen, Mark and Christie, Tamara (2008). Adult modelling facilitates young children's generation of novel pretend acts. Infant and Child Development, 17 (2), 151-162. doi: 10.1002/icd.538
Nielsen, Mark, Simcock, Gabrielle and Jenkins, Linda (2008). The effect of social engagement on 24-month-olds' imitation from live and televised models. Developmental Science, 11 (5), 722-731. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00722.x
Nielsen, Mark (2008). The social motivation for social learning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31 (1), 33-33. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X0700324X
Suddendorf, Thomas, Simcock, Gabrielle and Nielsen, Mark (2007). Visual self-recognition in mirrors and live videos: Evidence for a developmental asynchrony. Cognitive Development, 22 (2), 185-196. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2006.09.003
Collier-Baker, Emma, Davis, Joanne M., Nielsen, Mark and Suddendorf, Thomas (2006). Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) understand single invisible displacement?. Animal Cognition, 9 (1), 55-61. doi: 10.1007/s10071-005-0004-5
Nielsen, Mark, Suddendorf, Thomas and Slaughter, Virginia (2006). Mirror self-recognition beyond the face. Child Development, 77 (1), 176-185. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00863.x
Nielsen, M (2006). Copying actions and copying outcomes: Social learning through the second year. Developmental Psychology, 42 (3), 555-565. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.3.555
Nielsen, M. G., Collier-Baker, E., Davis, J. M. and Suddendorf, T. (2005). Imitation recognition in a captive chimpanzee (pan troglodytes). Animal Cognition, 8 (1), 31-36. doi: 10.1007/s10071-004-0232-0
Nielsen, Mark and Dissanayake, Cheryl (2004). Pretend play, mirror self-recognition and imitation: A longitudinal investigation through the second year. Infant Behavior & Development, 27 (3), 342-365. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.12.006
Nielsen, M., Dissanayake, C. and Kashima, Y. (2003). A longitudinal investigation of self-other discrimination and the emergence of mirror self-recognition. Infant Behavior & Development, 26 (2), 213-226. doi: 10.1016/S0163-6383(03)00018-3
Nielsen, M. G. and Dissanayake, C. A. (2003). A longitudinal study of immediate, deferred, and synchronic imitation through the second year. AISBJ, 1 (4), 305-318.
Nielsen, M (2002). Pretending Primates. Trends In Cognitive Sciences, 6 (10), 445-445. doi: 10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01983-6
Nielsen, M and Dissanayake, C (2000). An investigation of pretend play, mental state terms and false belief understanding: In search of a metarepresentational link. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18 (4), 609-624. doi: 10.1348/026151000165887
Nielsen, Mark and Day, R. H. (1999). William James and the evolution of consciousness. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 19 (1), 90-113. doi: 10.1037/h0091189
Conference Papers
Davidson, Rebecca, Sommer, Kristyn and Nielsen, Mark (2019). Children's Judgments of Anti-Social Behaviour Towards a Robot: Liking and Learning. 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Daegu South Korea, 11-14 March 2019. Piscataway, NJ United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/HRI.2019.8673075
Owada, Kei, Nielsen, Mark, Lau, Colleen, Clements, Archie, Yakob, Laith and Magalhaes, Ricardo J. Soares (2017). Measuring the effect of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections on cognitive function in children: systematic review and critical appraisal of evidence. 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Atlanta, GA United States, 13-16 November, 2016. Deerfield, IL United States: American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Hensby, Kristyn, Wiles, Janet, Boden, Marie, Heath, Scott, Nielsen, Mark, Pounds, Paul, Riddell, Joshua, Rogers, Kristopher, Rybak, Nikodem, Slaughter, Virginia, Smith, Michael, Taufatofua, Jonathon, Worthy, Peter and Weigel, Jason (2016). Hand in hand: tools and techniques for understanding children's touch with a social robot. 11th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2016, Christchurch, New Zealand, 7-10 March 2016. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/HRI.2016.7451794
Slaughter, Virginia, Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas and Nielsen, Mark (2013). Is the human mirror system operational at birth?. ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Lausanne, Switzerland: Frontiers Research Foundation. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00043
Suddendorf, T., Simcock, G., Nielsen, M. and Collier-Baker, E. (2006). The development of self-recognition in mirrors and live videos. 33rd Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Bardon Conference Centre, Brisbane, 20-23 April, 2006. London: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.1080/00049530600940016
Collier-Baker, E, Davis, JM, Suddendorf, T and Nielsen, M (2004). Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) understand invisible displacement?. BASEL: KARGER.
Nielsen, M. G. and Dissanayake, C. A. (2003). Synchronic imitation as pre-linguistic social interaction. AISB '03 Cognition in Machines & Animals, Aberystwyth, Wales, 7-11 April 2003. Aberystwyth, United Kingdom: The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence.
Nielsen, M. G. and Dissanayake, C.A. (2002). Deferred imitation and the onset of pretend play in the second year. Perspectives on Imitation: From Cognitive Neuroscience to Social Science, Paris, France, May 2002.
Thesis
Nielsen, Mark G. (2002). A longitudinal investigation of imitation, pretend play and mirror self-recognition in human infants. PhD Thesis, School of Psychological Science, Latrobe University.