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A tendency to perceive illusory streaks or clumps in random sequences of data—the hot hand phenomenon—has been identified as a human universal tied to our evolutionary history of foraging for clumpy resources. We explored how this misperception of randomness and, more generally, ecologically relevant statistical thinking develops ontogenetically. Based on previous work with adults, we developed three tablet-based decision-making tasks that assessed how 3- to 10-year-old children in the U.S. and Germany decide whether sequential events will continue in a streak or not, their understanding of randomness, and their ability to reason about randomness in spatially dependent terms. Our analyses suggest that children, like adults, hold strong expectations of clumpy resources when they search through and reason about 1- and 2-dimensional statistical distributions. This evolved psychological default to clumped resources decreases somewhat with age. Future research should explore possible early interventions to improve statistical literacy and minimize the detrimental effects that (mis)perceptions of streaks and patterns can have on everyday life. 

Research on public charging station (PCS) selection has accumulated a large variety of variables that have been shown to affect charging behavior. We offer a human-centered framework to classify and integrate variables that have been described in the literature. Different from previous overviews, the framework focuses on the cognitive decision-making processes that are employed by human deciders. Every charging event includes a human decision that involves three dimensions: where to charge the vehicle (location), when to charge the vehicle (time), and for how long the vehicle is being charged (duration). The framework provides an overview of variables that have been studied in previous research and can be linked to these three dimensions. As a step to validate the framework, we asked 1,019 participants (including 667 owners of EVs or hybrid cars) how important each of 22 choice attributes would be for them when choosing a charging station. A factor analysis revealed the following six factors in descending order of perceived importance: costs, accessibility, time, past experience (self and other), amenities, and provider attributes. EV owners were also asked when and for how long they typically charge their vehicle. A factor analysis of the description of the time of charging confirmed a three-factor structure of range, finances, and habit. Results revealed systematic differences in the time and duration of charging between owners of hybrid cars and plug-in cars. Future research questions are discussed including the relevance of human-centered approaches for policies on charging station deployment and infrastructure planning. 

In this study, we raise the concern that current understandings of user perceptions and decision-making processes may jeopardize the sustainable development of charging infrastructure and wider EV adoption. This study addresses three main concerns: (1) most research focuses solely on battery electric vehicle users, neglecting plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and non-EV owners, thus failing to identify common preferences or transitional perceptions that could guide an inclusive development plan; (2) potential factors influencing charging station selection, such as the availability of nearby amenities and the role of information from social circles and user reviews, are often overlooked; and (3) used methods cannot reveal individual items' importance or uncover patterns between them as they often combine or transform the original items. To address these gaps, we conducted a survey experiment among 402 non-EV, PHEV and EV users and applied network analysis to capture their charging station selection decision-making processes. Our findings reveal that non-EV and PHEV users prioritize accessibility, whereas EV owners focus on the number of chargers. Furthermore, certain technical features, such as vehicle-to-grid capabilities, are commonly disregarded, while EV users place significant importance on engaging in amenities while charging. We also report an evolution of preferences, with users shifting their priorities on different types of information as they transition from non-EV and PHEV to EV ownership. Our results highlight the necessity for adaptive infrastructure strategies that consider the evolving preferences of different user groups to foster sustainable and equitable charging infrastructure development and broader adoption of EVs. 

Despite the vital role of curiosity-driven exploration in learning, our understanding of how to enhance children’s curiosity remains limited. Here, we tested whether hearing a strategic curiosity story with curiosity-promoting themes (e.g., strategically approaching uncertainty, adapting flexibly to new information) versus a control story with traditional pedagogical themes (e.g., following rules, learning from others) would influence children’s strategic exploration across two cultures. Three- to 6-year-olds from the United States (N = 138) and Turkey (N = 88) were randomly assigned to hear one of these stories over Zoom, before playing a game in which they searched for sea creatures across five fish tanks. All tanks had the same number of hiding spots but varied in the number of creatures they contained. Time was limited and children could not return to prior tanks, pushing them to allocate search effort strategically. Results indicated that across both countries, children in the strategic curiosity condition explored the virtual “aquarium” more broadly; they moved through tanks more rapidly than children in the control condition and were more likely to explore all five tanks before time ran out. Children in the strategic curiosity condition also showed relatively more strategic search, adapting their search based on the likelihood of finding creatures in each tank. While further research is needed to pinpoint which elements of our stories produced differences in search behavior and whether they did so by enhancing or inhibiting children’s strategic exploration, storybooks appear to be a promising method for shaping children’s exploration across multiple countries.