You’re right to be apprehensive about this. Most of what we know about the psychology of HCI (human-computer interaction, one of the cornerstones of UX for anyone new to that term) and human learning principles is based around studies conducted on college students. This is one of the primary complaints about the study of psychology in general: while we have mountains of data pertaining to 18-25-year olds, much of what’s been studied has varying applications to either the psychology of older adults or children.
As such, there is an opportunity for emerging specialists in the fields of either adult or childhood learning UX. The Nielsen-Norman group completed a couple of interesting studies into children’s usability, and came up with 170 recommendations for childhood usability. Additionally, they were able to make some general statements about how childhood usability differs from adult usability:
Taken from nngroup.com’s website
If you’re interested in reading the full report, you can purchase a license to the report for $188.
A few additional resources for you: