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Bianco F, Cornaggia A, Massaro D, Marchetti A, Castelli I. Desires and beliefs: the development of second-order Theory of Mind reasoning in preschoolers and in school-age children. Front Psychol 2025; 16:1525368. [PMID: 40115289 PMCID: PMC11922878 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1525368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2025] [Indexed: 03/23/2025] Open
Abstract
Introduction Theory of Mind development is crucial for social life. Most studies on the development of this skill have focused on first-order recursive thinking, while the transition to second-order thinking remains relatively unexplored. Methods To address this gap, we administered a novel second-order Theory of Mind task to 59 children between the ages of 5 and 8 years. This task manipulated desires (desire to obtain, "positive desire," vs. desire to avoid, "negative desire") and beliefs (true vs. false) based on previous studies of first-order scaling. Results Results indicate that the tasks involving positive desire seem to be easier than negative counterparts, and that the tasks involving true belief are easier than those involving false belief. All children performed below chance level in negative desire and in false belief conditions, while only older participants performed above chance level in true belief - positive desire condition. There was also a significant main effect favoring positive desire and true belief. Discussion Our findings provide preliminary evidence for the developmental acquisitions of second-order recursive thinking about the understanding of desires and beliefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Bianco
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Alessia Cornaggia
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Davide Massaro
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Ilaria Castelli
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
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Abbot-Smith K, Matthews D, Bannard C, Nice J, Malkin L, Williams D, Hobson W. Conversational topic maintenance and related cognitive abilities in autistic versus neurotypical children. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2025; 29:684-697. [PMID: 39431626 PMCID: PMC11894863 DOI: 10.1177/13623613241286610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2024]
Abstract
Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The DSM criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how autistic and neurotypical children maintain a conversation topic. We also investigated within-group relationships between conversational ability and cognitive and sociocognitive predictors. Study 1 found autistic children were more likely than neurotypical controls to give off-topic and generic minimal responses (e.g. 'mm', 'oh') and were less likely to give non-verbal responses (e.g. nodding or use of facial affect to respond). Nonetheless, the autistic group provided topic-supporting responses 62% of the time, indicating some aspects of conversation topic maintenance are a relative strength. Studies 2 and 3 found large individual differences in topic-supporting conversational responding among both neurotypical and autistic children. These were positively related to theory of mind ability and age in both groups. Conversational skills lie on a continuum for the general population and differences by diagnostic group are a matter of degree. Given the importance for peer relationships, we suggest a whole classroom approach to supporting conversation skills in all children.Lay abstractChildren who struggle to maintain conversation with peers often have fewer friends and lower popularity ratings, which can affect wellbeing. Verbal social communication more broadly is linked to both behavioural difficulties and emotional problems. We carried out three studies to examine children's ability to provide responses which keep a back and forth conversation going. The first study found that while autistic children had on average greater difficulties than their neurotypical peers with certain aspects of conversation topic maintenance, for other aspects the autistic group showed considerable strengths. Both studies 2 (neurotypical children) and 3 (autistic children) found relationships between, on the one hand, conversational ability, and on the other, the ability to consider another's viewpoint and the ability to maintain and update information in short term memory. We suggest support for social conversation skills should be part of mainstream classroom curricula for autistic and neurotypical children alike.
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Isik I, Wyman J, Cassidy H, Talwar V. Dilemma: Utilizing the activation decision-construction-action theory to understand and predict children's hypothetical decisions to conceal cases of school bullying. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2025; 253:104744. [PMID: 39864290 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2024] [Revised: 01/18/2025] [Accepted: 01/19/2025] [Indexed: 01/28/2025] Open
Abstract
The Decision component of the Activation-Decision-Construction-Action theory (ADCAT) proposes that if people perceive the benefits of lying higher than the truth, they are more likely to lie. To expand on the existing ADCAT research, the current study investigated the cost-benefit appraisals of 115 children ages 7-to-14 when concealing information about school bullying. Further, the current study examined the impact of the type of bullying (verbal vs. physical), type of exposure to bullying (victim vs. bystander-witness), and familiarity of the person to whom they could disclose (familiar adult vs. unfamiliar adult) when evaluating ADCAT. The results indicate that the expected value of lie-telling and motivation to lie were only significantly related to decisions to lie when the child is the victim of physical bullying and being questioned by a familiar person. Whereas the expected value of truth-telling was only significantly related to decisions to lie when the child is the victim of verbal bullying and being questioned by an unfamiliar person. Discriminant function analysis models were also statistically significant for these two vignettes, meaning that ADCAT-dependent measures could be used to accurately classify the truth and lie tellers for these two vignettes. Furthermore, developmental factors such as age, gender and Theory-of-Mind skills of the ADCAT-dependent measures within each scenario were examined. This study provides further understanding of the complexities in cases of school bullying, particularly as it relates to social-cognitive factors that encourage or discourage children and adolescents from disclosing these events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ipek Isik
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, Canada.
| | - Joshua Wyman
- Department of Psychology, King's University College at Western University, Canada
| | - Hannah Cassidy
- School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Brighton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
| | - Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, Canada
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Clausén Gull I, Stålnacke J, Eninger L, Ferrer-Wreder L, Eichas K. Cognitive abilities in a sample of young Swedish children. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1398398. [PMID: 39691667 PMCID: PMC11649402 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1398398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 11/15/2024] [Indexed: 12/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Cognitive abilities are closely related to social emotional competences (SEC). These abilities are important foundations in order to adapt to school, interact with peers and adults, as well as to navigate the wider socio-cultural context in which one develops. Further, young children are also acquiring and deepening their language and preliteracy skills which are important for later academic learning. Central to cognitive abilities are the processes that enable deliberate and goal-oriented actions, which fall under the conceptual umbrella of executive functions (EFs). In this study, we applied a conceptually broad perspective to examine cognitive abilities, preliteracy and SEC in preschool aged children. Children were participants in an intervention trial of the preschool edition of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS®) conducted in preschools located in three municipalities within a large city in Sweden. Pre-test data were used to examine cognitive abilities and SEC in this sample of Swedish 4 to 5-year-old children (N = 247). We first performed an exploratory factor analysis including the wide range of examined abilities, and found that measures of abilities typically viewed as SEC, did not group with measures of preliteracy skills and abilities typically considered as EFs. Second, we performed confirmatory factor analyses on remaining relevant indicators of cognitive abilities, which indicated a two-factor model best fit the data, with one factor involving inhibitory control and one factor involving more complex and high-demanding skills (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and preliteracy skills). Results indicated that more complex EFs and preliteracy skills were closely linked, and can be differentiated from inhibitory control, already in the preschool years. Findings also point to the importance of including a broad range of cognitive abilities (e.g., pre-literacy skills) in order to gain a nuanced description of possible interrelations between cognitive and social emotional development. Furthermore, this study contributes to the theoretical discussion on EF structure during childhood, and provides a sound empirical rationale for the further development of early interventions that consider young children's executive functions and preliteracy skills.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lilianne Eninger
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Kyle Eichas
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX, United States
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5
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André ML, Maintenant C. About the relationship between executive function, theory of mind, and language abilities in children with autism: a systematic review. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2024:1-18. [PMID: 39460928 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2024.2417195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2024]
Abstract
A systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) procedure was used to evaluate the assumption that executive functions play a role in the relationship between theory of mind and language abilities in autism spectrum disorder. A total of 141 papers published in English between 2012 and 2023 were selected in databases, and of which 10 articles met inclusion criteria. Results showed that executive functions could be a predictor of theory of mind even when controlling for general language scores and age. However, results on syntactic language were not sufficient to completely validate the hypothesis that syntax could explain the relationship between theory of mind and executive functions in children with autism.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Célia Maintenant
- E.A. 2114, PAVeA Laboratory, The University of Tours, Tours, France
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6
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Tay C, Ng R, Ye NN, Ding XP. Detecting lies through others' eyes: Children use perceptual access cues to evaluate listeners' beliefs about informants' deception. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105863. [PMID: 38306738 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
Children are often third-party observers of conversations between informants and receivers. Although 5- and 6-year-olds can identify and reject informants' false testimony, it remains unclear whether they expect others to do the same. Accurately assessing others' impressions of informants and their testimony in a conversational setting is essential for children's navigation of the social world. Using a novel second-order lie detection task, the current study examined whether 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 74; Mage = 69 months) take receivers' epistemic states into account when predicting whether a receiver would think an informant is truthful or deceptive. We pitted children's firsthand observations of reality against informants' false testimony while manipulating receivers' perceptual access to a sticker-hiding event. Results showed that when the receiver had perceptual access and was knowledgeable, children predicted that the receiver would think the informant is lying. Critically, when the receiver lacked perceptual access and was ignorant, children were significantly more likely to predict that the receiver would think the informant is telling the truth. Second-order theory of mind and executive function strengthened this effect. Findings are interpreted using a dual-process framework and provide new insights into children's understanding of others' selective trust and susceptibility to deception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Ray Ng
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Nina Ni Ye
- Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
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7
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Guran CNA, Lonardo L, Tünte M, Arzberger K, Völter CJ, Hoehl S, Huber L, Lamm C. Investigating belief understanding in children in a nonverbal ambiguous displacement and communication setting. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 240:105830. [PMID: 38104460 PMCID: PMC7616302 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Finding ways to investigate false belief understanding nonverbally is not just important for preverbal children but also is the only way to assess theory of mind (ToM)-like abilities in nonhuman animals. In this preregistered study, we adapted the design from a previous study on pet dogs to investigate false belief understanding in children and to compare it with belief understanding of those previously tested dogs. A total of 32 preschool children (aged 5-6 years) saw the displacement of a reward and obtained nonverbal cueing of the empty container from an adult communicator holding either a true or false belief. In the false belief condition, when the communicator did not know the location of the reward, children picked the baited container, but not the cued container, more often than the empty one. In the true belief condition, when the communicator witnessed the displacement yet still cued the wrong container, children performed randomly. The children's behavior pattern was at odds with that of the dogs tested in a previous study, which picked the cued container more often when the human communicator held a false belief. In addition to species comparisons, because our task does not require verbal responses or relational sentence understanding, it can also be used in preverbal children. The children in our study behaved in line with the existing ToM literature, whereas most (but not all) dogs from the previously collected sample, although sensitive to differences between the belief conditions, deviated from the children. This difference suggests that using closely matched paradigms and experimental procedures can reveal decisive differences in belief processing between species. It also demonstrates the need for a more comprehensive exploration and direct comparison of the various aspects of false belief processing and ToM in different species to understand the evolution of social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- C-N Alexandrina Guran
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Lucrezia Lonardo
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Markus Tünte
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
| | - Karla Arzberger
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph J Völter
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Stefanie Hoehl
- Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
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Nguyen SP, McDermott C. Holding multiple category representations: The role of age, theory of mind, and rule switching in children's developing cross-classification abilities. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 237:105716. [PMID: 37603980 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
Cross-classification, the ability to categorize multifaceted entities in many ways, is a remarkable cognitive milestone for children. Past work has focused primarily on documenting the timeline for when children reach cross-classification competence. However, it is not well understood what cognitive factors underpin children's improvements. The current study aimed to examine the contributions of age, theory of mind, and rule switching to children's cross-classification development. We tested 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 75) using a cross-classification task, the Theory of Mind Task Battery, and the Three-Dimensional Change Card Sort test. The results revealed that age and theory of mind predict children's cross-classification over and above the effects of rule switching. The results also revealed that advanced-level theory of mind reasoning is a particularly strong predictor of cross-classification development. These findings increase understanding of cross-classification within children's broader cognitive development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone P Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA.
| | - Catherine McDermott
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
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9
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Bianco F, Castelli I. The promotion of mature theory of mind skills in educational settings: a mini-review. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1197328. [PMID: 37333607 PMCID: PMC10273267 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
After formal school entry, theory of mind development encounters a blooming period of growth intertwined with social and academic achievements and challenges. Within this framework, in last years researchers have proposed training programs to foster mature ToM skills, but also, to test causal pathways for the role that ToM development may have in broader cognitive and social outcomes. In the current mini-review we examine which training programs have been developed so far to enhance three key aspects of mature ToM skills: second-order false belief reasoning, the ability to put one's own ToM knowledge into use, and the mentalization of thoughts and emotions. We also illustrate effects of these activities on intra- and inter- personal competence. In its conclusion the paper provides considerations of both first achievements of research in this area and gaps to be addressed in future works.
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Rix K, Monks CP, O'Toole S. Theory of Mind and Young Children's Behaviour: Aggressive, Victimised, Prosocial, and Solitary. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:ijerph20105892. [PMID: 37239617 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20105892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Theory of mind (ToM) undergoes significant developments during childhood, particularly between the ages of four and seven years. A growing body of research has indicated that children's social understanding may be related to their social behaviour with peers, in line with Theory Theory which proposes that children's social cognition is influenced by and influences their peer interactions. The current study examined the relationship between ToM and behaviour among 193 children aged 4-7 years. Children carried out a battery of ToM tasks, and teaching staff reported on children's aggressive, prosocial, and solitary behaviour and victimisation experiences. Aggression was not directly related to ToM; prosocial behaviour was positively associated with ToM for girls but not boys. Solitary behaviour and victimisation were negatively related to ToM. When this was broken down by gender, there was only a significant association between solitary behaviour and ToM for boys. When controlling for the relationship between behaviours, the only significant predictor of ToM was solitary behaviour for boys. ToM was also a significant predictor of solitary behaviour for boys, demonstrating that there is a bidirectional relationship at play. The findings highlight the importance of looking across these four behaviour types and understanding the relationship between behaviour profiles and ToM for boys and girls separately.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Rix
- School of Psychology & Counselling, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Claire P Monks
- Institute for Lifecourse Development, School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK
| | - Sarah O'Toole
- Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Filip A, Białek A, Białecka-Pikul M. Both syntactic and pragmatic sentence adequacy matters for recursive theory of mind in 5-year-olds. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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12
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Default settings affect children's decisions about whether to be honest. Cognition 2023; 235:105390. [PMID: 36764049 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Behavioral economics research has revealed that our decision-making can be biased by default settings. That is, all other things being equal, adults tend to choose default options even when the effort involved in choosing other options is minimal. Extensive evidence shows that default settings can systematically influence adult decisions in a wide variety of domains (e.g., pension choices, organ donation), but little is known about their developmental origin. Of interest in the present research is whether default settings can influence young children's decisions about whether to be honest. We investigated this question in two studies of 5- and 6-year-old Chinese children (total N = 120; 60 girls; Mage = 5.81, SDage = 0.14). Each study used a specially designed device that allowed children to play a guessing game in either a Cheating Default condition in which they would cheat by doing nothing or in an Honesty Default condition in which they would be honest by doing nothing. In each condition, they had the option of taking a trivially easy action to override the default (pushing a button in Study 1 or moving a screen in Study 2). In both studies, children decided to cheat significantly more often in the Cheating Default condition than in the Honesty Default condition. Additionally, overall cheating rates were significantly higher in Study 2 than in Study 1 (55% vs. 25%), which suggests that even though the default setting effect generalized across different actions, the specific action in question can also affect the cheating rate. Taken together, these results indicate that default setting effects that have been observed in adults have origins in childhood, and they point toward new ways to use nudges to promote positive social development and moral decision-making.
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Guittard C, Novo A, Eutrope J, Gower C, Barbe C, Bednarek N, Rolland AC, Caillies S, Loron G. Protocol for a prospective multicenter longitudinal randomized controlled trial (CALIN) of sensory-tonic stimulation to foster parent child interactions and social cognition in very premature infants. Front Pediatr 2023; 10:913396. [PMID: 36727004 PMCID: PMC9885178 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.913396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Premature birth is associated with long-term somatic and neurological disorders, including cognitive, social and behavioral impairments. Moreover, the mothers of infants born preterm exhibit a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms after birth. Early rehabilitation, developmental care, and parenting support have already been shown to have a positive impact on neurological outcome. However, no randomized controlled study has so far assessed the effects on parenting and long-term neurological outcomes of proprioceptive stimulation to trigger positive brain plasticity in very preterm babies. The CALIN project will therefore investigate the impact of sensory-tonic stimulation (STS) of extremely preterm infants by their parents on child parent interactions, infants' morphological and functional brain development and subsequent cognition (including social cognition), and parents' anxiety and depressive symptoms in the postpartum period. Methods and analysis Infants born between 25 and 32 weeks of gestation will be randomly assigned to the "STS + Kangaroo care" or "Kangaroo care" group. The primary endpoint, child and parent interactions, will be rated at 12 months corrected age using the Coding Interactive Behavior system. Secondary endpoints include: 1/functional and anatomical brain maturation sequentially assessed during neonatal hospitalization using electroencephalogram (EEG), amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG), cranial ultrasound and MRI performed at term-corrected age, 2/social and cognitive outcomes assessed at 15 months, 2, 4 and 6 years, and 3/parents' anxiety and depressive symptoms assessed at 7 ± 1 weeks after birth, using dedicated questionnaires. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the French Ethics Committee for the Protection of Persons on 18 October 2021. It is registered with the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM; no. 2020-A00382-37). The registry number on ClinicalTrials.gov is NCT04380051.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexandre Novo
- CHU Nantes, Département de Psychiatrie, Les Apsyades, Nantes, France
| | - Julien Eutrope
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, C2S, CHU Reims, Service de Pédopsychiatrie, Reims, France
| | - Corinne Gower
- CHU Reims, Unité d’Aide Méthodologique, Reims, France
| | - Coralie Barbe
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Research on Health University Department, C2S, Reims, France
| | - Nathalie Bednarek
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CReSTIC, CHU Reims, Service de Médecine Néonatale et de Réanimation Pédiatrique, Reims, France
| | - Anne-Catherine Rolland
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, C2S, CHU Reims, Service de Pédopsychiatrie, Reims, France
| | | | - Gauthier Loron
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CReSTIC, CHU Reims, Service de Médecine Néonatale et de Réanimation Pédiatrique, Reims, France
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Raccanello D, Rocca E, Barnaba V, Vicentini G, Hall R, Brondino M. Coping Strategies and Psychological Maladjustment/Adjustment: A Meta-Analytic Approach with Children and Adolescents Exposed to Natural Disasters. CHILD & YOUTH CARE FORUM 2023; 52:25-63. [PMID: 35221639 PMCID: PMC8858219 DOI: 10.1007/s10566-022-09677-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Background Following disasters, children and adolescents can use coping strategies to feel better. A growing body of studies investigated the relation between them and maladjustment/adjustment, i.e., negative symptomatology/positive indicators of development. Yet, these constructs are studied separately. Objective We conducted two meta-analyses to examine the mean correlation between disaster-related coping strategies and indicators of maladjustment/adjustment following natural disasters in children and adolescents, considering the role of some moderators. Methods We used PsycINFO, PubMed, Eric, and Scopus databases to identify articles on natural disasters (filters: participants ≤ 18 years at the disaster, peer-review, English language). Inclusion required investigating the relation between at least one coping strategy and at least one indicator of maladjustment (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, depression) and/or adjustment (e.g., self-efficacy, emotion understanding), for a total of 26 studies (k = 64, n = 9692, for maladjustment; k = 37, n = 3504, for adjustment). Results There were global positive significant correlations between coping strategies and negative symptomatology (r pooled = .23) for maladjustment, and positive indicators (r pooled = .17) for adjustment. Negative symptomatology positively correlated with escape (r = .19), social isolation (r = .15), submission (r = .64), and opposition (r = .16); positive indicators positively correlated with problem solving (r = .31), social support (r = .22), and submission (r = .30). We found a moderating role of age, disaster type, and continent for maladjustment. Conclusions The study presented an analysis of the coping strategies that can be effective for children and adolescents dealing with natural disasters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Raccanello
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Emmanuela Rocca
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Veronica Barnaba
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Giada Vicentini
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
| | - Rob Hall
- grid.1004.50000 0001 2158 5405Macquarie University and Environmetrics, Sydney, Australia
| | - Margherita Brondino
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 17, 37129 Verona, Italy
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15
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Morellini L, Izzo A, Ceroni M, Rossi S, Zerboni G, Rege-Colet L, Biglia E, Sacco L. Theory of mind in patients with mild cognitive impairment: A systematic review. Front Psychol 2022; 13:994070. [PMID: 36329733 PMCID: PMC9623288 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.994070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The focus of this systematic review was to collect and align studies which analyze the functionality of theory of mind (TOM) in patients with mild cognitive impairments (MCI). Specifically, we identified 20 papers published between 2012 and 2022 which met inclusion criteria. Papers search, selection, and extraction followed the PRISMA guidelines. In order to summarize data from the papers, we used a narrative synthesis approach. Results in 18 of these 20 papers show that theory of mind (TOM) is impaired in all types of MCI patients—regardless of different etiology and diagnostic criteria. Only 2 out of 20 reported no significant differences in TOM performance between MCI patients and healthy control subjects. The review additionally aimed to bundle the variety of the type of tasks used by the author to assess multiple domains of TOM. This heterogeneity does not allow us to make a comprehensive comparison between the results, so we suggest the need to align the results using the same type of tests and TOM assessment. In the end, our work highlights the 2 neuropsychological studies which confirm more of our results; due to the objective approach adopted to investigate this topic, we suggest exploring this point of view more in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Morellini
- Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
- *Correspondence: Lucia Morellini
| | - Alessia Izzo
- Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Martino Ceroni
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Stefania Rossi
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Giorgia Zerboni
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Laura Rege-Colet
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Elena Biglia
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Leonardo Sacco
- Neuropsychological and Speech Therapy Unit, Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), Lugano, Switzerland
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16
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A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies of Youth Cannabis Use: Alterations in Executive Control, Social Cognition/Emotion Processing, and Reward Processing in Cannabis Using Youth. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12101281. [PMID: 36291215 PMCID: PMC9599849 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12101281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Adolescent cannabis use (CU) is associated with adverse health outcomes and may be increasing in response to changing cannabis laws. Recent imaging studies have identified differences in brain activity between adult CU and controls that are more prominent in early onset users. Whether these differences are present in adolescent CU and relate to age/developmental stage, sex, or cannabis exposure is unknown. Methods: A systematic review and subsequent effect-size seed-based d mapping (SDM) meta-analysis were conducted to examine differences in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response during fMRI studies between CU and non-using typically developing (TD) youth. Supplemental analyses investigated differences in BOLD signal in CU and TD youth as a function of sex, psychiatric comorbidity, and the dose and severity of cannabis exposure. Results: From 1371 citations, 45 fMRI studies were identified for inclusion in the SDM meta-analysis. These studies compared BOLD response contrasts in 1216 CU and 1486 non-using TD participants. In primary meta-analyses stratified by cognitive paradigms, CU (compared to TD) youth showed greater activation in the rostral medial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) and decreased activation in the dorsal mPFC (dmPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during executive control and social cognition/emotion processing, respectively. In meta-regression analyses and subgroup meta-analyses, sex, cannabis use disorder (CUD) severity, and psychiatric comorbidity were correlated with brain activation differences between CU and TD youth in mPFC and insular cortical regions. Activation differences in the caudate, thalamus, insula, dmPFC/dACC, and precentral and postcentral gyri varied as a function of the length of abstinence. Conclusions: Using an SDM meta-analytic approach, this report identified differences in neuronal response between CU and TD youth during executive control, emotion processing, and reward processing in cortical and subcortical brain regions that varied as a function of sex, CUD severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and length of abstinence. Whether aberrant brain function in CU youth is attributable to common predispositional factors, cannabis-induced neuroadaptive changes, or both warrants further investigation.
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Polyanskaya I, Eigsti IM, Brauner T, Blackburn P. Second-Order False Beliefs and Linguistic Recursion in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2022; 52:3991-4006. [PMID: 34524586 PMCID: PMC8920946 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05277-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates the role of recursive language and working memory (WM) in second-order false belief skills in Danish-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 62; 8 females) and typical development (n = 41; 15 females), ages 6-16. Second-order false belief skills correlated with receptive grammar, vocabulary, and age; sentential complement production predicted second-order false beliefs, controlling for age, receptive grammar and WM. Regressions showed that second-order false belief was associated with age across groups, but with sentential complements in the ASD group only. Second-order false belief skills improved in children who received training in either recursive phrases (d = 0.21) or WM (d = 0.74), compared to an active control group. Results suggest that false belief skills are entwined with both linguistic and executive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Polyanskaya
- Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Building 08.2, P.O. Box 260, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Inge-Marie Eigsti
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 146 Babbidge Road, U-1020, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.
| | - Torben Brauner
- Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Building 08.2, P.O. Box 260, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Patrick Blackburn
- Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark
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18
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Looking for the lighthouse: A systematic review of advanced theory-of-mind tests beyond preschool. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2022.101021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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19
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Lavoie J, Talwar V. Theory of Mind and Concealing vs. Forthcoming Communication in Adolescence. Front Psychol 2022; 13:866964. [PMID: 35496205 PMCID: PMC9046603 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.866964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Concealing information requires that adolescents manage the information that they share, which requires cognitive skills, for example, theory of mind (ToM). This study explored motivations for concealment that early adolescents (N = 90, M = 12.81 years, SD = 5.10 months, range 12–14 years, and 58% female) endorsed concealing or disclosing to friends and parents, in relation to their theory of mind. We found that adolescents broadly endorsed disclosure to both parents and friends, even when it might mean they would face consequences, be impolite (by not protecting another’s feelings), or face negative identity-related emotions. We found that ToM ability was associated with a tendency to endorse being forthcoming and sharing information with both friends and parents. These findings provide new insight into how the relation between ToM and concealment may change with age, specifically how in early adolescence it may foster open communication rather than concealment as is the case in early and middle childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Lavoie
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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20
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Shimoni E, Berger A, Eyal T. Your pride is my goal: How the exposure to others’ positive emotional experience influences preschoolers’ delay of gratification. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 217:105356. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Revised: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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21
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Schidelko LP, Proft M, Rakoczy H. How do children overcome their pragmatic performance problems in the true belief task? The role of advanced pragmatics and higher-order theory of mind. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266959. [PMID: 35476636 PMCID: PMC9045612 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The true belief (TB) control condition of the classical location-change task asks children to ascribe a veridical belief to an agent to predict her action (analog to the false belief (FB) condition to test Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities). Studies that administered TB tasks to a broad age range of children yielded surprising findings of a U-shaped performance curve in this seemingly trivial task. Children before age four perform competently in the TB condition. Children who begin to solve the FB condition at age four, however, fail the TB condition and only from around age 10, children succeed again. New evidence suggests that the decline in performance around age four reflects pragmatic confusions caused by the triviality of the task rather than real competence deficits in ToM. Based on these results, it can be hypothesized that the recovery of performance at the end of the U-shaped curve reflects underlying developments in children's growing pragmatic awareness. The aim of the current set of studies, therefore, was to test whether the developmental change at the end of the U-shaped performance curve can be explained by changes in children's pragmatic understanding and by more general underlying developmental changes in recursive ToM or recursive thinking in general. Results from Study 1 (N = 81, 6-10 years) suggest that children's recursive ToM, but not their advanced pragmatic understanding or general recursive thinking abilities predict their TB performance. However, this relationship could not be replicated in Study 2 (N = 87, 6-10 years) and Study 3 (N = 64, 6-10 years) in which neither recursive ToM nor advanced pragmatic understanding or recursive thinking explained children's performance in the TB task. The studies therefore remain inconclusive regarding explanations for the end of the U-shaped performance curve. Future research needs to investigate potential pragmatic and general cognitive foundations of this developmental change more thoroughly.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marina Proft
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Hannes Rakoczy
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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22
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Nestor BA, Sutherland S, Garber J. Theory of mind performance in depression: A meta-analysis. J Affect Disord 2022; 303:233-244. [PMID: 35176344 PMCID: PMC8961451 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Theory of mind (ToM) is a social-cognitive skill that involves the ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. Evidence is mixed regarding the extent of ToM ability in individuals with depression. METHODS We conducted a meta-analysis of 43 studies to investigate the strength of the association between ToM and depression. RESULTS Results indicated significant, small- to moderate impairment in ToM with a medium overall effect size (g = -0.398) in individuals with depression. Moderator analyses compared effect sizes across groups for the following variables: ToM content, process, and sample type. Additionally, meta-regression analyses tested age and gender as continuous moderators. LIMITATIONS The cross-sectional nature of included studies limits this meta-analysis from clarifying temporal or bidirectional relations. CONCLUSIONS We discuss findings in the context of the extant developmental, cognitive, social, and clinical literatures. We also suggest several possible explanations for these findings and offer implications for intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bridget A. Nestor
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Peabody #552, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, United States of America
| | - Susanna Sutherland
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Peabody #552, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, United States of America
| | - Judy Garber
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, Peabody #552, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, United States of America
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23
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Talwar V, Lavoie J. Lie-telling for personal gain in children with and without externalizing behavior problems. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 219:105385. [PMID: 35217368 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Few studies have examined the lie-telling behavior of children who have externalizing problems using experimental procedures. In the current study, children's lie-telling for personal gain (N = 110 boys aged 6-11 years) was examined using an experimental paradigm in relation to their theory-of-mind abilities and inhibitory control as well as their moral evaluations of truths and lies. Children with externalizing behavior problems (n = 53) were significantly more likely to lie and to be less skilled at lying than a typical comparison group (n = 57). Children who had lower theory-of-mind scores were significantly less likely to tell a lie for personal gain compared with those who had higher theory-of-mind scores. Children with externalizing problems who told personal gain lies were also more likely to rate tattle truths more positively than other children. For a subsample of children (n = 55), parent-reported diaries of the frequency of children's lies over 2 weeks revealed a higher frequency of lies by children with externalizing problems compared with the typical comparison group. Children whose parents reported a high frequency of lies for their children were also more likely to lie in the experimental personal gain lie paradigm. Results suggest that children with externalizing behavior may have a different pattern of lie-telling than has been previously reported for normative lie development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada.
| | - Jennifer Lavoie
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK
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24
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Osterhaus C, Kristen-Antonow S, Kloo D, Sodian B. Advanced scaling and modeling of children’s theory of mind competencies: Longitudinal findings in 4- to 6-year-olds. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/01650254221077334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
First-order theory of mind (ToM) development has shown to conform to a Guttman scale, with desire reasoning developing before belief reasoning. There have been attempts to test for internal consistency and scalability in advanced ToM, but not over a broad age range and only with a limited set of tasks. This 2-year longitudinal study ( N = 155; Mage = 4.2; SD = 0.85 months; 68 girls, 87 boys) tests for the scalability of a broader range of ToM tasks, and we model the developmental transition from first-order to advanced ToM in 4- to 6-year-olds. Rasch analyses showed that psychometrically sound and developmentally sequenced scales emerge when measures of morally relevant and second-order false belief, as well as mental verb understanding, metacognition, and recognition of nonliteral speech are included. Individual differences were moderately stable over time, and there were systematic transitions from failure to success in children’s performance, suggesting that conceptual continuity exists between first-order and advanced ToM.
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25
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Children's acquiescence to polysemous implicature questions about coaching: The role of parental support. JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 78. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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26
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Zhang Z, Yu H, Long M, Li H. Worse Theory of Mind in Only-Children Compared to Children With Siblings and Its Intervention. Front Psychol 2021; 12:754168. [PMID: 34899495 PMCID: PMC8655311 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.754168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore theory of mind (ToM) differences in children with different birth orders (only-children, first-born children, and second-born children), and further explore the effect of cognitive verb training for only-children's ToM. Adopting the paradigm of false belief, Study 1 was conducted in which a sample of 120 children aged 3-6, including first-born children, second-born children (siblings aged 1-13 years), and only-children were tested. The results showed that (1) children aged 3-6 had significantly higher scores on first-order false-belief than second-order false-belief. (2) Controlling for age, the only-children scored significantly lower than the first-born children. In Study 2, 28 only-children aged 4-5 (13 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) who initially failed in false-belief tasks were trained with the cognitive verb animations. Significant post-training improvements were observed for only-children who received training of animations embedded with cognitive verb. Those findings indicated that ToM of only-children was significantly worse than first-born children of two-child families, and linguistic training could facilitate ToM of only-children whose ToM were at a disadvantage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo Zhang
- School of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Haoxue Yu
- School of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Muyun Long
- School of Education, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Hui Li
- School of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
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27
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Preschoolers' ingroup bias in predicting others' sharing: The role of contexts and theory of mind. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 215:105340. [PMID: 34906764 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The current study investigated preschoolers' ingroup bias in predicting people's sharing across contexts and its relation to second-order theory of mind (ToM) ability. In Experiment 1, 96 5- and 6-year-old children were assigned to one of two groups in a minimal group paradigm. They heard a story about fictional ingroup and outgroup peers sharing in a public or private condition and were asked to predict and evaluate their sharing behavior. Children predicted that ingroup peers would share more than outgroup peers and also showed ingroup bias in evaluation regardless of the equal actual sharing of ingroup and outgroup peers. Moreover, 6-year-olds displayed a flexible ingroup bias in predicting others' sharing across conditions because they held such a bias only in public conditions and did not expect ingroup and outgroup peers to share differently in private conditions. Experiment 2 tested a new sample of 80 6-year-olds with the same sharing story and a second-order false belief task. Results showed that only 6-year-olds who fully passed the false belief task showed a flexible bias in predicting sharing across conditions. Results indicate that children's ingroup bias in predicting others' sharing is becoming flexible across contexts as they grow up and ToM skills contribute to the development of their increasingly sophisticated prosocial reasoning.
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28
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Aguirre M, Brun M, Reboul A, Mascaro O. How do we interpret questions? Simplified representations of knowledge guide humans' interpretation of information requests. Cognition 2021; 218:104954. [PMID: 34813994 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2021] [Revised: 11/03/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This paper investigates the cognitive mechanisms supporting humans' interpretation of requests for information. Learners can only search for a piece of information if they know that they are ignorant about it. Thus, in principle, the interpretation of requests for information could be guided by representations of Socratic ignorance (tracking what people know that they do not know). Alternatively, the interpretation of requests for information could be simplified by relying primarily on simple knowledge tracking (i.e., merely tracking what people know). We judged these hypotheses by testing two-and-a-half-year-old toddlers (N = 18), five- to seven-year-old children (N = 72), and adults (N = 384). In our experiments, a speaker asked a question that could be disambiguated by tracking her state of knowledge. We manipulated the speakers' visuals to modulate the complexity of the ignorance representation required to disambiguate their questions. Toddlers showed no tendency to appeal to representations of Socratic ignorance when disambiguating questions (Pilot S1). Five- to seven-year-olds exhibited a similar pattern of results, and they performed better when information requests could be disambiguated using simple knowledge tracking (Studies 1a-1b). Adults used representations of Socratic ignorance to interpret questions, but were more confident when simple knowledge tracking was sufficient to disambiguate information requests (Studies 2-3). Moreover, adults disambiguated questions as if speakers could request information about things that they were ignorant of, even when speakers had no reason to know about their ignorance (Studies 3-4). Thus, the interpretation of requests for information rests primarily on simple knowledge tracking-and not on representations of Socratic ignorance-a heuristic that reduces processing costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Aguirre
- Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, CNRS, F-75006 Paris, France.
| | - Mélanie Brun
- Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, CNRS, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Anne Reboul
- Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology, UMR 7290, CNRS and Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Mascaro
- Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, CNRS, F-75006 Paris, France
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29
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Good K, Shaw A. Being versus appearing smart: Children’s developing intuitions about how reputational motives guide behavior. Child Dev 2021; 93:418-436. [DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kayla Good
- Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford California USA
| | - Alex Shaw
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago Illinois USA
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30
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Schünemann B, Proft M, Rakoczy H. Children’s Developing Understanding of the Subjectivity of Intentions – A Case of “Advanced Theory of Mind”. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2021.2003366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Andrews K, Lariccia L, Talwar V, Bosacki S. Empathetic Concern in Emerging Adolescents: The Role of Theory of Mind and Gender Roles. THE JOURNAL OF EARLY ADOLESCENCE 2021; 41:1394-1424. [PMID: 34712001 PMCID: PMC8543568 DOI: 10.1177/02724316211002258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The current study examined the roles of gender, and gender-role orientation in young adolescents' empathetic concern. In addition, this study aimed to explore the contribution of Theory of Mind in participants' empathetic concern. Finally, this study examined whether gender and gender-role orientation were implicated in emerging adolescents' Theory of Mind understanding. One-hundred-fifty 11- to 12-year-olds (79 self-identified females) completed questionnaires measuring their empathetic concern, Theory of Mind, and their perceived gender-role orientation. Results showed that gender-role orientation, specifically, femininity and masculinity predicted empathetic concern above and beyond gender. In addition, the effects of cognitive and affective Theory of Mind are explored and discussed in relation to empathetic concern. Finally, neither gender nor gender-role orientation was found to contribute to participants' Theory of Mind understanding. These findings suggest that emerging adolescents' perceived gender roles, as well as their ability to consider another's beliefs, play a role in their expression of empathetic concern.
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Tracking developmental differences in real-world social attention across adolescence, young adulthood and older adulthood. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:1381-1390. [PMID: 33986520 PMCID: PMC7611872 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01113-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Detecting and responding appropriately to social information in one's environment is a vital part of everyday social interactions. Here, we report two preregistered experiments that examine how social attention develops across the lifespan, comparing adolescents (10-19 years old), young (20-40 years old) and older (60-80 years old) adults. In two real-world tasks, participants were immersed in different social interaction situations-a face-to-face conversation and navigating an environment-and their attention to social and non-social content was recorded using eye-tracking glasses. The results revealed that, compared with young adults, adolescents and older adults attended less to social information (that is, the face) during face-to-face conversation, and to people when navigating the real world. Thus, we provide evidence that real-world social attention undergoes age-related change, and these developmental differences might be a key mechanism that influences theory of mind among adolescents and older adults, with potential implications for predicting successful social interactions in daily life.
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33
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Misailidi P, Brouzos A, Vassilopoulos SP, Delliou M, Baourda VC. Conversations about guilt and mental states can improve young children’s performance on the happy victimizer task. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Eutrope J, Novo A, Barbe C, Loron G, Rolland AC, Caillies S. Impact of Executive Functions and Parental Anxiety on the Development of Social Cognition in Premature Children: A Cross-Sectional Case-Control Protocol. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:484571. [PMID: 34566706 PMCID: PMC8458709 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.484571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Recent research has identified neuropsychological disorders, specifically executive function disorders, in premature children. Executive functions support goal-oriented mental activity and play a role in the development of social cognition. This underlies the social and emotional behavior of individuals. Parental anxiety is also an important environmental factor that can influence the psycho-emotional development of children. Objectives: The present protocol aims to compare the development of social cognition in school-age children born prematurely to that of school-age children born full-term, and to determine the impact of executive (dys)function and parental anxiety on such development. Methods/Design: In this cross-sectional protocol, 28 prematurely born children aged 7-10 years ("preterm") and 28 full-term born children aged 7-10 years ("control") will be included. The "preterm" and "control" groups will be matched for sex and age. The neuropsychological evaluation will include that of non-verbal intellectual efficiency (Raven's colored progressive matrices), verbal level (WISC-IV subtests), and executive functions (NEPSY II subtests and the opposite worlds of TEA-CH). The evaluation of social cognition will be conducted via tests of the theory of cognitive and affective mind. Several dimensions of the level of parental anxiety will be collected through the Spielberg Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y, Beck Depression Inventory, Social Support Questionnaire-6, Parental Stress Index and, specifically for mothers, the Modified Perinatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire. Discussion: The results of this protocol will aid our understanding of the development of social cognition in premature children and to determine the factors that influence such development. This clinical research project, although following a fundamental approach, will have clinical implications because a more precise description of the development of social cognition in this school-age population will make it possible to better determine the cognitive targets of therapeutic actions and to search for predictive indices of the efficacy of practices. Trial Registration:https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03007095, identifier: NCT03007095.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Eutrope
- CHU Reims, Hôpital Robert Debré, Service de Psychothérapie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Reims, France
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, C2S EA 6291, Reims, France
| | - Alexandre Novo
- CHU Reims, Hôpital Robert Debré, Service de Psychothérapie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Reims, France
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Faculté de Médecine, Reims, France
- Université de Paris, CRPMS ED 450, Paris, France
| | - Coralie Barbe
- CHU Reims, Hôpital Maison Blanche, Unité d'Aide Méthodologique à la Recherche Clinique, Reims, France
| | - Gauthier Loron
- CHU Reims, American Memorial Hospital, Service de Pédiatrie, Reims, France
| | - Anne-Catherine Rolland
- CHU Reims, Hôpital Robert Debré, Service de Psychothérapie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Reims, France
- Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Faculté de Médecine, Reims, France
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Gaining or losing wisdom: Developmental trends in theory of mind in old age. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-019-00394-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Sun YJ, Xu LZ, Ma ZH, Yang YL, Yin TN, Gong XY, Gao ZL, Liu YL, Liu J. Health-related risky behaviors and their risk factors in adolescents with high-functioning autism. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9:6329-6342. [PMID: 34434999 PMCID: PMC8362546 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i22.6329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Health-related risky behaviors generally refer to behaviors that have a negative impact on health and quality of life. Health-related risky behaviors in adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA) have not been well understood so far. Adolescents with HFA may have more health-related risky behaviors than neurotypical adolescents.
AIM To investigate health-related risky behaviors and their risk factors with HFA.
METHODS This is an observational study. Our study enrolled 110 adolescents aged 12-19-years-old meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition criteria for HFA. They were recruited from Peking University Sixth Hospital. There were also 110 age, sex and nationality matched controls enrolled who came from a public school in Beijing, China. Both groups completed the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory. Nonparametric tests were carried out for comparison of the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory scores between the two groups. Expression recognition, the Inventory of Subjective Life Quality for Child and Adolescent, Chinese Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adult-Chinese Revised, Theory of Mind test and Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire were assessed in the autism group to explore factors associated with health-related risky behaviors. Multivariate regression analysis was conducted to explore the risk factors of health-related risky behaviors in the HFA group.
RESULTS The results showed that the total score of the Adolescents Health-related Risky Behavior Inventory and scores of “aggression and violence,” “suicide and self-injury,” “health compromising behavior” and “unprotected sex” subscales in the HFA group were significantly higher than those in the control group (Z range -4.197 to -2.213, P < 0.05). Among the associated factors, poor emotional experience (B = -0.268, P < 0.001), depression (B = -0.321, P < 0.001), low score of intelligence (B = -0.032, P = 0.042), low score of Theory of Mind test (B = -1.321, P = 0.003) and poor adaptation to school life (B = -0.152, P = 0.006) were risk factors. These risky behaviors may promote the occurrence of health-related risky behaviors in adolescents with HFA.
CONCLUSION This study showed that adolescents with HFA were more likely to be involved in health-related risky behaviors. Different health-related risky behaviors have different reasons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Jing Sun
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Ling-Zi Xu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zeng-Hui Ma
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yu-Lu Yang
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Ting-Ni Yin
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Xiao-Yun Gong
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Zi-Lin Gao
- Quanzhou Children’s and Women’s Hospital, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China
| | - Yan-Ling Liu
- Department of Mathematics, Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi 046000, Shanxi Province, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing 100191, China
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Sun Y, Li X, Xu L, Ma Z, Yang Y, Yin T, Gao Z, Gong X, Li L, Liu Q, Tang X, Liu J. Health-related risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents with autism: a cross-sectional study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 2021; 15:39. [PMID: 34330314 PMCID: PMC8325271 DOI: 10.1186/s13034-021-00390-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Health-related risky behaviors (HRB) generally refer to behaviors that have a negative influence on health and quality of life. HRB in adolescents with autism have not been well understood so far. We aim to explore health-related risky behaviors and their risk factors with autistic adolescents. METHODS In this study, 150 adolescents with autism and 150 neurotypical adolescents were enrolled. Participants in both groups completed the Adolescent Health-Related Risky Behavior Inventory (AHRBI). Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ), Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Theory of Mind (ToM) Test, Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Self-Esteem Scale (SES) were also assessed in the autism group to explore risk factors. RESULTS The results showed that the total score of AHRBI and scores of "aggression and violence (AV)", "suicide or self-injury (SS)", "health-compromising behavior (HCB)", and "unprotected sex (US)" subscales in the autism group were significantly higher than those in the control group (Z value = - 4.58 ~ - 2.26, all P < 0.05). Anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, low IQ score, low ToM test score, increasing age, and communication disorder were found as risk factors for health-related risky behaviors in autistic adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents with autism have more health-related risky behaviors than neurotypical adolescents. We should pay attention to the emotional state, self-esteem, cognitive function, and verbal communication levels of autistic adolescent with health-related risky behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yajing Sun
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Xue Li
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Lingzi Xu
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Zenghui Ma
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Yulu Yang
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Tingni Yin
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Zilin Gao
- Children’s and Women’s Hospital, Quanzhou, 362000 China
| | - Xiaoyun Gong
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Lei Li
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Qinyi Liu
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Xinzhou Tang
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
| | - Jing Liu
- Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, National Health Commission (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), No. 51 Huayuan North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191 China
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Ju N, Guo S, San Juan V, Brown S, Lai KW, Yeates KO, Graham SA. Theory of Mind after Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Scoping Review. J Neurotrauma 2021; 38:1918-1942. [PMID: 33499733 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2020.7365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Abstract
This scoping review aims to synthesize existing literature regarding theory of mind (ToM) outcomes, the neuropathology associated with ToM outcomes, and the relationship between ToM outcomes and social functioning in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We searched MEDLINE® and PsycINFO databases to identify all literature that examined ToM following pediatric TBI until July 2019. A total of 29 articles met inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the results. These articles examined a variety of aspects of ToM, which could be broadly grouped into those focused on cognitive, cognitive-affective, and pragmatic factors. The existing literature suggests that children and adolescents with TBI, compared with their typically developing peers and peers with orthopedic injuries, are more likely to have deficits in ToM. The evidence further shows that the age at which brain injury occurs contributes to ToM disruption. Neuroimaging techniques have offered crucial insights into how TBI may impact ToM performance in children and adolescents. Finally, this review provides evidence that disruption in ToM plays a role in the difficulties in social functioning demonstrated by children and adolescents with TBI. Limitations and gaps in the existing literature warrant future research in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narae Ju
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Sunny Guo
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Valerie San Juan
- Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA
| | - Sage Brown
- Department of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Ka Wing Lai
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Keith Owen Yeates
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Susan A Graham
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Osterhaus C, Koerber S. The Development of Advanced Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study From Age 5 to 10 Years. Child Dev 2021; 92:1872-1888. [PMID: 34223634 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This 5-year longitudinal study investigated advanced theory-of-mind (AToM) development in 161 German 5- to 10-year-olds (89 females, 72 males). Core aspects of AToM developed nonlinearly, with children reaching a milestone at the age of 7 years, around when they attained the conceptual insight that mental states can be recursive. In late elementary school, a multicomponent battery was used. Performance on many aspects of AToM was predicted by information-processing skills (intelligence and language at 6 years), but not by the age when children acquired the basic conceptual insight; only some naturalistic, social-interpretative tasks were correlated with children's age at acquisition. This study documents significant developmental progressions in middle-childhood AToM and suggests that different mechanisms may underlie diverse aspects of social cognition.
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Kim YSG, Petscher Y. Influences of individual, text, and assessment factors on text/discourse comprehension in oral language (listening comprehension). ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2021; 71:218-237. [PMID: 33185848 PMCID: PMC8116353 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-020-00208-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We investigated the contributions of multiple strands of factors-individual characteristics (struggling reader status, working memory, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, knowledge-based inference, theory of mind, comprehension monitoring), a text feature (narrative vs. expository genre), and question types (literal and inferential)-to one's performance on discourse comprehension in oral language (listening comprehension), using data from 529 second graders. Results from explanatory item response models revealed that substantial variance in listening comprehension was attributable to differences between items, texts, and children, respectively. Narrative versus expository genre distinctions explained almost all of the variance attributable to text differences. In contrast, literal versus inferential question distinctions did not explain item responses after accounting for text and reading comprehension status. However, there was a moderation between struggling reader status and question type such that struggling readers had a slightly higher (2%) probability of getting inferential questions right compared to typically developing readers, after accounting for individual and text factors. Struggling readers have a lower probability of accurate item responses than typically developing readers, but the difference disappeared once language and cognitive skills (e.g., working memory, vocabulary) were taken into consideration. The effects of text genre and question type on item responses did not differ as a function of children's language and cognitive skills. Overall, these results underscore the importance of considering individual, text, and assessment factors for children's performance in listening comprehension.
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Wyman J, Cassidy H, Talwar V. Utilizing the Activation-Decision-Construction-Action Theory to predict children's hypothetical decisions to deceive. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 218:103339. [PMID: 34058672 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The Decision component of the Activation-Decision-Construction-Action-Theory (ADCAT) utilizes a cost-benefit formula to explain the cognitive, motivational and social processes involved in deception. Three prior studies suggest that ADCAT can be used to predict adults' future deceptive behavior; however, no study has assessed the potential relevance of ADCAT with children. The present study is the first to date to examine whether this cost-benefit formula can predict children's hypothetical decisions to tell three types of lies, and whether there are specific developmental factors that need to be considered. The results indicate that the cost-benefit formula was only effective for predicting children's hypothetical lies for self-gain at no cost to another (Self-No Cost lies) and lies for others when there was a personal cost (Other-Cost to Self). More specifically, expected value of telling the truth was related to lower willingness to tell hypothetical Self-No Cost and Other-Cost to Self lies. On the other hand, the expected value of lying was not related to children's hypothetical decisions to tell Self-No Cost, Self-Cost to Other or Other-Cost to Self lies. Children's inhibitory control and theory of mind were significant covariates for some of the ADCAT predictor variables and children's hypothetical truth and lying behaviors. Altogether, these findings indicate that the effectiveness of the ADCAT cost-benefit formula for predicting children's lying behavior is affected by developmental factors and the type of lie being analyzed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Wyman
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ontario Tech University, Canada.
| | - Hannah Cassidy
- School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
| | - Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Canada
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Smogorzewska J, Osterhaus C. Advanced theory of mind in children with mild intellectual disability and deaf or hard of hearing children: A two-year longitudinal study in middle childhood. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 39:603-624. [PMID: 34117656 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The present study investigates the development of advanced theory of mind (AToM) among typically developing (TD) children, children with mild intellectual disability (MID), and deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children. The 2-year longitudinal study comprised three waves and included a large sample of children from Poland in middle childhood aged around 7.5-9.5 years (N = 779; M = 7.7, SD = 0.92 at wave 1). The analysis of children's understanding of second-order false belief and the Faux-Pas Recognition Test showed that TD children outperformed children with MID and DHH children on both measures. At 7.5 years, almost 60% of the TD children correctly solved the second-order false belief task; correct performance at 7.5 years in children with MID and DHH children was 27 and 38% respectively. Two years later, correct performance rose to 80% (TD children), 45% (children with MID), and 63% (DHH children). Despite these differences, the speed of AToM development did not differ across the groups. The development of faux-pas recognition followed a non-linear pattern, with TD children showing no further significant development after mid-elementary school. Our findings show differences in AToM development between TD children, children with MID, and DHH children, and they suggest that children's development of AToM may follow different developmental pathways, depending on the aspect of AToM under study.
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Rafetseder E, O'Brien C, Leahy B, Perner J. Extended difficulties with counterfactuals persist in reasoning with false beliefs: Evidence for teleology-in-perspective. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 204:105058. [PMID: 33341018 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2019] [Revised: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that counterfactual reasoning is involved in false belief reasoning. Because existing work is correlational, we developed a manipulation that revealed a signature of counterfactual reasoning in participants' answers to false belief questions. In two experiments, we tested 3- to 14-year-olds and found high positive correlations (r = .56 and r = .73) between counterfactual and false belief questions. Children were very likely to respond to both questions with the same answer, also committing the same type of error. We discuss different theories and their ability to account for each aspect of our findings and conclude that reasoning about others' beliefs and actions requires similar cognitive processes as using counterfactual suppositions. Our findings question the explanatory power of the traditional frameworks, theory theory and simulation theory, in favor of views that explicitly provide for a relationship between false belief reasoning and counterfactual reasoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Rafetseder
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK; Department of Philosophy, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
| | - Christine O'Brien
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| | - Brian Leahy
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Josef Perner
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria; Centre for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
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Bianco F, Lombardi E, Lecce S, Marchetti A, Massaro D, Valle A, Castelli I. Supporting Children’s Second-order Recursive Thinking and Advanced ToM Abilities: A Training Study. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2021.1901712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Sai L, Shang S, Tay C, Liu X, Sheng T, Fu G, Ding XP, Lee K. Theory of mind, executive function, and lying in children: a meta-analysis. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13096. [PMID: 33544950 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Scientific research on how children learn to tell lies has existed for more than a century. Earlier studies mainly focused on moral, social, and situational factors contributing to the development of lying. Researchers have only begun to explore the cognitive correlations of children's lying in the last two decades. Cognitive theories suggest that theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) should be closely related to the development of lying since lying is, in essence, ToM and EF in action. Yet, findings from empirical studies are mixed. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis reviewed all prior literature that examined the relations between children's lying and ToM and/or between children's lying and EF. In total, 47 papers consisting of 5099 participants between 2 and 19 years of age were included, which yielded 74 effect sizes for ToM and 94 effect sizes for EF. Statistically significant but relatively small effects were found between children's lying and ToM (r = .17) and between lying and EF (r = .13). Furthermore, EF's correlation with children's initial lies was significantly smaller than its correlation with children's ability to maintain lies. This comprehensive meta-analysis provides a clear picture of the associations between children's ToM/EF and their lying behavior and confirms that ToM and EF indeed play a positive role in children's lying and its development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liyang Sai
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Siyuan Shang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xingchen Liu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tingwen Sheng
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Genyue Fu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.,Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Mognon I, Sprenger SA, Kuijper SJM, Hendriks P. Complex Inferential Processes Are Needed for Implicature Comprehension, but Not for Implicature Production. Front Psychol 2021; 11:556667. [PMID: 33469432 PMCID: PMC7813936 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.556667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Upon hearing “Some of Michelangelo’s sculptures are in Rome,” adults can easily generate a scalar implicature and infer that the intended meaning of the utterance corresponds to “Some but not all Michelangelo’s sculptures are in Rome.” Comprehension experiments show that preschoolers struggle with this kind of inference until at least 5 years of age. Surprisingly, the few studies having investigated children’s production of scalar expressions like some and all suggest that production is adult-like already in their third year of life. Thus, children’s production of implicatures seems to develop at least 2 years before their comprehension of implicatures. In this paper, we present a novel account of scalar implicature generation in the framework of Bidirectional Optimality Theory: the Asymmetry Account. We show that the production–comprehension asymmetry is predicted to emerge because the comprehension of some requires the hearer to consider the speaker’s perspective, but the production of some does not require the speaker to consider the hearer’s perspective. Hence, children’s comprehension of scalar expressions, but not their production of scalar expressions, is predicted to be related to their theory of mind development. Not possessing fully developed theory of mind abilities yet, children thus have difficulty in comprehending scalar expressions such as some in an adult-like way. Our account also explains why variable performance is found in experimental studies testing children’s ability to generate scalar implicatures; moreover, it describes the differences between children’s and adults’ implicature generation in terms of their ability to recursively apply theory of mind; finally, it sheds new light on the question why the interpretation of numerals does not require implicature generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Mognon
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Simone A Sprenger
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Sanne J M Kuijper
- Department of Inclusive and Special Needs Education, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Petra Hendriks
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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Xiao X, Liu L, Wu Y, Liu L, Xu L, Li Y. Group bias in children’s rectification of inequality using resources of different values. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xue Xiao
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality Beijing Normal University Beijing P.R. China
| | - Lu Liu
- College of Marine Science and Biological Engineering Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao P.R. China
| | - Yuting Wu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality Beijing Normal University Beijing P.R. China
| | - Lisha Liu
- Center for Teacher Education Research Faculty of Education Beijing Normal University Beijing P.R. China
| | - Liangyuan Xu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality Beijing Normal University Beijing P.R. China
| | - Yanfang Li
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality Beijing Normal University Beijing P.R. China
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49
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Ebert S, Lehrl S, Weinert S. Differential Effects of the Home Language and Literacy Environment on Child Language and Theory of Mind and Their Relation to Socioeconomic Background. Front Psychol 2020; 11:555654. [PMID: 33192809 PMCID: PMC7658343 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.555654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we examined differential effects of facets of the home language and literacy environment that are known to be relevant to either language development (i.e., quantity and quality of language and literacy stimulation at home) or theory of mind (ToM) development (i.e., parental mental state language), on both children's language skills and their ToM understanding. Moreover, we investigated whether these relations are particularly relevant for children from homes with low socioeconomic status (SES) and whether they account for SES-related disparities in child language skills and ToM understanding. Using longitudinal data of a sample of 224 monolingual German preschool children (assessment of language skills at age 4;6 and 5;6 and ToM at age 5;6), we analyzed the effects of three facets of the home language and literacy environment on later child language and ToM understanding. These facets were book exposure as a measure for quantity of language and literacy stimulation at home, quality of verbal interaction, and parental mental state language assessed between ages 3 and 4. Path analyses showed that book exposure is related to both later ToM understanding and language skills at age 5;6 years; yet, this effect is mediated by earlier language skills at age 4;6 years. Furthermore, book exposure partly mediated the association between SES and language skills and, via earlier language skills at age 4;6, also the relation between SES and ToM. When focusing on children from lower SES families, book exposure and quality of verbal stimulation predicted children's later language skills at age 4;6. Book exposure also predicted change in language skills between age 4;6 and age 5;6. Further, book exposure proved to be significantly associated with children's ToM understanding at age 5;6 via the relation with language skills at 4;6 years. In addition, parental mental state language predicted children's ToM understanding at age 5;6 years. Our findings provide new evidence on how different facets of the home language and literacy environment are related to ToM and language development and their interrelation as well as their SES-related disparities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Ebert
- Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Simone Lehrl
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Sabine Weinert
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
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50
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Kloo D, Sodian B, Kristen-Antonow S, Kim S, Paulus M. Knowing minds: Linking early perspective taking and later metacognitive insight. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 39:39-53. [PMID: 33099788 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Recent metacognitive research using a partial knowledge task indicates that a firm understanding of 'knowing about knowing' develops surprisingly late, at around 6 years of age. To reveal the mechanisms subserving this development, the partial knowledge task was used in a longitudinal study with 67 children (33 girls) as an outcome measure at 5;9 (years;months). In addition, first- and second-order false belief was assessed at 4;2, 5;0, and 5;9. At 2;6, perspective taking and executive abilities were evaluated. Metacognition at 5;9 was correlated with earlier theory of mind and perspective taking - even when verbal intelligence and executive abilities were partialled out. This highlights the importance of perspective taking for the development of an understanding of one's own mind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Kloo
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Beate Sodian
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany
| | | | - Sunae Kim
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany
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