Executive functioning and preschoolers' understanding of false beliefs, false photographs, and false signs

Child Dev. 2006 Jul-Aug;77(4):1034-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00917.x.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to investigate the specificity of the relationship between preschoolers' emerging executive functioning skills and false belief understanding. Study 1 (N=44) showed that 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on an executive functioning task that required selective suppression of actions predicted performance on false belief tasks, but not on false photograph tasks. Study 2 (N=54) replicated the finding from Study 1 and showed that performance on the executive functioning task also predicted 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on false sign tasks. These findings show that executive functioning is required to reason only about representations that are intended to reflect a true state of affairs. Results are discussed with respect to theories of preschoolers' theory-of-mind development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Concept Formation*
  • Culture*
  • Discrimination Learning
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Logic
  • Male
  • Personal Construct Theory*
  • Photography*
  • Probability Learning
  • Problem Solving*
  • Statistics as Topic