Executive Functioning and Preschoolers' Understanding of False Beliefs, False Photographs, and False Signs

• Mark A. Sabbagh ^[1] ; Louis J. Moses ^[2] ; Sean Shiverick ^[3]
  1. [1] Queen's University at Kingston
  2. [2] University of Oregon
  3. [3] University of Wisconsin at Madison

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 77, Nº. 4, 2006, págs. 1034-1049
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • 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.