Chris Pratt

The development of children's theory of mind: The working memory explanation

Abstract The hypothesis that a growth in working memory capacity could explain the observed development of theory of mind in preschoolers was tested. Fifty-four 3- to 5-year-olds were administered: two false belief tasks as measures of theory of mind development; two “false” photograph tasks parallel to typical false belief tasks, but involving nonmental representations; the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test -Revised (PPVT-R); and two working memory capacity measures (backward digit span, BDS, and forward digit span, FDS). A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that BDS significantly predicted performance on both the false belief and false photograph tasks with age and PPVT-R score controlled, but that FDS did not, suggesting that growth in central executive capacity is important in determining childrens success or failure on false belief tasks, but that articulatory loop capacity is not. It is concluded that, in general, the findings are consistent with the working memory hypothesis, although subs...

Belief Term Development in Children with Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Specific Language Impairment, and Normal Development: Links to Theory of Mind Development

This study examined the relationship between the development of theory of mind and the development of the belief terms think, know, and guess. Children with autism and Asperger syndrome, matched to children with specific language impairment and normal development, completed false belief, belief term comprehension, and belief term expression tasks. The autistic groups performance on the false belief, belief term comprehension, and belief term expression tasks was significantly poorer than that of the Asperger, language impaired, and normal groups. Across groups an association was found between false belief and belief term performance. Results support a growing body of literature demonstrating links between the development of theory of mind and communicative competence.

Leisure activities of adolescent school students: predictors of participation and interest

Frequency of participation and levels of interest in more than 60 leisure pursuits were measured via a questionnaire administered to 1248 adolescent high school students. The relationship between participation and levels of interest was measured by correlation as well as by asking the students to nominate up to three activities they would like to participate in but cannot and to indicate the reason for their non-participation. Factor analyses reduced the Participation and Interest items to six factors each. Multiple regressions were then conducted on the derived factor-score variables. Sex was the major predictor of participation in sports and vocational activities and of interest in sporting and gregarious activities. Age, school location, ethnicity and SES were lesser predictors for groups of activities such as the social and outdoor pursuits. The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between participation and interest as well as the prediction of participation and interest levels by developmental and social factors.

Peer assistance in children's problem solving

The current study aimed to investigate the extent to which the creation of a context which facilitates conversation and communication would enhance the cognitive capacities of children working on recognized problems. Using a collaborative problem-solving paradigm, the communication patterns of pairs of 4- and 7-year-old children were analysed. It was found that collaborative problem solving facilitated lower ability childrens subsequent individual problem solving when they were paired with higher ability children. In addition, it was found that older children used more language during collaboration. Holding number of utterances as a covariate, older children used more procedural language and more descriptive language than younger children and lower ability children used more language for checking with their partner. These uses of language were interpreted as demonstrating awareness on the part of older children of the other person in the collaboration although the extent to which this assisted subsequent problem-solving ability in less able children of either age is not clear and requires further theoretical explication.

Differences in assertive speech acts produced by children with autism, Asperger syndrome, specific language impairment, and normal development.

The assertive speech acts of children with autism (n = 12) and Asperger syndrome (n = 12), individually matched to children with specific language impairment (SLI; n = 24) and children with normal development (n = 24) were studied in the context of gently structured conversation. These children also completed the false belief test of theory of mind. The children with autism used significantly lower proportions of assertions involving explanations and descriptions than the children with SLI or normal development and significantly lower proportions of assertions involving internal state and explanations than the children with Asperger syndrome. The children with autism used a higher proportion of assertions involving identifications than any other group. The assertions of the children with Asperger syndrome were generally not different than those of the children with SLI or normal development except for a higher proportion of assertions involving own internal state. Further analysis of the mental assertions revealed that the children with autism and Asperger syndrome predominantly referred to desire and made few references to thought and belief, whereas the children with SLI and those with normal development used a higher proportion of references to thought and belief.

Effects of a red background on magnocellular functioning in average and specifically disabled readers

Two experiments were conducted using metacontrast masking to examine responses in the magno system of adults, average reading adolescents and adolescents with specific reading disability. In Experiment 1 the effects of a red background field on the metacontrast functions of adult subjects were investigated. Results showed that a red, compared to a photometrically matched white background field, significantly attenuated metacontrast magnitude, supporting the interpretation of metacontrast as due to magno system suppression of parvo system responses. The finding of a red background effect was replicated in Experiment 2 with the two adolescent groups. The metacontrast functions of the adolescent groups also differed significantly, with those with specific reading disability exhibiting weaker metacontrast than the average readers. This result is consistent with a deficit in the magno system of individuals with specific reading disability and indicates the continuation of the deficit beyond childhood.

Characteristics of Preschool and School-Age Children with Imaginary Companions

The authors investigated the prevalence and characteristics of children who experience or who have experienced imaginary companions. For the study, a self-administered questionnaire that sought information regarding the characteristics of children with and without imaginary companions was completed by 478 parents of children within the age range of 3 to 9.5 years. A significantly larger number of children with imaginary companions were reported to be first-born children, to be very imaginative, to incorporate myth in their play, and to explain events as magical. Overall, these results are interpreted to indicate that birth order, combined with characteristics such as imaginativeness and a predisposition to engage in fantasy, characterizes children with imaginary companions.

The effect of oral vocabulary on reading visually novel words: a comparison of the dual-route-cascaded and triangle frameworks

Dual-route-cascaded (DRC) (e.g. Coltheart & Rastle, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 20 (1994) 1197) and triangle framework (e.g. Seidenberg & McClelland, Psychological Review 96 (1989) 523) predictions were tested regarding the effect of having a word in oral vocabulary prior to reading that same word. Over two sessions, at intervals of 2--3 days, 44 Grade 1 (6--7-year-old) children were aurally familiarized with the sound and meaning of ten novel words (semantic oral instantiation), and with just the sound of another ten novel words (non-semantic oral instantiation). Two to three days later non-word naming performance was significantly more accurate for aurally trained novel words compared to pseudohomophones, which were in turn advantaged over untrained non-words. The semantic manipulation had no effect. Experiment 2 manipulated articulation during (non-semantic) training. Forty Grade 1 children participated. Again, aurally trained items were named more accurately and quickly than equivalently trained pseudohomophones, which were in turn advantaged over untrained non-words. The articulation manipulation had no effect. The results suggest that word-specific phonological information is represented in the reading system independently of semantic or articulatory influences. The results are interpreted as being problematic for both the DRC and triangle frameworks, but more so for the latter.

Utilizing Parent Report to Investigate Young Children's Fears: A Modification of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children–II: A Research Note

The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II (FSSC-II) (Gullone & King, 1992) was modified for parent report and a younger age group. The modified instrument (FSSC-IIP) was completed by 753 parents of children within the age range 3.0 to 8.9 years. Results revealed a stable eight-factor solution that was sensitive to age and gender differences. Parents reported a higher overall level of fear for school children compared to preschool children, and a higher overall level of fearfulness for girls compared to boys. The most common fears reported were getting lost in a crowd and in a strange place.

Psychosocial influences on the use of health care by children

Abstract: A prospective cohort study examined the influence of psychosocial factors on the use of general practitioners over a six‐month period by 271 children (aged four to nine years) and their mothers. The study was conducted in 10 general practices in the metropolitan area of Perth. The influences of psychosocial factors on use, nonuse and frequency of use by the children were examined, taking into account sociodemographic and morbidity factors. Physical health status, maternal use and financial factors were directly associated with the childrens use or nonuse of general practitioners, while maternal stress, a mothers attitude towards her child and the childs psychosocial morbidity were indirectly related. Physical health status, doctor‐initiated consultations, maternal stress, childrens ages and birth order were directly associated with the childrens frequency of use of general practitioners. Depression and anxiety in the mothers, measured with standardised instruments, were not associated with use by the children nor was a mothers level of social support. The results point to the importance of family relationships and illness behaviour in the family when considering use of general practitioners and the importance of using standardised measuring instruments and multivariate designs when studying such complex behaviours as the use of health care.