Louis J. Moses

Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control and Children's Theory of Mind

This research examined the relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC; a central component of executive functioning) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschool-age children. Across two sessions, 3- and 4-year-old children (N = 107) were given multitask batteries measuring IC and ToM. Inhibitory control was strongly related to ToM, r = .66, p < .001. This relation remained significant controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, motor sequencing, family size, and performance on pretend-action and mental state control tasks. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in the face of a conflicting prepotent response (Conflict scale) and those requiring the delay of a prepotent response (Delay scale) were significantly related to ToM. The Conflict scale, however, significantly predicted ToM performance over and above the Delay scale and control measures, whereas the Delay scale was not significant in a corresponding analysis. These findings suggest that IC may be a crucial enabling factor for ToM development, possibly affecting both the emergence and expression of mental state knowledge. The implications of the findings for a variety of executive accounts of ToM are discussed.

What Can the Study of Cognitive Development Reveal About Children's Ability to Appreciate and Cope with Advertising?

The authors assess the study of cognitive development and what it reveals about childrens ability to appreciate and cope with advertising. Whereas prior research on children and advertising has drawn heavily on Piagets developmental theory, the authors argue that more recent approaches that focus on the development of childrens “theories of mind” and “executive functioning” skills may prove more fruitful. The review of research on these topics generates two predictions: First, on the basis of theories-of-mind literature, the authors expect that children have well-formed conceptions of the intentions underlying advertising by seven or eight years of age. Second, on the basis of executive functions literature, the authors expect that children are not able to deploy these concepts effectively in their everyday lives until much later in development.

Demographics, Parenting, and Theory of Mind in Preschool Children

This research examined associations among demographic variables, parenting strategies, and a theory of mind battery including measures of perception, desire, belief, and emotion understanding in 142 preschool-aged children. In correlational analyses, maternal education and, to a lesser extent, income were associated with a number of aspects of theory of mind. Additionally, mothers’ use of instruction in response to child misbehavior was positively associated with perception and desire understanding whereas mothers’ use of consequences and power assertion were negatively associated with aspects of theory of mind. In regression analyses controlling for childrens cognitive ability and age, maternal education continued to be positively associated with perception understanding. Power assertion was negatively associated with belief understanding, but positively associated with emotion understanding. Finally, mothers’ use of consequences in response to child misbehaviors was negatively related to emotion understanding.

Executive Accounts of Theory-of-Mind Development.

Two varieties of executive theories may be distinguished: emergence accounts and expression accounts. The meta-analytic findings are fully consistent with emergence accounts of theory of mind and do not entirely rule out expression accounts.

Links between Social Understanding and Early Word Learning: Challenges to Current Accounts

If young children approached word learning with little social savvy, certain predictable patterns of error would arise in the way they interpret new words. The absence of such errors provides evidence that social understanding informs word learning even in the infancy period. We outline such evidence, and then scrutinize it with respect to four challenges. 1) Is it necessary to invoke genuine social understanding to explain infants’ word-learning successes? 2) Do infants treat social clues as criterial in their interpretation of new words? 3) Individuals suffering clear deficits in social understanding sometimes display apparently intact vocabulary acquisition: Must we then conclude that word learning can proceed without the aid of social understanding? 4) Is processing of social clues too effortful to be generally useful for everyday word learning? The first challenge is answered by the available evidence: Infants indeed capitalize on social understanding to interpret new words. Although the remaining challenges have yet to be resolved, we offer speculations that might profitably guide future investigation.

How and where: Theory-of-mind in the brain

Highlights • Neuroscience has the potential to address accounts of theory-of-mind acquisition.• Review of the research on the neural basis of theory-of-mind in adults and children.• Future research directions include microgenetic and training fMRI studies.

The Relation Between Executive Function and Theory of Mind is More Than Skin Deep

A simple “expression” account of the relation between executive function (EF) and childrens developing theory of mind (ToM) has difficulty accounting for the generality of the changes occurring in childrens mental-state understanding during the preschool years. The current study of preschool children (N = 43) showed that EF—especially conflict EF—related uniformly to ToM measures that imposed either high or low executive demands, independent of verbal ability. These findings can be explained within an emergence account wherein executive skills are implicated in the acquisition of mental-state concepts as opposed to merely the expression of these concepts in task performance.

on the specificity of the relation between executive function and children's theories of mind

Contents: W. Schneider, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, B. Sodian, Introduction and Overview. J. Towse, N. Cowan, Working Memory and Its Relevance for Cognitive Development. C. Zoelch, K. Seitz, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, From Rag(Bag)s to Riches: Measuring the Developing Central Executive. P.D. Zelazo, L. Qu, U. Muller, Hot and Cool Aspects of Executive Function: Relations in Early Development. B. Sodian, Theory of Mind--The Case for Conceptual Development. L.J. Moses, S.M. Carlson, M.A. Sabbagh, On the Specificity of the Relation Between Executive Function and Childrens Theory of Mind. D.F. Bjorklund, C.A. Cormier, J.S. Rosenberg, The Evolution of Theory of Mind: Big Brains, Social Complexity, and Inhibition. B. Sodian, C. Hulsken, The Developmental Relation of Theory of Mind and Executive Functions: A Study of Advanced Theory of Mind Abilities in Children With ADHD. W. Kain, J. Perner, What fMRI Can Tell Us About the ToM-EF Connection: False Beliefs, Working Memory, and Inhibition. M. Hasselhorn, C. Mahler, D. Grube, Theory of Mind, Working Memory, and Verbal Ability in Preschool Children: The Proposal of a Relay Race Model of the Developmental Dependencies. H. Tager-Flusberg, R.M. Joseph, Theory of Mind, Language, and Executive Functions in Autism: A Longitudinal Perspective. W. Schneider, K. Lockl, O. Fernandez, Interrelationships Among Theory of Mind, Executive Control, Language Development, and Working Memory in Young Children: A Longitudinal Analysis. K. Oberauer, Executive Functions, Working Memory, Verbal Ability, and Theory of Mind--Does It All Come Together?

Self-regulation and children's theories of mind

Contents: Preface. Part I: Self as Known and as Experienced. A. Blasi, Neither Personality Nor Cognition: An Alternative Approach to the Nature of the Self. D. Polkinghorne, Ricoeur, Narrative, and Personal Identity. L. Nucci, The Promise and Limitations of the Moral Self Construct. Part II: Self and Mind. A. Demetriou, Unity and Modularity in the Mind and the Self: Towards a General Theory. D.M. Peterson, J.E. Marcia, J.I.M. Carpendale, Identity: Does Thinking Make It So? L.J. Moses, S.M. Carlson, Self-Regulation and Childrens Theories of Mind. Part III: Self, Mind, and Culture. D. Holland, Self and Power in the World of Romance: Extending Sociogenic Theories. D. Moshman, Theories of Self and Theories as Selves: Identity in Rwanda. C. Lalonde, M. Chandler, Culture, Selves, and Time: Theories of Personal Persistence in Native and Non-Native Youth. Part IV: The Social Construction of Self. T.R. Sarbin, A Preface to the Epistemology of Identity. R. Harre, The Social Construction of Persons. A.O. Rorty, Improvisatory Accident-Prone Dramas of (What Passes for) a Persons Life.

The children's social understanding scale: construction and validation of a parent-report measure for assessing individual differences in children's theories of mind

Childrens theory of mind (ToM) is typically measured with laboratory assessments of performance. Although these measures have generated a wealth of informative data concerning developmental progressions in ToM, they may be less useful as the sole source of information about individual differences in ToM and their relation to other facets of development. In the current research, we aimed to expand the repertoire of methods available for measuring ToM by developing and validating a parent-report ToM measure: the Childrens Social Understanding Scale (CSUS). We present 3 studies assessing the psychometric properties of the CSUS. Study 1 describes item analysis, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and relation of the scale to childrens performance on laboratory ToM tasks. Study 2 presents cross-validation data for the scale in a different sample of preschool children with a different set of ToM tasks. Study 3 presents further validation data for the scale with a slightly older age group and a more advanced ToM task, while controlling for several other relevant cognitive abilities. The findings indicate that the CSUS is a reliable and valid measure of individual differences in childrens ToM that may be of great value as a complement to standard ToM tasks in many different research contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).