M. Jeffrey Farrar

Conflicting emotions: The connection between affective perspective taking and theory of mind

The relation between theory of mind and affective perspective taking was examined in a study with 42 three- to five-year-olds. Children completed tasks measuring affective perspective taking, theory of mind, and receptive language abilities. Significant positive correlations existed between overall affective perspective taking and theory of mind performance, independent of age and language. The relation between theory of mind and affective perspective taking was strongest for those scenarios in which there was a conflict between the child and the friends emotional responses. These findings indicate that the abilities to understand conflicting emotions and to understand false beliefs are related aspects of social development.

Early language development and the emergence of a theory of mind

The current study examined the relation between childrens language development at 2 years of age and their theory of mind performance at 4 years of age. Twenty toddlers were initially tested when they were 2 years old. Measures of both lexical and grammatical development were obtained from: (1) parental completion of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI), and (2) a naturalistic play session between mother and child. The children returned at 4 years and were given four standard theory of mind tasks to assess understanding of: (a) false belief, (b) representational change, and (c) appearance-reality. In addition, in order to control for general language and cognitive development, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Woodcock-Johnson Memory for Sentences Test were also given. Strong associations were found between early language development and later theory of mind performance. These relationships may reflect similar social cognitive processes that govern the development of both language and theory of mind.

Predictors of Preschoolers' Self-Knowledge: Reference to Emotion and Mental States in Mother-Child Conversation about Past Events

Abstract Reference to emotion and mental states were expected to predict the organization of childrens self-knowledge. Thirty-three 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds (17 females and 15 males) discussed 4 past events with their mothers. Conversations were coded for emotional content and reference to mental states. Children completed the Childrens Self-View Questionnaire (CSVQ; Eder, 1990 ). Organization of self-knowledge was defined as the consistency with which children rated themselves as either high or low with respect to the dispositions indexed by the CSVQ. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that reference to emotion was a significant predictor of organization scores after controlling for linguistic skill, but that mental state reference was not. Mothers initiated talk about emotion more often than their children did. The results are consistent with theories of the early social construction of the self-concept and have implications for developing models of autobiographical memory.

Language and theory of mind in preschool children with specific language impairment.

UNLABELLED Language plays a critical role in the development of theory of mind (ToM). There is limited research, however, examining the role of specific components of language in ToM development for typical and clinical populations. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relative contributions of general grammar, grammatical tense markers, syntactic complementation, and receptive vocabulary on understanding standard ToM tasks in preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI). Thirty-four children with language disorders, ages 42-65 months, were administered a series of language and ToM measures. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the relative contributions of language subcomponents to ToM task performance. The results indicated that general grammatical development and vocabulary contributed uniquely to ToM reasoning. Sentential complementation abilities did not make an independent contribution. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings for different accounts of the role of language in ToM reasoning will be discussed. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers of the current study will be able to: (1) understand the relationship between language and ToM development in both typical and clinical populations; (2) understand the different ways in which various language components are related to false belief reasoning; and (3) consider the implications for intervening with children with language disorders.

The emergence of phonological awareness: Connections to language and theory of mind development

The emergence of phonological awareness was examined in a longitudinal study. Two issues were of particular interest: (1) the relationship between phonological awareness and early language development, and (2) the relationship between theory of mind and phonological awareness. Of interest was whether early language ability at 2 years was related to phonological awareness (e.g., rhyming) at 4 years. Overall, children’s early language ability at 2 years predicted their phonological awareness at 4 years. Also of interest was the relationship between theory of mind understanding and phonological awareness. At 4 years measures of theory of mind were related to phonological awareness. Possible explanations of the link between language, theory of mind and phonological awareness are discussed.

Three is not always a crowd: contexts of joint attention and language

This study examined 32 childrens (M age = 1;8 years) engagement in joint attention (JA) and the relation between JA and vocabulary size across mother-child (MC) and mother-child-sibling (MCS) contexts. In the MCS context, mothers engaged in JA more with one child than both children; they engaged in less JA with target child than they did in the MC context. JA style was generally unrelated across the contexts. Coordinated JA and childrens vocabulary were significantly related only for the MCS context. Findings suggest the number of social partners influences JA dynamics and multi-child contexts can be positive language learning environments.

Talking through transitions: Microgenetic changes in preschoolers’ private speech and executive functioning:

In this study we explored the relation between private speech and task mastery by using the microgenetic method to examine the language and performance of 13 children aged 4 and 5 as they gained expertise with a spatial, multi-step planning task across 6 sessions. Seven of the 13 children’s performances across these sessions were characterized by a sharp change in performance between two consecutive sessions. Detailed microgenetic examinations of individual children suggested that abrupt improvements in performance were associated with a higher use of on-task private speech. More variability was noted in the problem-solving and private speech patterns of children who did not experience abrupt shifts in performance. Implications regarding the role of individual differences in the use of private speech during problem-solving are discussed.

Do bilingual and monolingual preschoolers acquire false belief understanding similarly? The role of executive functioning and language:

Bilingual children often show advanced executive functioning (EF) and false belief (FB) understanding compared to monolinguals. The latter has been attributed to their enhanced inhibitory control EF, although this has only been examined in a single study which did not confirm this hypothesis. The current study examined the relation of EF and language proficiency on FB reasoning in bilingual and monolingual preschoolers to answer two questions: (1) Are there differences in bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ FB, language proficiency, and EF? If so, (2) is there a differential role for language proficiency and EF in predicting FB reasoning in these two groups? Thirty-two Spanish–English bilinguals and 33 English monolinguals (three to five years old) were compared. While monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on language proficiency, after controlling for this, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on FB reasoning, and marginally on EF. General language ability was related to FB performance in both groups, while short-term memory and inhibitory control predicted FB only for monolinguals.

Do Chinese- and English-Speaking Preschoolers Think Differently about Language?.

Metalinguistic awareness is the ability to identify, reflect upon, and manipulate linguistic units. It plays a critical role in reading development. The present study investigated Chinese- and English-speaking preschoolers’ metalinguistic awareness development and the role of cognitive and linguistic abilities in its development. Forty-two Chinese-speaking and 36 English-speaking monolingual children completed a series of metalinguistic awareness, false belief, inhibitory control, and receptive vocabulary tasks. The results revealed distinct pathways for the two language groups. English speakers had a more advanced level of rhyme awareness. Chinese speakers developed homonym understanding faster during the preschool years. Inhibitory control was more important for Chinese speakers to develop synonym and homonym understanding, whereas receptive vocabulary was crucial for English speakers to develop rhyme awareness. These differences may be attributable to the characteristics of the Chinese and English languages, as well as the patterns of cognitive development in the two populations.

Siblings, Language, and False Belief in Low-Income Children

ABSTRACT The authors examined the relationship between number of siblings and false belief understanding (FBU) in 94 low-income 4–5-year-olds. Previous research with middle-income children has shown a positive association between number of siblings and FBU. However, it is unclear whether having multiple siblings in low-income families is related to better FBU. Language, specifically vocabulary, was examined as a possible mediator between number of siblings and FBU as several researchers have found that language is causally related to FBU. Contrary to research with middle-income preschoolers, the authors found that number of siblings was negatively related to low-income childrens FBU. This relationship was mediated by childrens vocabulary skill. Suggestions for why the sibling–FB relationship may differ in low- and middle-income samples are offered.