Towards a better understanding of the relationship between executive control and theory of mind: an intra‐cultural comparison of three diverse samples

Abstract

Previous research has consistently indicated that theory of mind (ToM) is associated with executive control in the preschool years. However, interpretation of this literature is limited by the fact that most studies have focused exclusively on urbanized Western cultural samples. Consequently, it is not clear whether the association between ToM and executive control reflects the specific features of this particular cohort or instead reflects a universal pattern. The present study provides the first empirical assessment of these two constructs in three diverse groups of Iranian children. Participants were 142 preschoolers (4-5 years old) from high-socioeconomic status (SES) urban (n = 33), low-SES urban (n = 37) and rural villages (n = 77). The results show that there is a robust association between ToM and executive control in all three groups, and that executive control contributes significant unique variance to ToM understanding, even after controlling for a range of variables that have been proposed as potential confounders of this relationship. However, although the three groups were equated in ToM, significant differences in executive control were evident. Moreover, cluster analysis identified three distinct clusters that were relatively homogeneous with respect to executive control and SES. One of these clusters was characterized by both low SES and low executive functioning, and showed little evidence of ToM understanding. Taken together, these findings provide possibly the clearest evidence to date that the association between ToM and executive control is not dependent on children's previous experiences on the tasks, or their family and cultural background.

Young Children’s Theory of Mind: Home Literacy Environment, Technology Usage, and Preschool Education

“…Intriguingly, when maternal education was entered into multiple regression models with other variables, it was found that it is not a significant predictor of ToM. The results of this study are therefore in line with a growing body of research that has shown that maternal mental-state talking with children, child rearing practices, and family backgrounds are related to the mothers' education level (Cutting & Dunn, 1999;Ruffman et al, 2002;Shahaeian, Henry, Razmjoee, Teymoori & Wang, 2015;Thompson & Nelson, 2001) and children's ToM skills. In this model, the home literacy environment and parent-child shared reading activities entered the model jointly with maternal education level, thus, maternal education may be indirectly related to ToM and directly related to mother-child interactions and HLE.…”

Neurocognitive Functions in 3- to 15-Year-Old Children: An International Comparison

“…Additionally, performance on tasks of theory of mind is related to other neurocognitive functions, such as executive functions (e.g., Devine & Hughes, 2014; Sabbagh et al, 2006; Shahaeian, Henry, Razmjoee, Teymoori, & Wang, 2015). Perhaps cultural developmental differences in other neurocognitive functions, such as the language differences found in the present study, explain some of the present differences in theory of mind performance.…”

Theory of mind in emerging reading comprehension: A longitudinal study of early indirect and direct effects

“…Children's EF ability also increases rapidly between the ages of three and four years, and is strongly linked to ToM development (Carlson & Moses, 2001;Shahaeian, Henry, Razmjoee, Teymoori, & Wang, 2015; see Devine & Hughes, 2014 for meta-analysis). EF, particularly working memory, is also important for reading comprehension, not only through its contribution to higher-order comprehension skills (Cain et al, 2004;Sesma, Mahone, Levine, Eason, & Cutting, 2009), but also through its contribution to emergent code-related skills (Blair & Razza, 2007; see Allan, Hume, Allan, Farrington, & Lonigan, 2014 for meta-analysis).…”