Associations among false belief understanding, counterfactual reasoning, and executive function

Abstract

The primary purposes of the present study were to clarify previous work on the association between counterfactual thinking and false belief performance to determine (1) whether these two variables are related and (2) if so, whether executive function skills mediate the relationship. A total of 92 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds completed false belief, counterfactual, working memory, representational flexibility, and language measures. Counterfactual reasoning accounted for limited unique variance in false belief. Both working memory and representational flexibility partially mediated the relationship between counterfactual and false belief. Children, like adults, also generated various types of counterfactual statements to differing degrees. Results demonstrated the importance of language and executive function for both counterfactual and false belief. Implications are discussed.

Executive control and the experience of regret

“…We have found strong evidence that a core component of this executive system, switching, is correlated with the emergence of the feeling of regret during early to middle childhood. These data, taken in conjunction with previous work, suggest that a number of developments in executive function are implicated in the development of counterfactual reasoning (e.g., Guajardo et al, 2009).…”

“…This suggests that what young children find difficult about reasoning from false antecedents is inhibiting what they know to be true about the world (see also Beck, Carroll, Brunsdon, & Gryg, 2011). In addition, Guajardo, Parker, and Turley-Ames (2009) found that both working memory and representational flexibility accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in the ability of 3-to 5-year-olds to generate false antecedent events that would have brought about a given counterfactual outcome.…”

Counterfactual thinking and false belief: The role of executive function

“…Research on the relationship between counterfactual thinking and working memory or inhibitory control is limited with both adults and children (e.g., Goldinger, Kleider, Azuma, & Beike, 2003;Guajardo et al, 2009;Müller et al, 2007;Turley-Ames & Whitfield, 2000), and only one study to date has examined counterfactual thinking and inhibitory control (Beck et al, 2009). Goldinger and colleagues (2003) found that adults' counterfactual judgments were automatically processed except when memory load was varied.…”

“…The relationship between counterfactual thinking and ToM, and more specifically false belief (FB) understanding, has been documented (e.g., Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004;Riggs, Peterson, Robinson, & Mitchell, 1998). As of late, researchers have become interested in the reason for this relationship, and several have suggested the importance of executive function (German & Nichols, 2003;Guajardo, Parker, & Turley-Ames, 2009;Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004;Müller, Miller, Michalczyk, & Karapinka, 2007). Inhibitory control, cognitive 0022-0965/$ -see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.…”

“…Although several researchers have observed the relationship between counterfactual thinking and FB (e.g., Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004;Guajardo et al, 2009;Peterson & Bowler, 2000;Peterson & Riggs, 1999;Riggs et al, 1998), an explanation for this relationship is uncertain. Several possible explanations include ''aboutness'' (Perner, 2000), modified derivation (Peterson & Riggs, 1999), and general limitations in counterfactual thinking ability (Riggs et al, 1998).…”