Sibling composition, executive function, and children’s thinking about mental diversity

Kennedy, Katie; Lagattuta, Kristin Hansen; Sayfan, Liat

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2014.11.007

Cited by 29 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Replicating recent work (Austin, Groppe, & Elsner, 2014; Bock, Gallaway, & Hund, 2015; Kennedy et al, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2010, 2014) the current study documents an EF-ToM relation from early childhood into adulthood. These findings add much needed data to the emerging literature on individual differences in ToM in middle childhood (see Hughes & Devine, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…While work with young children often uses just error rates (e.g., Montgomery & Koeltzow, 2010; Sabbagh, Xu, Carlson, Moses, & Lee, 2006) , research with older children and adults frequently relies on response times (e.g., Prencipe et al, 2011). Moreover, prior work has demonstrated that error rates and cumulative response time are strongly correlated (Kramer, Lagattuta, & Sayfan, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2011), and both have been associated with advanced ToM (Kennedy et al, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2010, 2014). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This task is frequently used as a measure of working memory because successful performance requires participants to hold increasing amounts of information in mind as well as to process sentence structure, tasks that recruit working memory skills (Caplan & Waters, 1998). The memory for sentences task has also been previously used successfully as a predictor of advanced ToM in 4- to 10-year-olds and adults (Kennedy et al, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2010, 2014). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much less is known about these relations in older children (see Hughes & Devine, 2015; Lagattuta et al, 2015). Lagattuta and colleagues recently demonstrated that even when controlling for age, individual differences in WM and IC predict more advanced ToM in 4- to 10-year-olds and adults (Kennedy, Lagattuta, & Sayfan, 2015; Lagattuta, Sayfan, & Blattman, 2010; Lagattuta, Sayfan, & Harvey, 2014). The current study aims to test EF-ToM links across a wide age range using a different ToM task; this time, examining the valence alignment of thought-emotion-decision judgments.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do thoughts, emotions, and decisions align? A new way to examine theory of mind during middle childhood and beyond

Lagattuta

Elrod

Kramer

2016

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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The current study examined 4- to 10-year-olds’ and adults’ (N = 280) tendency to connect people’s thoughts, emotions, and decisions into valence-matched mental state triads (thought valence = emotion valence = decision valence; such as, anticipate something bad + feel worried + avoid) and valence-matched mental state dyads (thought-emotion, thought-decision, and emotion-decision). Participants heard vignettes about focal characters who re-encountered individuals who had previously harmed them twice, helped them twice, or both harmed and helped them. Baseline trials involved no past experience. Children and adults predicted the focal characters’ thoughts (anticipate something good or bad), emotions (feel happy or worried), and decisions (go near or stay away). Results showed significant increases between 4 and 10 years in the formation of valence-matched mental state triads and dyads, with thoughts and emotions most often aligned by valence. We also documented age-related improvement in awareness that uncertain situations elicit less valence-consistent mental states than more certain situations, with females expecting weaker coherence among characters’ thoughts, emotions, and decisions than males. Controlling for age and sex, individuals with stronger executive function (working memory and inhibitory control) predicted more valence-aligned mental states. These findings add to the emerging literature on development and individual differences in children’s reasoning about mental states and emotions during middle childhood and beyond.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How do thoughts, emotions, and decisions align? A new way to examine theory of mind during middle childhood and beyond

Lagattuta

Elrod

Kramer

2016

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Self Cite

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“…Additionally, previous studies that measured many processes implicated in prosocial behaviors found that they were facilitated by IC (Carlson & Moses, ; Gailliot, ; Razza & Blair, ; Zorza, Marino, & Acosta Mesas, ). For example, studies found that children with stronger IC performed better on theory of mind tasks (Kennedy, Lagattuta, & Sayfan, ; Lagattuta, Sayfan, & Harvey, ). Hudson and Jacques () used a go/no‐go task to measure IC and found it to be a significant correlate of children's emotion regulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibitory control moderates the quadratic association between resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia and prosocial behaviors in children

Zhang

Wang

2019

Psychophysiology

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Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is thought to be an important physiological correlate of prosocial behaviors. A negative quadratic association between resting RSA and prosocial behaviors has been found in recent studies. However, it remains unknown whether inhibitory control (IC), as an aspect of cognitive regulation, moderates this quadratic association. This issue was examined in the present study. One hundred and forty‐eight children (81 girls, 54.7%) aged 7–8 years completed a go/no‐go task to assess their IC, and the children's parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire‒Chinese version (SDQ‐CV) to assess children's prosocial behaviors. Resting RSA was calculated by electrocardiogram (ECG) data collected during a resting period in the laboratory. The results showed a significant quadratic association between resting RSA and children's prosocial behaviors. More importantly, IC had a significant moderating effect on the quadratic association between resting RSA and prosocial behaviors. Specifically, the quadratic effect of resting RSA on prosocial behaviors was observed only among children with low and average IC and disappeared in children with better IC. The findings suggest that IC interacts with resting RSA to contribute to prosocial behaviors in children. High levels of IC could attenuate the negative impact of high and low resting RSA on prosocial behaviors.

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Theory of Mind: a Hidden Factor in Reading Comprehension?

et al. 2018

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Sibling composition, executive function, and children’s thinking about mental diversity

Cited by 29 publications

References 90 publications

How do thoughts, emotions, and decisions align? A new way to examine theory of mind during middle childhood and beyond

How do thoughts, emotions, and decisions align? A new way to examine theory of mind during middle childhood and beyond

Inhibitory control moderates the quadratic association between resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia and prosocial behaviors in children

Theory of Mind: a Hidden Factor in Reading Comprehension?

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