Specifying Links Between Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind during Middle Childhood: Cognitive Flexibility Predicts Social Understanding

Kristin C. Gallaway · Alycia M. Hund

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Child and Animal Learning Development Cognitive Abilities and Testing Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to specify the development of and links between executive functioning and theory of mind during middle childhood. One hundred four 7- to 12-year-old children completed a battery of age-appropriate tasks measuring working memory, inhibition, flexibility, theory of mind, and vocabulary. As expected, spatial working memory and flexibility increased significantly with age, especially after 7 years. Moreover, flexibility predicted social understanding over and above the effects of age, vocabulary, working memory, and inhibition. Together, these findings highlight improvements in and tight relations between complex aspects of executive functioning and theory of mind during middle childhood and suggest that executive functioning and theory of mind are linked beyond their emergence in early childhood.

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References

1974Working Memory 2001Meta-Analysis of Theory-of-Mind Development: The Truth about False Belief 2011Interventions Shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4 to 12 Years Old 2008Executive function in preschoolers: A review using an integrative framework.2010A Developmental Perspective on Executive Function 1994An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters' thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults 2002Assessment and Development of Executive Function (EF) During Childhood 2001Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control and Children's Theory of Mind

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