The metarepresentational aspect of early pretend play (make-believe activities where children create or participate in creating a new situation different from a real one) has been theoretically debated. In the present longitudinal study of N = 83 children, we tested for predictive relations of shared attention at 12-18 months, implicit false…

It is often claimed that theory of mind is facilitated by pretend play. This perspective piece challenges that view, proposing instead that theory of mind might be useful for driving social pretend play, rather than the reverse. There is a fundamental similarity between pretend play and theory of mind. Pretend play involves projecting a different…

It is often claimed that theory of mind is facilitated by pretend play. This perspective piece challenges that view, proposing instead that theory of mind might be useful for driving social pretend play, rather than the reverse. There is a fundamental similarity between pretend play and theory of mind. Pretend play involves projecting a different…

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty engaging in social pretend play, which cannot be explained exclusively by their deficient language skills. Alternatively, the ability to represent mental states (Theory of Mind [ToM]) might be important in appreciating peers' perspectives during pretend play. This study investigated…

This study illustrates the use of the Griffiths III Scales to further clarify a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and possible Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder following a test battery of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Conners 3-Parent and Teacher Surveys, and the Goodenough-Harris Draw-a-Person test in a child aged 6 years. The…

For more than two decades, research has focused on the understanding of pretence as an important means for young children to conceptualise the mind. Many use the phrase "mental representation" to a mental model of some entity or concept, which describes what is inside the minds of young children in relation to a real-world situation or…

Theorists have speculated about the symbolic underpinnings of theory of mind (ToM), but no study has examined them across the main developmental span of ToM. Here, the onset of symbolic understandings in three domains (pretend play, language, and understanding representations) and ToM was examined. Fifty-eight children were tested on batteries of…

Many studies have examined associations between children's theory of mind and social behavior with familiar peers, but to date none have examined how theory of mind might relate to behavior toward unfamiliar peers in a play setting. Forty-four 4-year-olds (21 girls, 23 boys) participated in standard theory-of-mind tasks and in a play session with…

Relations among indices of maternal mind-mindedness (appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments) and children's: (a) internal state vocabulary and perspectival symbolic play at 26 months ("N" = 206), and (b) theory of mind (ToM) at 51 months ("n" = 161) were investigated. Appropriate comments were positively…

In one of the first open diffusion experiments with young children, a tool-use task that afforded multiple methods to extract an enclosed reward and a child model habitually using one of these methods were introduced into different playgroups. Eighty-eight children, ranging in age from 2 years 8 months to 4 years 5 months, participated. Measures…

This review of literature presents research about young children's (ages 2-8) early experiences with comprehension. Using a theoretical framework for emergent comprehension, the review demonstrates how each research study contributes to a holistic theory of emergent comprehension. Influences on emergent comprehension such as children's…

Two studies were carried out in an attempt to replicate an earlier but controversial set of findings that suggested that young children are able to understand pretence in a mentalistic sense (Hickling, Wellman, & Gottfried, 1997). In Study 1, 65 three-year-olds and 77 four-year-olds were asked to either judge the thoughts of an absent teddy bear,…

Sibling relationships appear important in fostering young children's growing theory-of-mind skills, but the quality of sibling interactions has rarely been investigated directly in relation to children's mental-state awareness (e.g. as indexed by talk about perceptions, desires, feelings, cognitions, i.e. inner state talk; IST). This study…