A Plausible role of Imagination in Pretense, Executive Functions, and Counterfactual Reasoning

Abstract

This study investigated the relation between pretense, counterfactual reasoning (CFR), and executive functions (EFs) based on the ‘Unifying Theory of Imaginative Processes’ proposed by Weisberg & Gopnik (2013). An observational study tested a hypothetical model of the structural relation between pretense and CFR and whether a second-order factor explains their shared associations. 189 typically developing children (Mean age = 58 months, SD = 4 months; males = 101, females = 88) were recruited from Cambridgeshire, UK and completed pretend-play, CFR, EFs, and language tasks. Pretense and CFR constructs were significantly correlated (r = 0.57, p = .001) and the hypothetical model was a good fit of the data. The empirical evidence provides initial support to the unifying theory of imaginative processes.