Evidence for a relation between executive function and pretense representation in preschool children

Carlson, Stephanie M.; White, Rachel E.; Davis-Unger, Angela C.

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.09.001

Cited by 135 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Three other studies found a relationship to laboratory tests of knowledge about pretend play (Albertson & Shore, 2009;Carlson, White, & Davis-Unger, 2012;Kelly, Hammond, Dissanayake, & Ihsen, 2011); however, the knowledge tests themselves appear to require EF. What would be most telling is if engaging in pretend play were itself related to EF.…”

Section: Executive Functionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence.

Lillard¹,

Lerner²,

Hopkins³

et al. 2013

Psychological Bulletin

628

495

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pretend play has been claimed to be crucial to children's healthy development. Here we examine evidence for this position versus 2 alternatives: Pretend play is 1 of many routes to positive developments (equifinality), and pretend play is an epiphenomenon of other factors that drive development. Evidence from several domains is considered. For language, narrative, and emotion regulation, the research conducted to date is consistent with all 3 positions but insufficient to draw conclusions. For executive function and social skills, existing research leans against the crucial causal position but is insufficient to differentiate the other 2. For reasoning, equifinality is definitely supported, ruling out a crucially causal position but still leaving open the possibility that pretend play is epiphenomenal. For problem solving, there is no compelling evidence that pretend play helps or is even a correlate. For creativity, intelligence, conservation, and theory of mind, inconsistent correlational results from sound studies and nonreplication with masked experimenters are problematic for a causal position, and some good studies favor an epiphenomenon position in which child, adult, and environment characteristics that go along with play are the true causal agents. We end by considering epiphenomenalism more deeply and discussing implications for preschool settings and further research in this domain. Our take-away message is that existing evidence does not support strong causal claims about the unique importance of pretend play for development and that much more and better research is essential for clarifying its possible role.

show abstract

Section: Executive Functionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence.

Lillard¹,

Lerner²,

Hopkins³

et al. 2013

Psychological Bulletin

628

495

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Delay inhibition tasks (e.g., delay of gratification tasks) require children to control impulses or inhibit an automatic response in the context of a reward. Conflict EF tasks require children to suppress a dominant response while executing a novel, conflicting response and holding information in working memory (Carlson & Moses, 2001; Carlson, White, & Davis-Unger, 2014). Conflict EF tasks include Stroop-like inhibition tasks (e.g., day/night, bear/dragon) and attention shifting tasks (e.g., dimensional change card sort [DCCS]; Bernier et al, 2010; Carlson & Moses, 2001; Carlson et al, 2004; Matte-Gagné & Bernier, 2011).…”

Section: Executive Function Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a responsiveness–focused intervention in family child care homes on children’s executive function

Merz

Landry

Johnson

et al. 2016

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Caregiver responsiveness has been theorized and found to support children’s early executive function (EF) development. This study examined the effects of an intervention that targeted family child care provider responsiveness on children’s EF. Family child care providers were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups or a control group. An intervention group that received a responsiveness-focused online professional development course and another intervention group that received this online course plus weekly mentoring were collapsed into one group because they did not differ on any of the outcome variables. Children (N = 141) ranged in age from 2.5 to 5 years (mean age = 3.58 years; 52% female). At pretest and posttest, children completed delay inhibition tasks (gift delay-wrap, gift delay-bow) and conflict EF tasks (bear/dragon, dimensional change card sort), and parents reported on the children’s level of attention problems. Although there were no main effects of the intervention on children’s EF, there were significant interactions between intervention status and child age for delay inhibition and attention problems. The youngest children improved in delay inhibition and attention problems if they were in the intervention rather than the control group, whereas older children did not. These results suggest that improving family child care provider responsive behaviors may facilitate the development of certain EF skills in young preschool-age children.

show abstract

“…Inhibitory control has previously been associated with performance on appearance-reality and false-belief tasks (e.g., Carlson, Moses, & Claxton, 2004;Leslie & Polizzi, 1998;Leslie, German & Polizzi, 2005), pretense (Carlson, White, & Davis-Unger, 2014) or judgment of emotional states (Bull, Phillips, & Conway, 2008), suggesting that it is conductive to suppressing one's current knowledge about reality or known facts. However, the role of inhibitory processes in perspective taking has rarely been investigated.…”

Section: Running Head: Spatial Perspective Taking and Inhibitory Contmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relation between spatial perspective taking and inhibitory control in 6-year-old children

Frick

Baumeler

2016

Psychological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evidence for a relation between executive function and pretense representation in preschool children

Cited by 135 publications

References 77 publications

The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence.

The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence.

Effects of a responsiveness–focused intervention in family child care homes on children’s executive function

The relation between spatial perspective taking and inhibitory control in 6-year-old children

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About