Executive Functions And Theory Of Mind In Senior Preschool Age

Abstract

The goal of our study is to specify the role of executive functions in cognitive and social development in preschool age. This research examined the relation between individual differences in all three components of executive functioning (working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition) and theory of mind performance in senior preschool-age children. The study involved 267 children aged 5-6 years (143 boys and 124 girls), pupils of the older kindergarten groups in Moscow. The study used NEPSY-II diagnostic complex subtests aimed at diagnosing the level of executive functions and social development («Theory of mind» is one of them). We also used the Raven’s progressive matrix test, the DCCS method and the Test of Emotion Comprehension. The obtained result’s analysis showed the significant connection between all three components of executive functions and theory of mind. Three types of development of regulatory functions in preschool children were identified. Children belonging to different types shown differences in the successfulness of the theory of mind’s tasks performing. Our results provide important details about understanding the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind development in the senior preschool age and practical implications for child’s future academic success, which requires high level of regulation and socio-emotional competence.