Pantomime and Theory of Mind

Abstract

The relationship between pretense and the child's theory of mind (ToM) has recently become a major research interest in developmental psychology. Over the preschool years, pantomime, or gestural representation, progresses from object substitution by body parts (BPO) to imaginary object (IO) gestures without environmental support. In the present study, the authors investigated whether pantomime is a form of pretense that is linked to ToM development. Forty-four children between age 3 and 4 were tested. An association between IO pantomime and ToM measured by false-belief and appearance-reality tasks was observed. Those children who passed the ToM tasks produced significantly more IO pantomimes than those who did not pass the tasks. The association continued to be significant even when age was partialed out. Modeling IO pantomimes to the children did not improve their performance. The results therefore suggest that the lack of IO pantomime in younger children is not the result of preference. Different reasons for the observed association between ToM and IO pantomime are discussed.