Test Of Emotion Comprehension Research Articles

Development of emotion comprehension in children with autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome.

Although research has shed light on the development of emotion comprehension in typically developing children, little is known about emotion comprehension in children who are developing atypically. Thus, this study examined the developmental trajectory of emotion understanding in non-clinical (NC) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) using a Test of Emotion Comprehension. In the test, we measured children's understanding of (I) recognition of emotions based on facial expressions, (II) external causes of emotions, (III) desire-based emotions, (IV) belief-based emotions, (V) the influence of a reminder on a present emotional state, (VI) regulating an experienced emotion, (VII) hiding an emotional state, (VIII) mixed emotions, and (IX) moral emotions. A Bayesian modeling approach was applied to compare the developmental trajectories of emotion understanding across the syndrome groups. The results revealed that NC children and children with WS followed significantly different developmental trajectories in specific aspects of emotion understanding, while children with ASD followed a very similar path to NC children. Children with ASD and NC children gradually developed an understanding of each component of emotion comprehension as they matured. However, the understanding of some components, such as desire-based emotions, hiding an emotional state, and moral emotions, in children with WS was affected by their Autism Spectrum Quotient scores. This is one of the first cross-syndrome studies to assess the development of emotion comprehension in children with ASD and WS, providing important insights for understanding the nature of disability and advancing the development of intervention programs.

Exploring the relations of executive functions with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills in preschool children: parents vs. teachers reports

This study investigated the executive functions (EF) of preschool children and their associations with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills, using parent and teacher reports. A total of 130 children aged 34 to 71 months participated. The preschool version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-P) was completed by both parents and teachers to assess behavioral difficulties in the use of EFs, while children were administered the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), the Test of Language Evaluation (TVL), and the Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM). Statistical analyses revealed significant differences between parents’ and teachers’ reports, with parents attributing to children more EF difficulties than parents. Children’s EF difficulties were negatively associated with emotion comprehension, language ability, and non-verbal intelligence, although correlations were stronger when using teachers’ reports. The value of using indirect measurement of preschoolers’ EF problems and the importance of adopting a multi-informant approach are discussed.

Affect Recognition, Theory of Mind, and Empathy in Preschool Children with Externalizing Behavior Problems-A Group Comparison and Developmental Psychological Consideration.

Preschool mental disorders are often associated with significant interpersonal problems, related to impaired affect recognition, theory of mind (ToM), and empathy. To date, these skills have not been studied together in preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBPs). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether and to what extent preschool children with EBPs show impairments in affect recognition, ToM, and empathy. Preschoolers with EBPs, defined by current psychiatric treatment and T-scores ≥ 60 on the externalizing problem scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1½-5 or 6-18R) were compared to non-clinical controls (HCs), defined by no past and no current psychiatric treatment and T-scores < 60 on all CBCL broad-band scales. Groups were compared on affect recognition (NEuroPSYchological Assessment-II), affective ToM (Test of Emotion Comprehension), cognitive ToM (Extended Theory-of-Mind Scale), parent-reported emotional contagion, attention to others' feelings, and prosocial action (Empathy Questionnaire), IQ and language (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III Matrices, Active and Passive Vocabulary test), controlling for age, sex, and language abilities. Compared to 28 HCs, 22 preschoolers with EBPs (total sample meanage = 5.5 years +/- 0.8 years, range= 4.2-6.9 years, males 66%) had significantly greater impairments in cognitive ToM (p = 0.0012, η2 = 0.266), attention to others' feelings (p = 0.0049, η2 = 0.222), and prosocial action (p = 0.0070, η2 = 0.210), each representing strong effect sizes. EBPs were significantly related to cognitive domains, like prosocial action (r = -0.501), cognitive ToM (r = -0.425), and attention to others' feelings (r = -0.332), but not to affective domains of social cognition. Social cognitive development may be impaired as early as preschool age and should be promoted before the child starts school.

Emotion Understanding in Polish Children: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Polish, British, and Italian Children

Abstract Emotion understanding (EU) is the capacity to understand the nature, causes, and consequences of the emotional experience of the self and others. The cultural differences and similarities in the development of EU are still not well recognized, especially within Slavic culture and language. We tested 180 Polish children aged 5–11 years using the Test of Emotion Comprehension and compared their results with data from British and Italian children. We revealed a similar pattern of EU development between the three groups, showing a growing number of the core EU components with age. In all samples, the three difficulty-differentiated clusters of EU components were distinguishable. Some cultural differences were observed only in a few EU components – especially, British and Italian children recognized the cognitively-based individualistic aspect of emotions to a higher degree than Polish children. These results supplement the current knowledge about EU development in children within European cultures.

“Are we both right?” relations between theory of mind and epistemic humility in dyadic cooperative problem-solving in 5- to 9-year-old children

The current study addresses the question of the relation between ToM and children's epistemic humility - the tendency to acknowledge the limitations of one's knowledge while being open to another's input during socio-cognitive conflict regulation - in a cooperative problem-solving context. Sixty-four boys and girls between the ages of 5 to 9 years (32 same-gender dyads) were tested for their ToM with the Theory of Mind Test (TMT) and The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), and for their epistemic humility through an analysis of their spontaneous verbal interactions during the resolution of a dyadic spatial transformation task. The results showed that children with higher levels of ToM more frequently showed more epistemic humility when faced with conflicting ideas, even when age was taken into account. The results are discussed in terms of the processes underlying socio-cognitive conflict regulation in peer cooperation and their educational implications.

The link between emotion comprehension and cognitive perspective taking in theory of mind (ToM): a study of preschool children.

The study examined the relation between perspective taking embedded in theory of mind (ToM) and emotion comprehension (EC) in young children. Our study involved children from Poland aged 3-6 (N = 99; 54% boys) from public and private kindergartens residing mainly in urban areas, whose parents could mostly be classified as middle class. The children were examined with the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) and three tasks targeting three aspects of ToM: a first-order false belief task, an appearance-reality test, and a mental states opacity task. The results showed similarities in performances between these different measures. However, only the opacity task predicted the emotion comprehension test results (η2 = 0.13). The results indicate that the key element of ToM that explains individual differences in children's emotion comprehension is the full-blown understanding of perspective taking, namely that having access to an object under one description does not ensure access to that object under all descriptions. In the research, we took also into account the linguistic side of such specific competences as ToM and EC, which allowed us to see the role of language in scaffolding the development of children's ability to handle such socially fundamental tasks as understanding emotions and epistemic states.

Empathy at school project: Effects of didactics of emotions® on emotional competence, cortisol secretion and inflammatory profile in primary school children. A controlled longitudinal psychobiological study

BackgroundThere is mounting evidence of the presence of chronic stress among children during primary school: girls and boys under the age of 15 years often experience anxiety, irritability and sleeping problems with negative consequences on scholastic climate and the spread of bullying and dropping out of school. The promotion of emotion regulation within school environment through innovative didactic methodologies represents a valuable tool for teachers and parents to reduce emotional distress and associated risk behaviours and to promote wellbeing. AimOur research aims to explore the psychological and biological consequences of teaching emotional training in an experimental group of Italian Primary School children. MethodsA sample of pupils (81 children aged between 6 and 8) was divided into an experimental group (33 subjects) and a control group (30 subjects). A further advanced group of 18 subjects, who have experienced the method in the previous school year, was also included. The experimental study lasted one school year (from October 2021 to May 2022). The following psychological tests were administered to all groups: TEC (Test of Emotion Comprehension) to measure the children's different emotional abilities and the Projective test (PT) 'A person in the rain', to identify the coping skills of children in a stressful condition. Morning salivary cortisol, IL-6 and TNF-alpha assays were conducted in all three groups. Psychological and biological tests were administered at the beginning of the study and at the end of the study. ResultsThe MR-Anova model for TEC score showed that there was not a significant group effect [Fgroup = 2.24, p = 0.114]. Pairwise comparisons showed that mean score significantly increased only in the Experimental group (pB < 0.001) and at the end of the project there was a significant difference between Experimental group and Control group (pB = 0.012). The mean score of PT test increased significantly from baseline to the end of the project for the Experimental group (pB < 0.001) and for the Advanced group (pB = 0.004). At the end of the project, there were significant differences between the Experimental group and the Control group (pB = 0.004) and between the Advanced group and the Control group (pB < 0.001). Salivary cortisol analysis revealed a significant effect between subjects [Fgroup = 9.66; p < 0.001] and significant effects within subjects with the main effect of the time [Ftime = 35.41; p < 0.001] and the significant interaction “time x group” [Ftimexgroup = 3.38; p = 0.040]. Pairwise comparisons showed that cortisol levels decreased significantly over time only in the Experimental group (pB < 0.001). Regarding to IL-6 levels, there was not a significant effect between subjects [Fgroups = 0.0481; p = 0.953]. The mean level decreased significantly for each group from baseline to post project (pB < 0.001). With respect to TNF-alpha levels, the mean levels decreased over time for all groups (pB = 0.006 for Experimental group; pB < 0.001 either for the Advanced or Control group). Conclusionthe results documented in the experimental groups who experienced didactics of emotion for at least one school year show a significant increase in children's ability to cope with reality, stress and anxiety, and an improvement of their emotional competence. Meanwhile, a significant reduction in the amount of salivary cortisol was observed in the experimental group at the end of the scholastic year; meantime a stable reduced amount of salivary cortisol in advanced group throughout the project was also observed. These findings show that an intervention through an emotional education program is able to regulate interpersonal skills and the stress axis response.

Effect of Online Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders on Emotion Perception of School-Aged Children with Cochlear Implant

Background and Aim: Emotion perception means the ability to identify, predict and explain one’s own emotions and those of others. Less attention has been paid to the psychosocial effects of hearing loss such as emotion perception. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders on emotion perception of children with Cochlear Implant (CI).&#x0D; Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest/post-test/follow-up design. Participants were 18 children with CI aged 8–11 years and their mothers were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. All mothers and their children in the experimental group received the Unified Protocol (UP) program online at 20 sessions twice a week. For the evaluation of emotion perception, we used the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) which had high internal consistency. For statistical analyses, descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA were used.&#x0D; Results: Mean score of emotion comprehension test at the mental and reflective levels and its overall score were significantly different between pretest and post-test and between pretest and follow-up phases in both group. The difference in the external level of emotion perception was not significant among three phases in any groups.&#x0D; Conclusion: The UP program can positively affect the emotion perception in children with CI, especially in more difficult levels (mental and reflective), and its effects remain stable three months after the intervention.&#x0D; Keywords: Emotion; children; cochlear implants; perception; transdiagnostic treatment.

Early Neuro-Psychomotor Therapy Intervention for Theory of Mind and Emotion Recognition in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Pilot Study.

The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of early neuro-psychomotor therapy to improve theory of mind skills and emotion recognition in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. A pilot study was set up, consisting of in-group training activities based on the neuro-psychomotor approach. Children were evaluated using Neuropsychological Assessment for Child (Nepsy-II), Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), and Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). For data analysis, one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test was used with a significance of p < 0.05. Two children with a developmental language disorder and four children with autism spectrum disorders participated in a 3-month training program. Our findings revealed significant improvement in emotion recognition, as measured with Nepsy-II (p = 0.04), while no statistical improvement was found for theory of mind. Despite the limited sample, early neuro-psychomotor therapy improves emotion recognition skills in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, considering the explorative nature of the study, findings should be interpreted with caution.

Emotion Understanding in Bilingual Preschoolers.

The effects of bilingualism on child development have been extensively examined in last decades. Research reveals that simultaneous use of two or more languages affects child’s language development, cognitive and social skills. The current study focuses on the so-far understudied theory of emotion understanding in bilingual children. A cohort of 593 bilingual and monolingual 5–6-year-olds took the Russian version of the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) that assesses three components of emotion understanding: emotion understanding of external causes of emotions, reflective causes of emotions; and mental causes of emotions. Our results revealed no group differences between overall emotion understanding and understanding of external and reflective causes of emotions. However, monolingual children had a slightly better understanding of mental causes of emotions compared to bilingual children, when controlling for age, gender, and non-verbal intelligence. These results suggest that children growing up in bilingual environments might require more time and/or language/culture exposure to master the ability to understand mental causes of emotions, taking into account cultural differences, as well as the semantic and lexical differences in emotion labelling and emotion expression in each language.

Spanish validation of the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC) in preschool and elementary children: Relationship with emotion knowledge

AbstractEmotion Regulation is one of the most widely studied variables in child development. However, it is a complex construct, and there are few validated instruments to evaluate children. The main goal of this study was to test the factorial structure of the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC) in two samples of Spanish children, one with 284 preschool children (48.3% girls; M = 4.38) and the other with 323 elementary school children (49.2% girls; M = 8.82). The ERC was completed by the children's teachers. Although this instrument has been validated in different cultural contexts, no studies have analyzed its psychometric properties in Spanish samples. An examination of the internal structure, using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM), revealed that the original two‐factor model (Emotion Regulation and Lability/Negativity) fitted the elementary school children's data well; however, in the sample of preschool children, the factorial model showed poor goodness‐of‐fit indices. The reliability of the ERC subscales was .77 for ER and .88 for L/N in the preschool‐aged sample, and .80 for ER and .77 for L/N in the sample of elementary school children. In addition, the relationship between the ERC and the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) was explored. L/N correlated negatively and significantly with TEC in the sample of elementary school children. These findings provide some support for the use of the Spanish teachers’ version of the ERC with elementary school children.

Socioemotional Development in the Preschool Period: Investigating the Predictive Role of Temperament, Language Development, and Emotion Comprehension

The present study aimed to investigate the predictive role played by temperament, language and emotion comprehension skills in social competence and behavior problems in the preschool period. The sample consisted of 223 children aged between 39-83 months, their mothers, and 48 preschool teachers who were recruited from 16 municipal preschools located in two central districts of Istanbul through convenient sampling. Children’s social competence was measured through teacher report of Social Competence Behavior Evaluation-Preschool Edition, Short Form (SCBE-30), and children’s behavior problems were evaluated with the related subscales of mother report of Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and teacher report of the SCBE-30. Temperament, receptive language development and emotion comprehension skills were measured through Children's Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (CBQ-VSF), Turkish version of Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition (TELD-3:T), and Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), respectively. The predictive role of each child characteristics in social competence and behavior problems was tested with a series of hierarchical linear regression analyses. Findings indicated that emotion comprehension skills significantly and language development and temperamental effortful control marginally predicted children’s social competence. Further, while temperamental negative affect and effortful control were significant predictors of both externalizing and internalizing problems, externalizing problems were also predicted by language development. The ways findings of this study can contribute to intervention programs that aim to prevent behavior problems and enhance social competence in the preschool period were discussed.

Impact of mothers’ IPV-PTSD on their capacity to predict their child’s emotional comprehension and its relationship to their child’s psychopathology

ABSTRACT Background Previous studies demonstrated that when the violence-exposed child becomes a mother and interacts with her own child during early sensitive periods for social-emotional development, she may have difficulties providing sensitive responsiveness to the child’s emotional communication. Such difficulties place the child’s development of emotional comprehension (EC) and related self-regulation at risk. The aim of this study was to examine how mothers’ interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic disorder (IPV-PTSD) would affect their children’s EC and their own ability to predict their children’s EC. We also investigated how mothers’ predictive ability would correlate with child psychopathology. Methods Sixty-one mother–child dyads (36 with IPV-PTSD) participated in this study. Children’s (mean age = 7.0 years, SD = 1.1) EC was assessed with the Test of Emotion Comprehension (child TEC) and their psychopathology as reported by the mother was assessed with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and as evaluated by a clinician using selected modules of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS). Mothers were measured for IPV-PTSD with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and for their capacity to predict their child’s emotional comprehension (mother-responding-as-child TEC; mTEC). Results We found no significant between-group differences in children’s level of EC. Maternal PTSD was associated with lower scores on the mTEC, however. Reduced maternal scores on the mTEC were significantly associated with maternal report of increased aggressive child behaviour and with depression symptoms on the K-SADS. Further, scores on the mTEC interacted with maternal report of child aggression on child oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms on the K-SADS. Conclusion These findings support that improving maternal emotional comprehension may help reduce child risk for psychiatric morbidity in this population.

Culture shapes preschoolers’ emotion recognition but not emotion comprehension: a cross-cultural study in Germany and Singapore

AbstractContemporary approaches suggest that emotions are shaped by culture. Children growing up in different cultures experience culture-specific emotion socialization practices. As a result, children growing up in Western societies (e.g., US or UK) rely on explicit, semantic information, whereas children from East Asian cultures (e.g., China or Japan) are more sensitive towards implicit, contextual cues when confronted with others’ emotions. The aim of the present study was to investigate two aspects of preschoolers’ emotion understanding (emotion recognition and emotion comprehension) in a cross-cultural setting. To this end, Singaporean and German preschoolers were tested with an emotion recognition task employing European-American and East Asian child’s faces and the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC; Pons et al., 2004). In total, 129 German and Singaporean preschoolers (mean age 5.34 years) participated. Results indicate that preschoolers were able to recognize emotions of child’s faces above chance level. In line with previous findings, Singaporean preschoolers were more accurate in recognizing emotions from facial stimuli compared to German preschoolers. Accordingly, Singaporean preschoolers outperformed German preschoolers in the Recognition component of the TEC. The overall performance in TEC did not differ between the two samples. Findings of this study provide further evidence that emotion understanding is culturally shaped in accordance with culture-specific emotion socialization practices.

60-72 AYLIK ÇOCUKLAR İÇİN DUYGULARI ANLAMA TESTİ’NİN TÜRKİYE UYARLAMASI: GEÇERLİ

The ability to understand emotions, which has been gained since early childhood, is of great importance at the point of gaining emotional competence. We can consolidate emotional competence of children by defining their emotional competence and making regulations in need from early times. In this direction, a valid and reliable measurement tool is needed to measure the ability in understanding emotions of preschool children including Syrian refugee children. The aim of this study is to conduct the validity and reliability study of the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), developed by Pons and Harris (2000), in Turkey. The sample of the study consist of 388 children 263 of whom are Turkish and 125 are Syrian refuge children who are selected from 60-72 months old children studying in kindergartens affiliated to the ministry of national education in Mersin province Akdeniz,Toros,Mezitli and Yenişehir central districts. First, the scale was translated from English to Turkish by three different linguists. Then, it was translated back into English by three other language experts and the consistency between the texts was checked. In addition, the comprehensibility of the items was tested by making a pilot application. The tasks expected from children in the scale were evaluated by pre-school education and measurement field experts. In order to determine the construct validity within the scope of the research, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed. As a result of the analyzes, it was determined that the scale exhibited a two-dimensional structure consisting of seven components with 23 items, and it was seen that acceptable fit indices were obtained (χ2/sd=1.84; RMSEA=0.046; CFI= 0.94; TLI=0.90; SRMR=0,10). When factor loading values are examined, ıt was seen that the values for the external dimension are between 0.49 and 0.95; For the Mental and Reflective dimensions, it was found to be between 0.21 and 0.82. In order to obtain information about the reliability of the test, the Mcdonald omega coefficient was examined, 0.81 for the first sub-dimension; 0.56 for the second sub-dimension and 0.81 for the whole scale. These results show that the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) is a valid and reliable tool for assessing children’s ability to understand emotions in Turkey.

Взаимосвязь диалектического мышления и понимания эмоций у старших дошкольников

This study aims to clarify the methodological status of the category “activity Theoretical foundations of the relationship between child’s cognitive and emotional development were formulated in the works of Russian and international authors. We consider a child's dialectical thinking genesis as one of the cognitive development lines. This research aimed to study the relationship between dialectical thinking and emotion understanding in older preschool children. It was assumed that there is a significant relationship between emotion understanding and the success of children in completing three particular dialectical tasks, such as overcoming contradictions, understanding the simplest developmental processes and making a creative product. This study included 148 children, aged 5—6. We evaluated the level of non-verbal intelligence, dialectical thinking and emotion understanding using the following techniques: “Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices”, “Drawing an unusual tree”, “Cycles”, “What can be both at the same time?” and the Russian version of the “Test of Emotion Comprehension”. Correlational analysis of the resulting data revealed significant relationships between non-verbal intelligence, indicators of dialectical thinking and the overall level of emotion understanding. When controlling non-verbal intelligence, linear hierarchical regression analysis was used to demonstrate a significant contribution of dialectical thinking to the dispersion of values according to the general level of emotion understanding. The research results are of practical importance and make it possible to use transforming (understanding the simplest developmental processes and making a creative product) and overcoming contradictions as developmental tasks when working with children aged 5—6.

Testing TIK (Tuning in to Kids) with TEC (Test of Emotion Comprehension): Does enhanced emotion socialization improve child emotion understanding?

This study examined the predictive link between enhanced parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) and children's emotional understanding. Parental ERSBs were enhanced using the Tuning in to Kids (TIK; Havighurst & Harley, 2007) parenting intervention, and children's emotional understanding was directly assessed using the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC; Pons & Harris, 2000). 40 children in their final year of kindergarten and one of their parents participated in the study. TIK led to positive changes in parental expressive encouragement. All children showed statistically significant improvements in emotion understanding at six-month follow-up. As expected, parental expressive encouragement positively predicted children's development of emotional understanding from baseline to follow-up. Thus, when parents encouraged children to talk about emotions, children's emotional understanding improved. Unexpectedly, emotion-focused responses (warm but dismissive) negatively predicted children's development of emotion understanding, Children's emotional understanding did not improve as much when parents responded with comfort and distraction. Implications are discussed.

La Comprensión Asíncrona de las Emociones Básicas: un Estudio Longitudinal con Niños de 3 a 5 Años

The aim of this study was to explore the developmental pattern of basic emotion understanding in children aged 3 to 5 years. We know that children identify first facial expressions and understand later the causes of emotions, but are emotions understood at the same time, at the same developmental moment? To carry out this study, a group of 103 boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 5 were evaluated longitudinally. Through the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) identification and causality of four basic emotions – sadness, joy, anger, and fear – were tested over three years. The results, according to previous studies, confirmed the hierarchical structure of these two components, being the identification of the facial expression the first component acquired and the understanding of the cause of the emotion the second component. In addition, it was observed that the understanding of these four emotions does not occur synchronously. For example, the cause of fear is reasonably well understood at the age of three, while the cause of anger seems to be understood later. In addition to deepening the developmental pattern of emotion knowledge, such results could help educators and clinicians to adjust educational programs aimed at improving knowledge and socio-emotional competence in children of this educational stage.

Executive function ratings in educational settings: concurrent relations with cognitive and affective theory of mind

ABSTRACT The present study examined the way in which behavioural difficulties in cool and hot EFs relate to measures of cognitive and affective ToM in preschoolers. A total of 144 children between 35 and 71 months were assessed with a first-order false-belief task (measuring cognitive ToM), the Test of Emotion Comprehension (measuring affective ToM) and a control task measuring productive language. Teachers filled in the preschool version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-P), a questionnaire examining children's difficulties in educational settings in five different areas tapping both cool (Working Memory, Shift, Plan/Organize) and hot EFs (Inhibition and Emotional Control). Multiple regressions showed that cognitive ToM was predicted by productive language and executive difficulties in the Working Memory subscales of the BRIEF-P, whereas affective ToM was only predicted by age and productive language. Similarities and differences with the results of previous studies are discussed.

Longitudinal evidence for an emotion-action lag on desire: The role of emotional understanding

Many previous studies have found that children understand much earlier what a character who has a false belief will do than what a character will feel. This gap between the understanding of action and emotion is known as the belief-emotion lag and to this day there is no convincing explanation as to why it happens. There are also no studies that have explored whether this same gap occurs in the understanding of desire. This longitudinal study had a twofold objective: to explore the existence of a lag between the prediction of action and emotion based on desire, and to search for the role that specific emotions could have in children’s answers. To this end, we administered the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) and the Theory of Mind (ToM) scale items to 103 children initially aged three years during the three courses of early childhood education.Results confirm the existence of a lag between the prediction of action and emotion based on desire. Besides replicating the well-known belief-emotion lag, we found that performance in prediction of emotion based on belief differed according to the emotion in question. Our discussion on the relationship between emotional and mental states knowledge suggest that the asynchronous development of emotional knowledge is a key point in understanding the lag. We also point out the limitations of the tasks and the instruments we use to evaluate emotion understanding in young children and suggest that researchers might use a broader and more functional approach to emotional development.