ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the relation between cognitive and affective components of theory of mind (ToM) in school-aged children and persuasion abilities. One-hundred forty-three normotypical school children aged 6 to 12 were administered cognitive and affective ToM tasks and one persuasion production task. A set of regression models showed that only the affective ToM component can predict both the persuasion total scores and all its indicators' scores. Children with a greater ability to attribute emotional mental states do not only produce a wider variety of persuasive arguments but also arguments focused on the persuadee and those with mental-related content. Both Hidden Emotion and Belief-Emotion (negative) tasks have been predictive of persuasion total scores. This study provides data on specific contribution of cognitive ToM and affective ToM on indicators of variety and quality of persuasive arguments independently.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze how the reading process of deaf Spanish elementary school students is affected both by those components that explain reading comprehension according to the Simple View of Reading model: decoding and linguistic comprehension (both lexical and grammatical) and by other variables that are external to the reading process: the type of assistive technology used, the age at which it is implanted or fitted, the participant's socioeconomic status and school stage. DESIGN: Forty-seven students aged between 6 and 13 years participated in the study; all presented with profound or severe prelingual bilateral deafness, and all used digital hearing aids or cochlear implants. Students' text comprehension skills, decoding skills and oral comprehension skills (both lexical and grammatical) were evaluated. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis indicated that neither the type of assistive technology, age at time of fitting or activation, socioeconomic status, nor school stage could predict the presence or absence of difficulties in text comprehension. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis indicated that neither decoding skills, nor lexical age could predict competency in text comprehension; however, grammatical age could explain 41% of the variance. Probing deeper into the effect of grammatical understanding, logistic regression analysis indicated that a participant's understanding of reversible passive object-verb-subject sentences and reversible predicative subject-verb-object sentences accounted for 38% of the variance in text comprehension. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, we suggest that it might be beneficial to devise and evaluate interventions that focus specifically on grammatical comprehension.
Subject(s)
Comprehension , Deafness/psychology , Reading , Students , Adolescent , Age Factors , Child , Cochlear Implantation , Cochlear Implants , Deafness/rehabilitation , Female , Hearing Aids , Humans , Logistic Models , Male , Social ClassABSTRACT
Las habilidades de teoría de la mente (ToM) de los niños han sido relacionadas con la aceptación y con el rechazo que reciben por parte de sus iguales. Este estudio pretende explorar si la habilidad de atribución de estados mentales repercute, adicionalmente, en la precisión con que perciben si son o no socialmente aceptados. Los objetivos de este trabajo se centran en la relación entre las habilidades de teoría de la mente de los niños, el nivel de aceptación que reciben por parte de sus iguales y la precisión diádica con la que perciben ese nivel de aceptación. Los participantes fueron 87 niños (45 niñas) de entre 5 y 11 años. Se les administraron una selección de tareas de ToM cognitiva y de ToM afectiva así como una cuestionario sociométrico. Los resultados confirman una relación positiva entre ToM y aceptación por los iguales y una relación negativa entre aceptación y auto-percepción social. Además, se aportan datos sobre rendimiento en tareas específicas de ToM asociado a la percepción de la aceptación. La atribución de estados mentales es una variable útil para percibir las señales del entorno social y hacer un uso correcto de ella permite la adaptación al grupo
Childrens Theory of Mind (ToM) skills have previously been related to the degree of acceptance and rejection they receive from their peers. This study aims to explore whether childrens ability to attribute mental states also affects the precision with which they perceive whether or not they themselves are socially accepted. The objective of this paper is to explore the relationship between childrens ToM skills, the level of peer acceptance and the dyadic precision with which they perceive this level of social acceptance. Eighty-seven children (45 girls) aged between 5 and 11 years old participated in the study. Participants were given a selection of cognitive ToM tasks, affective ToM tasks and a sociometric questionnaire. The results demonstrate a positive relationship between ToM and peer acceptance and a negative relationship between peer acceptance and social self-perception. In addition the study provides performance data on specific ToM tasks associated with individual perception of peer acceptance. Attribution of mental states is an effective variable to perceive social signals and, used correctly, enables social adaptation
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Child, Preschool , Child , Theory of Mind , Self Concept , Social Perception , Interpersonal Relations , Social Desirability , Social Skills , Social Adjustment , Child Behavior/psychology , Peer Group , Sociometric TechniquesABSTRACT
Las nuevas tecnologías audioprotésicas proporcionan a los niños sordos una discriminación de la palabra impensable hace unos años. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el desarrollo gramatical de niños sordos que emplean dichas tecnologías y comprobar qué variables inciden en las diferencias interindividuales. Se ha evaluado a 32 niños de entre 3 y 7 años con pérdidas auditivas prelocutivas bilaterales superiores a 70 dB, que emplean audífono de programación digital o implante coclear unilateral o bilateral. A cada participante se le administró la prueba Escalas de Desarrollo del Lenguaje de Reynell III, que incluye una escala de comprensión verbal y otra de lenguaje expresivo. Los resultados muestran que solo un 30% de los participantes alcanza un desarrollo lingüístico normalizado. En la escala de comprensión, la dificultad comienza en oraciones que relacionan más de 2 elementos, y se hace muy patente en pasivas y subordinadas. En expresión, la gramática que resulta más compleja a la mayoría es la correspondiente a la edad de 3 años. Y también se detectan dificultades importantes en la flexión de verbos en pasado, tercera persona y plural de sustantivos. La edad de colocación de la prótesis o el implante resulta ser la variable más explicativa, y a ella se suma el nivel sociocultural familiar (AU)
The new auditory technologies provide deaf children with auditory speech discrimination that was unthinkable a few years ago. The aim of this study was to analyze grammatical development in deaf children using new auditory technologies, and to confirm which variables account for intersubject differences. We evaluated 32 children (aged 3-7 years) with bilateral and congenital or pre-speech deafness and hearing loss greater than 70 dB, who used digital hearing aids or cochlear implants. The Reynell Developmental Language Scales III was administered in each child. The results showed that only 30% of the participants demonstrated age-appropriate language skills. In language comprehension, sentences connecting more than 2 elements caused difficulties, which were greater when these sentences were passive and subordinate. In expressive language, a grammatical level equivalent to that in 3-year-olds caused the most difficulty for most of the participants. Expressive language related to inflections of past tense and third person verbs, and plural noun construction also caused difficulties. The most explanatory variable was age at implantation and at prosthesis fitting in deaf children. The family's sociocultural level was also important (AU)
