ABSTRACT
This longitudinal study investigated the roles of elementary schoolers' executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) as predictors in their academic achievements in Japanese language skills (e.g., speaking and listening ability, writing ability, reading ability, and linguistic knowledge) from first through fifth grade. We assessed the EF, ToM, and academic achievements of 85 Japanese elementary schoolers, when they were grade 1 (M = 90.19 months) and grade 3 (M = 114.34 months). Moreover, academic achievements of same children tested in grade 5 (M = 137.92 months). A path analysis revealed that EF abilities in Grades 1 and 3 predicted Japanese language achievement via ToM ability, and EF and ToM in Grade 1 had an indirect effect on achievements in Grades 3 and 5. Further, Japanese language skills achievement in Grade 1 predicted EF ability in Grade 3 and EF predicted achievement in Grade 5. These findings indicate the vital role of elementary schoolers' EF on academic achievement in Japan.
ABSTRACT
Recent studies indicate the need to investigate the sources of toddlers' understanding of another person's pretense. The present study is a cultural and longitudinal extension of the work of Lillard and Witherington (2004), who claimed that mothers modify their behaviors during pretense and that the some of these behavior modifications help their toddlers understand maternal pretense. Experiment 1 investigated whether mothers would change their behaviors during pretense with a sample of 31 Japanese mother-infant pairs. Experiment 2, with a subsample of 20 mother-child pairs who had participated in Experiment 1, examined whether the maternal behavior modifications at 18 months predicted their toddlers' understanding of pretense at 24 months. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that Japanese mothers smiled more frequently, gazed at their toddlers longer, used sound effects more frequently, and engaged in more frequent snack-related actions in a "pretense condition" than in a "real condition." In addition, some of these behaviors were significantly related to their toddlers' apparent understanding of pretense. Experiment 2 showed that both the frequency of maternal smiles and the number of sound effects in the pretense condition at 18 months predicted toddlers' understanding of the pretense enacted by a strange adult at 24 months. This research indicates the impact of maternal behavior modifications during pretense on the development of symbolic thought in the 2nd year of life.
