The roles of explanation and feedback in false belief understanding: a microgenetic analysis

J Genet Psychol. 2013 May-Jun;174(3):225-52. doi: 10.1080/00221325.2012.682101.

Abstract

The authors examined effects of feedback and explanation on false belief performance. Thirty-three children (42-54 months; 15 girls, 18 boys) were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions: explanation, feedback, feedback researcher explains, and feedback child explains. Children completed false belief tasks during pretraining, 8 training sessions, and posttraining across 6 weeks. Language comprehension was assessed at pretraining. The authors hypothesized that children would improve most when training involved feedback and explanation. Generalized estimating equations modeling was used to analyze the data. Children who received feedback and generated explanations for characters' false beliefs improved across training sessions more so than children in other conditions. Children's explanations for false beliefs also were explored. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Child Development / physiology*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Comprehension / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language Tests
  • Male
  • Models, Statistical
  • Psychological Tests
  • Theory of Mind / physiology*
  • Thinking / physiology*