The author confirms that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

Funding information: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant/Award Numbers: 16K04327, 19K03274, 24530843

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Abstract

The development of a mind-reading ability, known as theory-of-mind (ToM), has been recognized as following a universal process, but the age at which the false-belief task is passed has been reported to have wide inter-group variabilities. Japanese children have been reported to acquire a false-belief understanding at a slightly older age than their western counterparts. The present study investigated the extent to which Japanese-children's understanding of ToM could be brought forward by using perspective-shifting training in conversational discourses. Japanese children aged 4.5 years-old, but not 4.0 years-old, improved their false-belief understanding after the training. However, this improvement was limited to their understanding of representation-change. Although it is hard to isolate the influence of language experiences and socio-culture aspects, training with perspective-shifting discourses in interactive contexts was effective in enhancing the development of mind-reading for 4.5 year old Japanese children.

Highlights

This study investigated the benefits of perspective-shifting training in conversational discourses for Japanese-children's theory-of-mind (ToM) understanding.

Japanese children aged 4.5 years-old, but not 4.0 years-old, improved their false-belief understanding after the training.

Perspective-shifting discourse training lowers the age at which Japanese children can understand ToM.

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Supporting Information

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Citing Literature

Volume29, Issue4

July/August 2020

e2178

Filename	Description
icd2178-sup-0001-TableS1.docxWord 2007 document , 28.8 KB	Table S1. Proportions for the all the correct responses in the pre-tests and post-tests
icd2178-sup-0002-supinfo.docxWord 2007 document , 38.6 KB	Appendix S1. Supporting Information

Perspective-shifting discourse training to improve young Japanese children's understanding of theory of mind

Abstract

Highlights

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Supporting Information

REFERENCES

Citing Literature

References

Information

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Perspective-shifting discourse training to improve young Japanese children's understanding of theory of mind

Abstract

Highlights

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Supporting Information

REFERENCES

Citing Literature

References

Related

Information