Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2019-09-05T00:00:00Z
This eye-tracking study investigates whether age-related changes in the ability to take perspective influence narrative text comprehension. Thirty-two typically-developing children (M = 11.73; SD =...Show moreThis eye-tracking study investigates whether age-related changes in the ability to take perspective influence narrative text comprehension. Thirty-two typically-developing children (M = 11.73; SD = 0.74) and 34 young adults (M = 21.02; SD = 1.98) read stories in which the need to use perspective-taking abilities was systematically varied. The offline measure (after reading) suggested that adults were better and faster at making inferences in general, and both 10-12-year-olds and 18-25-year-olds were faster in making an inference in the complex perspective-taking condition (which required them to take the perspective of one of the story characters and imagine how this character would react to the intentions, thoughts, or feelings of another story character) compared to the control condition (which required them to make an inference about physical causality with regard to an object). The reading process itself revealed that 18-25-year-olds read stories faster across all conditions we examined. In addition, both 10-12-year-olds as well as adults revealed the longest reading times in the most difficult condition in which complex perspective-taking was needed to draw inferences. Stories in which the interaction between two story characters has to be taken into account are processed differently compared to stories in which no social-cognitive information is needed, as well as compared to when one only has to take the perspective of one story character. Narratives in which perspective-taking is crucial for comprehension are more difficult to process, even for adults, but are better represented in the situation model readers construct.Show less
Introduction: Research on the development of executive functions (EF) in children can focus on multiple facets, but can also focus on a specific part such as planning, working memory and inhibition...Show moreIntroduction: Research on the development of executive functions (EF) in children can focus on multiple facets, but can also focus on a specific part such as planning, working memory and inhibition. The various executive functions can be distinguished clearly from each other, but cannot be seen independently. There is no clear data on the differences in the development of EF between boys and girls in their childhood. The present study focuses on the development of the executive functions planning, inhibition and working memory in boys and girls aged four to seven years over a period of one year. Methods: This study consisted of 462 children of the data from the ongoing study ‘Talentenkracht’. The data was collected between January to April 2009 (T1) and between January to May 2010 (T2). In this study, the executive functions planning (subtest "zoo map" of the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome for Children (BADS-NL)), inhibition (subtest GoNoGo of the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks (ANT)) and working memory (subtest Spatial Temporal Sequencing (STS) on the ANT) were investigated. Using paired-samples T-tests and univariate analyses of variance, the relation and development of the three executive functions, gender and age have been studied. Results: This study involved 247 boys (53.5%) and 215 girls (46.5%). The mean age (M) at T1 was 5.2 years and at T2 6.2 years. The mean outcome on T1 for planning was -1.45, inhibition 34.4 and working memory 12.0. This was at T2 -1.03, 28.4 and 22.4, respectively. For boys and girls, there was a significant difference in mean outcomes between T1 and T2 for inhibition and working memory. The development of inhibition has a significant relationship with gender at T1 and T2. Both measurements remained significantly different after adjustment for age. In the development of the working memory, there is both a significant relationship with age at T1 as well as at T2. Conclusions: The present study showed differences in the development of the executive functions planning, inhibition and working memory in boys and girls aged four to seven years. Apart from the expected (natural) development of the EF over a period of 11.3 months average, gender was also a profound influence on inhibition. As for planning, no significant results did occur. In the development of the EF memory, time is more indicative than gender.Show less
