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Towards a better understanding of the relationship between executive control and theory of mind: an intra‐cultural comparison of three diverse samples

Overview of attention for article published in Developmental Science, November 2014
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Title
Towards a better understanding of the relationship between executive control and theory of mind: an intra‐cultural comparison of three diverse samples
Published in
Developmental Science, November 2014
DOI 10.1111/desc.12243
Pubmed ID
Authors

Ameneh Shahaeian, Julie D Henry, Maryam Razmjoee, Ali Teymoori, Cen Wang

Abstract

Previous research has consistently indicated that theory of mind (ToM) is associated with executive control in the preschool years. However, interpretation of this literature is limited by the fact that most studies have focused exclusively on urbanized Western cultural samples. Consequently, it is not clear whether the association between ToM and executive control reflects the specific features of this particular cohort or instead reflects a universal pattern. The present study provides the first empirical assessment of these two constructs in three diverse groups of Iranian children. Participants were 142 preschoolers (4-5 years old) from high-socioeconomic status (SES) urban (n = 33), low-SES urban (n = 37) and rural villages (n = 77). The results show that there is a robust association between ToM and executive control in all three groups, and that executive control contributes significant unique variance to ToM understanding, even after controlling for a range of variables that have been proposed as potential confounders of this relationship. However, although the three groups were equated in ToM, significant differences in executive control were evident. Moreover, cluster analysis identified three distinct clusters that were relatively homogeneous with respect to executive control and SES. One of these clusters was characterized by both low SES and low executive functioning, and showed little evidence of ToM understanding. Taken together, these findings provide possibly the clearest evidence to date that the association between ToM and executive control is not dependent on children's previous experiences on the tasks, or their family and cultural background. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxh_-3gCB8o.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 73 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 1%
Singapore 1 1%
Unknown 71 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 22%
Student > Master 13 18%
Researcher 8 11%
Student > Bachelor 4 5%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 4%
Other 13 18%
Unknown 16 22%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 40 55%
Social Sciences 5 7%
Unspecified 2 3%
Neuroscience 2 3%
Medicine and Dentistry 2 3%
Other 5 7%
Unknown 17 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 December 2014.
All research outputs
#19,290,136
of 24,558,777 outputs
Outputs from Developmental Science
#1,400
of 1,638 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#259,512
of 372,461 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Developmental Science
#23
of 31 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,558,777 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,638 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 22.7. This one is in the 12th percentile – i.e., 12% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 372,461 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 26th percentile – i.e., 26% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 31 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 25th percentile – i.e., 25% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.