The relationships among verbal ability, executive function, and theory of mind in young children with cochlear implants

Abstract

This study aims to examine the complex relationships among verbal ability (VA), executive function (EF), and theory of mind (ToM) in young Chinese children with cochlear implants (CCI). All participants were tested using a set of nine measures: one VA, one non-VA, three EF, and four ToM. Our study cohort comprised 82 children aged from 3.8 to 6.9 years, including 36 CCI and 46 children with normal hearing (CNH). CNH outperformed CCI on measures of VA, EF, and ToM. One of the EF tasks, inhibitory control, was significantly associated with ToM after controlling for VA. VA was the primary predictor of EF, while inhibitory control significantly predicted ToM. Our findings suggest that inhibitory control explains the association between EF and ToM, thereby supporting the hypothesis that EF may be a prerequisite for ToM.

Keywords:

• Cochlear implant
• verbal ability
• executive function
• theory of mind
• Chinese children

Acknowledgements

The authors express special thanks to all of the children and their parents and teachers who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.