Holding in Mind Conflicting Information: Pretending, Working Memory, and Executive Control

Abstract

Preschoolers' recall of the true and pretend identities of an object in pretense was examined along with a battery of executive functioning and working memory tasks. We expected that children would retain separate identities, as well as a link between them, after observing episodes of pretense, and that memory for pretense would be related to executive functioning and working memory. Children (aged 37–59 months) recalled the true identity of an object better than its pretend identity. Children's recall of at least one identity was correlated with executive functioning and “dual” working memory tasks, independent of age and verbal ability. Memory for both identities was only correlated with executive functioning. The findings are generally supportive of the claim that children form separate representations of the true and pretend identities of objects. The results extend findings of well-established relations between false belief tasks and executive functioning and working memory.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the staff and children of Oxford Early Childhood Center, the TRI preschool, Miami University Child Development Center, and Christian Cooperative Nursery School. This work was supported by Miami University College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Scholar program.

We thank our research assistants: Victoria DeSensi, Michael Coleman, Tara Cummings, Marium Zafar, Jennifer Govostis and Adrienne Skocaj. We also thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers whose comments substantially strengthened the document.

Notes

Note. Total executive functioning score, total dual task score, and total digit span score are sums of standardized scores; thus the mean is 0. The transformed executive functioning score was computed as log(10) ((total executive functioning score * − 1) + 5).

Note. df = 29 for correlations involving executive functioning, 30 for all others. * = p < .05, ** = p < .01, *** = p < .001. All correlations are two-tailed.

Note. Partial correlations control for age and vocabulary. df for Pearson's = 29 for correlations with executive functioning composite, 30 for all others. df = 27 for partial correlations with executive functioning composite, 28 for all others. * = p < .05, ** = p < .01. All correlations are 2- tailed.