Conflict Inhibitory Control Facilitates Pretense Quality in Young Preschoolers

Abstract

The present research explores the role of inhibitory control (IC) in young preschoolers’ pretense ability using an ego depletion paradigm. In Experiment 1 (N = 56), children's pretense ability was assessed either before or after participating in conflict IC or control tasks, and in Experiment 2 (N = 36), pretense ability was measured after children engaged in either conflict or delay IC tasks. In both experiments, pretense scores were significantly higher only after engaging in conflict IC tasks. Further, pretense scores were positively correlated with IC scores when conflict IC was not experienced first. This pattern of results suggests that IC may underlie pretense, and conflict IC can boost the quality of children's subsequent pretending.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the children, families, and preschools who participated in this research, the Providence Children's Museum, the many undergraduate research assistants who helped with these studies, and Stephanie Carlson for providing some stimuli for Experiment 2. Thanks to Angeline Lillard, Barbara Spellman, Judy DeLoache, Sara Rimm-Kauffman, David Sobel, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and feedback. Part of Experiment 1 was conducted as part of the author's doctoral dissertation. Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in 2011 and the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in 2013.