Psychological Development and Education ›› 2009, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (3): 15-19,25.

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False belief understanding in 3～4-year-olds: The relative role of sentential complement syntax, semantic comprehension and working memory

MO Shu-liang1,2, SU Yan-jie1   

  1. 1. Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871;
    2. School of Psychology, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan 430079
  • Online:2009-07-15 Published:2009-07-15

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Abstract: The relationship between language and theory of mind has been investigated for many years.The aim of the current study reported here was to identify relationship between sentential complement syntax comprehension and false belief understanding for 3～4 years old children in Mandarin.Forty-eight preschoolers(39～59 months)were administered with a serial of tests, which included false belief understanding tasks;a sentential complement test followed the procedures of de Villiers's study, Peabody Vocabulary-Picture Test(PPVT), and working memory test.Results showed that false belief understanding was significantly correlated with the scores of sentential complement syntax even controlled age. Regression analyses showed that the scores of complement syntax significantly predicted of the scores of false belief understanding, and sentential complement syntax could explain the role of semantic comprehension on false belief understanding.Our results provided further evidence for the argument that the important and unique role of the special syntax.

Key words: False belief understanding, complement syntax, working memory, semantic comprehension, preschool children

CLC Number: 

  • B844.1
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