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Relations Between Children's Theory of Mind and a Selective Attention Strategy

Preschoolers' theory of mind (TOM) was examined in relation to the ability to produce and benefit from a selective attention strategy on a selective location memory task. A set of TOM tasks assessed preschoolers' (N = 49) understanding of mental states. Certain aspects of mental state understanding (e.g., quality of experience affects knowledge) were associated with using a selective attention strategy. Strategy use was positively related to memory for children who failed TOM tasks. However, strategy use was unrelated to memory for children who passed TOM tasks, indicating a utilization deficiency. Most children could not describe or explain how selective information processing worked. Explanations, when provided, referred to physical-perceptual (external) rather than psychological (internal) processes. This research and the guiding conceptual framework extend the study of TOM by suggesting how specific transitions within children's copy TOM may contribute to the development of cognitive skills, such as attending, remembering, planning, and problem solving, traditionally examined by cognitive developmentalists.