The Relationship of False Belief and Inhibitory Control Skill in 3-and 4-Year-Old Children

아동의 억제 조절 기술과 헛믿음 과제 수행과의 관련성

The subjects were individually presented with the Maxi-doll task to examine false belief and with the flower-star (Stroop-like day-night) test to examine inhibitory control skill. In the $1^{st}$ session, the subjects were tested with both the Maxi tesk and the flower-star test. Three days later, subjects were retested with the Maxi task, including an inhibitory cue. Data were analyzed by 3-way ANOVA, age(2) $\times$ inhibitory level(2) $\times$ task type(Maxi-task or Maxi-including cue). All the main effects were significant and the interaction effect between inhibitory level and task type was also significant. Thus, their understanding of the mind and inhibitory control skill both influence children's performance on a typical false belief task.