Pretense, Executive Functions, and Counterfactual Reasoning: Evaluating the Case for a ‘Unified Theory of Imaginative Processes’

Gill Althia Francis; Jenny Gibson

doi:10.31234/osf.io/skxb8

Pretense, Executive Functions, and Counterfactual Reasoning: Evaluating the Case for a ‘Unified Theory of Imaginative Processes’

Gill Althia Francis, Jenny Gibson

Education

Research output: Working paper › Preprint

Abstract

Pretense, counterfactual reasoning (CFR), and Executive Functions (EFs) are predicted to be related cognitive skills sharing underlying cognitive dimensions. We used a variable latent modelling approach to test a hypothetical model of the structural relation between pretense, CFR, and EFs. Participant data were analysed for 189 children (M = 4.8 years, range = 4 – 5.6 years, boys = 101, females = 88). Participants were predominantly White and 32% (n=62) of children lived in multilingual homes. Participants completed pretend-play, CFR, EFs, and language tasks. Pretense and CFR constructs were significantly correlated (r = 0.51, p = .001) and inhibition uniquely associated with both pretense and CFR. The hypothetical model was a good fit of the data.

Original language	English
Publisher	PsyArXiv Preprints
Number of pages	41
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/skxb8
Publication status	Published - 10 Dec 2021

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10.31234/osf.io/skxb8

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abstract = "Pretense, counterfactual reasoning (CFR), and Executive Functions (EFs) are predicted to be related cognitive skills sharing underlying cognitive dimensions. We used a variable latent modelling approach to test a hypothetical model of the structural relation between pretense, CFR, and EFs. Participant data were analysed for 189 children (M = 4.8 years, range = 4 – 5.6 years, boys = 101, females = 88). Participants were predominantly White and 32% (n=62) of children lived in multilingual homes. Participants completed pretend-play, CFR, EFs, and language tasks. Pretense and CFR constructs were significantly correlated (r = 0.51, p = .001) and inhibition uniquely associated with both pretense and CFR. The hypothetical model was a good fit of the data.",

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