Showing papers by "Serena Lecce published in 2015"
TL;DR: This is the first study investigating the efficacy of a ToM training and its transfer effect on metacognition in older adults and it supports the relation between ToM and metamemory.
37 citations
TL;DR: Results showed that early cognitive ToM, in particular false-belief understanding, predicts later DM independent of early verbal ability, and these data support a view considering Cognitive ToM as a precursor of children's DM.
36 citations
TL;DR: Evaluating the impact of a ToM training on practiced and transfer tasks revealed the efficacy of the training in producing improvements on practiced but also on transfer tasks.
Abstract: Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict social behavior. Recent research in this area has shown a decline in ToM abilities associated with normal aging that is of a moderate magnitude or greater. Very few studies have investigated whether it is possible to improve older adults' ToM abilities. The present study was designed to address this gap in the literature by evaluating the impact of a ToM training on practiced and transfer tasks. We provided older adults with a variety of activities designed to facilitate the generalization of benefits to other ToM-demanding tasks. Participants were 63 healthy older adults, native Italian speakers (M age = 71.44, SD = 5.24, age range: 63-81 years). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the ToM training (age range: 63-81 years) and the physical-conversation training (age range: 64-81 years). Training effects were measured using the strange stories (practiced task) and the animation task (transfer task). Results revealed the efficacy of the training in producing improvements on practiced but also on transfer tasks.
35 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between children's theory of mind and their beliefs about learning and found that false-belief understanding at age 5 predicted unique variance in constructivist belief about learning at age 8, when controlling for subsequent levels of ToM.
Abstract: This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between children's theory of mind (ToM) and their beliefs about learning. A sample of 63 children was tested for theory of mind and verbal ability at four time points: 5, 6, 7 and 8 years of age. In addition, at Time 4, children were administered a questionnaire investigating their beliefs about learning. Results showed longitudinal and concurrent relationships between ToM and constructivist, but not reproductive, beliefs about learning. Crucially, false-belief understanding at age 5 predicted unique variance in constructivist beliefs about learning at age 8, when controlling for subsequent levels of ToM. This relationship was not due to verbal ability. The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications of the longitudinal effect of theory of mind ability on constructivist beliefs about learning.
16 citations
DOI•
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The authors developed a novel ToM training program for 9-to-10-year-old children and found that children in the ToM group improved in ToM task performance significantly more than children in a control condition.
Abstract: Despite theory of mind (ToM) has a role in social and cognitive development in school aged children, very few studies have proposed interventions to promote ToM in middle childhood. To fill this gap, we developed a novel ToM training program for 9- to 10-year-old children. Results showed that, after the intervention, children in the ToM group improved in ToM task performance significantly more than children in the control condition. The positive effect of the ToM intervention generalized to a new film-based ToM task and was not determined by pre-existing individual differences in ToM, cognitive, and executive skills between groups.
1 citations