Abstract
Previously published studies of theory of mind have tended to focus on the correlation between children’s theory of mind performance and the number of times their mothers used mental words. Moreover, in those studies, the scenes of interaction between the mothers and children observed by the experimenters tended not to be unified. The present study uses 2 kinds of tasks for observations of the interactions between mothers and children in order to examine the relation between children’s theory of mind performance and mothers’ comments on mind. Children (5 to 6 years old, N=53) were individually tested on theory of mind scales. In addition, the children and their mothers participated in a make-a-story task and the Picture Book Communication Game. The results revealed a correlation between mothers’ use of language intended to help their children focus on other’s mind, and the children’s theory of mind performance. Because this correlation remained significant independent of the children’s verbal capability and their mothers’ education (in years), the present research suggests that there is a strong correlation between children’s theory of mind performance and their mothers’ use of mind-related language.
