Abstract
This paper describes findings of a longitudinal study that was carried out to examine relationships among different aspects of young children's cognitive development, namely, theory of mind, metacognitive vocabulary, and metamemory, which seem theoretically connected but so far have not been studied simultaneously. In total, 174 children were included in the present analyses who were about 4;6 years of age at the first measurement point. Children were tested at four time points, separated by a testing interval of approximately half a year. At the first time of testing, children completed a set of theory of mind tasks. At each of the following measurement points, measures of metacognitive vocabulary and general vocabulary as well as metamemory were given. Overall, the findings show that theory of mind performance assessed at the age of 4;6 predicts metacognitive knowledge assessed about one and a half years later. Furthermore, they point to a reciprocal relationship between metacognitive vocabulary and metamemory in that comprehension of metacognitive vocabulary predicted later metamemory and, conversely, metamemory significantly predicted later comprehension of metacognitive verbs.
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This research was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (SCHN 315 /20–7) to the German Research Group on Cognitive Development.
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Lockl, K., Schneider, W. Precursors of metamemory in young children: the role of theory of mind and metacognitive vocabulary. Metacognition Learning 1, 15–31 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-006-6585-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-006-6585-9