title: Training transfer between card sorting and false belief understanding: helping children apply conflicting descriptions.
abstract: Two studies investigated the parallel developmental progress in theory of mind and executive control, as exemplified by correlations between the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task (DCCS; Frye, Zelazo, & Palfai, 1995) and the false-belief task. Experiment 1 with sixty 3-year-old children confirmed earlier studies (e.g., Perner & Lang, 2002), suggesting that children's problem with the DCCS lies in the redescription of stimulus objects. Experiment 2 with forty-four 3- to 4-year-olds reinforced the correlational evidence for a developmental link by showing transfer of training: False-belief training improved DCCS performance, and DCCS training significantly increased children's performance on the false-belief task. Results are discussed in relation to 5 theories explaining the existing correlational evidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kloo
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perner
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003118:Color Perception; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D011340:Problem Solving; D012193:Reversal Learning; D014163:Transfer, Psychology