title: Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers' knowledge-based selective word learning.
abstract: Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory-of-mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory-of-mind tasks would predict preference for learning new words from accurate informants (an epistemic attribute), but not from physically strong informants (a non-epistemic attribute). Three- and 4-year-olds (N = 65) completed two selective learning tasks, and their theory-of-mind abilities were assessed. As expected, performance on a theory-of-mind battery predicted children's preference to learn from more accurate informants but not from physically stronger informants. Results thus suggest that preschoolers with more advanced theory of mind have a better understanding of knowledge and apply that understanding to guide their selection of informants. This work has important implications for research on children's developing social cognition and early learning.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brosseau-Liard
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penney
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Poulin-Dubois
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: accuracy; knowledge; selective learning; strength; theory of mind; trust; word learning