中道 圭人

We investigated whether the cool and hot executive functions (EFs) exhibited by kindergarteners could predict their academic achievement in the middle grades of elementary school. The study assessed the cool and hot EF of 48 Japanese kindergartners (M = 78.12 months) and then measured these same children's academic achievement in language and mathematics between grades one to four. The study's confirmative factor analysis indicated that early childhood EFs have both cool and hot factors. Its structural equation modeling revealed that although both cool and hot early childhood EFs can directly predict academic achievement in grade one, cool EFs had a greater predictive effect. It also found that cool and hot early childhood EFs had an indirect effect on academic achievement between grades two to four insofar as children's academic achievement in grades two to four was predicted sequentially by their previous academic achievements.

We investigated whether preschoolers' social-emotional competencies predict their peer relationships and academic achievements during grade one. Measures of cool and hot executive functions, theory of mind, social-problem-solving, and peer acceptance were administered to a sample of 48 preschoolers (M = 77.91 months). Academic achievement and peer acceptance were assessed at the end of Grade 1. A path analysis revealed that cool and hot executive functioning during preschool had a direct impact on academic achievement in elementary school and an indirect effect on peer acceptance via the theory of mind and social-problem-solving, respectively. Further, peer acceptance in preschool had a positive direct effect on peer acceptance during grade one. These findings indicate the vital role of social-emotional competencies on peer relationships and academic achievement. Future study should include additional measures to examine the effect of preschooler's cool and hot executive functions on later school adjustment.

This study investigated differences in young children's peer preference by inhibitory control and emotion regulation. In Study 1, 66 preschoolers (M=5 years 11 months) were assessed for inhibitory control (IC), emotion regulation (ER), and peer preference. Stroop-like tasks (the black-white task and shine-rain task), the disappointing gift task, and a positive nomination measure were used as measures of IC, ER, and peer preference, respectively. The results of Study 1 showed that participants with high IC or high ER were popular with their peers in comparison to participants with low IC or low ER. Study 2 measured young children's (N=43, M=6 years 1 month) ER by comparing social judgment between a condition that induces negative emotion and a condition that does not. The results of Study 2 showed that participants with high IC or high ER (who could select appropriate behaviors, even when negative emotion was induced) had many mutual relations with friends compared to participants with low IC or low ER. These data indicate the role of inhibitory control and emotion regulation in young children's peer preference.

幼児の反事実的推論に因果関係の領域が及ぼす影響を検討した。実験1では3-5歳児(N=74)を対象に反事実課題を実施した。反事実課題では,幼児に初期状態⇒原因事象⇒結果状態からなる因果関係を含んだ物語を提示し,その因果関係の原因事象が異なっていたら結果状態がどのように変化するかを尋ねた。因果関係には3つの領域(物理・心理・生物)があった。その結果,年少児より年中児・年長児で,物理的領域より生物的領域で,その2領域より心理的領域で推論遂行が良いことが示された。実験2では3-5歳児(N=30)を対象に結果選択課題を実施した。結果選択課題では,3領域それぞれに関して,ある原因事象を提示し,その結果状態がどのようになるかを尋ねた。その結果,結果選択に関して領域による遂行差は見られず,反事実的推論の領域による遂行の違いが実験1で用いた因果関係に対する理解の違いに起因するのではないことが示された。これらの結果は,反事実的推論能力が4-5歳頃に向上すること,その能力には領域に関する何らかの制約が影響している可能性を示唆している。

The present study examined the relationships among conditional inference, working memory (WM) and prepotent response inhibition (PRI) across different age groups. Participants (N = 112) of this study included preschoolers (6-year-olds), third graders (8-year-olds), fifth graders (11-year-olds) and eighth graders (13-year-olds). There were two conditional inference tasks, one based on a factual proposition and another based on a counterfactual proposition. The backward digit span task and Stroop task were used as the measures of WM and PRI, respectively. Results of the present study revealed that conditional inference was related to WM in all age groups, but was related to PRI in only the preschoolers, third graders and fifth graders. Data suggested that the role of WM and PRI varied with age development.

幼児の条件推論, ワーキングメモリ (WM), 抑制制御の関連を検討した。実験1では年長児 (N=25) を対象に, 経験的あるいは反経験的な事柄での条件推論課題, WM課題 (逆唱), 抑制制御課題 (昼夜ストループ課題) の関連を検討した。その結果, 反経験的な条件推論と抑制制御の間に正の相関が見られたが, 条件推論とWMの相関は見られなかった。実験2では年長児 (N=26) を対象に, 課題手続きを改善した条件推論課題とWM課題, 抑制制御課題の関連を検討した。その結果, 実験1と同様に抑制制御は反経験的な条件推論のみと正の相関を示し, その一方, WMは条件推論全般と正の相関を示した。本研究の結果から, 幼児期における条件推論, WM, 抑制制御の関連が明らかとなった。

幼児の条件推論にふりの設定が及ぼす影響を検討した。実験1では年少児(n=24)と年長児(n=28)を対象に,Nakamichi (2004)の4枚カード課題(経験的あるいは反経験的な条件式を与え,4枚のカードの中から条件式に対する違反を同定してもらう)での条件推論にふりの設定が及ぼす影響を検討した。その結果,年少児より年長児で,反経験的条件式より経験的条件式で推論遂行が良いことや,年長児はふりの設定によって反経験的条件式での条件推論が促進されることが示された。実験2では年少児(N=28)を対象に,詳細な説明を加えた"不思議な国にいる"というふりの設定の影響を検討した。その結果,実験1と同様に年少児の推論遂行はこのようなふりでも促進されず,年少児におけるふりの効果の無さはふりの理解し難さが原因ではないことが示された。これらの結果から,ふりの設定の条件推論への影響は,年齢により異なることが明らかとなった。

This study examined young children's (N=87) development of conditional reasoning competence. Using the four-cards selection task of Harris and Nunez (1996), an age (3-, 4- and 5-year-olds) by context (deontic context whereby mother states the premise vs. descriptive context whereby the child states the premise) by task (familiar task based on a premise relating to an empirical matter for the participant vs. counterfactual task involving a counterfactual matter) factorial design (one between, two within factors) was utilized. According to the results, five-year-old children performed better than 3-year-olds, the deontic context encouraged children's performance more than the descriptive context, and the counterfactual task was more difficult than the familiar task. A significant 3-way interaction showed that 5-year-olds could succeed even on the counterfactual task if it was in the deontic context. The data suggested that a theory of deontic reasoning was more appropriate than that of pragmatic reasoning model.