{"title":"The Relationship Between Language and Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood.","authors":"Ziqian Shen, Chi-Lin Yu","doi":"10.1080/87565641.2026.2656232","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the way in which language relates to theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood. Two hundred and thirty-three children (ages 6-12) were tested via a concurrent design on vocabulary, phonological and morphological awareness, and six ToM domains (belief, knowledge, perception, desire, intention, and emotion). Results revealed that vocabulary had significant positive associations with three ToM domains (belief, knowledge, and intention), and morphological awareness, but not phonological awareness, emerged as a concurrent mediator of this relationship. Overall, these findings suggest that understanding words, particularly their structure and meaning, is important in linking language and ToM development during middle childhood.</p>","PeriodicalId":50586,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Neuropsychology","volume":" ","pages":"119-134"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Neuropsychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2026.2656232","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/4/15 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examined the way in which language relates to theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood. Two hundred and thirty-three children (ages 6-12) were tested via a concurrent design on vocabulary, phonological and morphological awareness, and six ToM domains (belief, knowledge, perception, desire, intention, and emotion). Results revealed that vocabulary had significant positive associations with three ToM domains (belief, knowledge, and intention), and morphological awareness, but not phonological awareness, emerged as a concurrent mediator of this relationship. Overall, these findings suggest that understanding words, particularly their structure and meaning, is important in linking language and ToM development during middle childhood.
期刊介绍：
Devoted to exploring relationships between brain and behavior across the life span, Developmental Neuropsychology publishes scholarly papers on the appearance and development of behavioral functions, such as language, perception, and social, motivational and cognitive processes as they relate to brain functions and structures. Appropriate subjects include studies of changes in cognitive function—brain structure relationships across a time period, early cognitive behaviors in normal and brain-damaged children, plasticity and recovery of function after early brain damage, the development of complex cognitive and motor skills, and specific and nonspecific disturbances, such as learning disabilities, mental retardation, schizophrenia, stuttering, and developmental aphasia. In the gerontologic areas, relevant subjects include neuropsychological analyses of normal age-related changes in brain and behavioral functions, such as sensory, motor, cognitive, and adaptive abilities; studies of age-related diseases of the nervous system; and recovery of function in later life.
Empirical studies, research reviews, case reports, critical commentaries, and book reviews are featured in each issue. By publishing both basic and clinical studies of the developing and aging brain, the journal encourages additional scholarly work that advances understanding of the field of lifespan developmental neuropsychology.
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