Preschoolers' understanding of mind: Implications for suggestibility

Fifty-seven 3- to 5-1/2-year-olds listened to a story accompanied by pictur es of target items. After a short delay, an interviewer asked children ques tions about the story and suggested information that conflicted with the or iginal details. Story memory was assessed 5-11 days later using a two-alter native, picture recognition test. Children completed theory of mind (ToM) t asks that indexed an understanding of knowledge and the ability to reason a bout conflicting mental representations (CMRs). An increase in ToM scores w as associated with a decrease in suggestibility, independent of age. The re lation between ToM scores and suggestibility was significant for children w ho had poorer story memory, but was nonsignificant for children who showed better story memory. An increase in CMR scores predicted an increase in res ponse times on the recognition test when children made incorrect choices. C hildren who spontaneously reported original details when the interviewer su ggested misleading information had higher CMR scores than children who did not report original details.