An investigation of pretend play, mental state terms and false belief understanding: In search of a metarepresentational link

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between false beli ef comprehension, the exhibition of pretend play and the use of mental stat e terms in pre-school children. Ferry children, aged between 36 and 54 mont hs were videotaped engaging in free play with each parent. The exhibit-ion of six distinct acts of pretend play and the expression of 16 mental sr:ate terms were coded during play. Each child was also administered a pantomime task and three standard false belief casks. Reliable associations were als o found between false belief performance and the pretence categories of obj ect substitution and role assignment, and the exhibition of imaginary objec t pantomimes. Moreover, the use of mental state terms was positively correl ated with false belief and the pretence categories of object substitution, imaginary play and role assignment, and negatively correlated with the exhi bition of body part object pantomimes. These findings indicate that the dev elopment of a mental state lexicon and some, bur not all, components of pre tend play are dependent on the capacity for metarepresentational cognition.