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Central coherence in typically developing preschoolers: does it cohere and does it relate to mindreading and
Elizabeth Pellicano1, Murray Maybery, Kevin Durkin
1School of Psychology, University of Western Australia. liz.pellicano@psych.ox.ac.uk
Summary
Central coherence is not a single ability in preschoolers. Visuospatial skills, not mindreading, relate to executive functions in young children.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Central coherence (CC) describes the tendency to integrate information into a whole.
- Individuals with autism often exhibit weak CC.
- Debate exists on CC's independence from theory of mind and executive control.
Purpose of the Study:
- Examine the validity of the CC construct in 4- and 5-year-old children.
- Investigate associations between CC, mindreading, and executive functioning (EF).
Main Methods:
- Used four visuospatial coherence tasks with 76 typically developing children.
- Assessed individual differences in CC, mindreading, and EF.
Main Results:
- CC variables did not form a single factor; a two-factor structure emerged.
- Visuospatial constructional ability correlated with EF, not mindreading.
- Weak correlations were found between coherence factors and mindreading/EF.
Conclusions:
- Central coherence is not a unitary construct in preschoolers.
- Little relationship exists between CC and mindreading in this age group.
- Executive control is linked to visuospatial construction, an aspect of coherence.