Relationship between private speech and performance in social problem solving task in preschool children

Abstract

This study documented the developmental course of private speech and investigated the relationship between private speech and task performance in a social task. 40 Cantonese-speaking preschool children recruited were assigned into three groups (3-, 4- and 5-year-old). They were required to manipulate interaction partner’s mental state and propose solutions to cooperate or compete with the interaction partner in finding treasures. Task-irrelevant private speech was found to decrease with age while muttering and lip movement increased with age. Task-relevant private speech showed an inverted-U age pattern. Results also revealed a significant positive correlation between private speech and total solution scores (performance measurement), and insignificant correlation between private speech and total belief question scores (performance measurement). Implications and future directions were discussed.