Article

Private speech on an executive task: Relations with task difficulty and task performance

March 2005
Cognitive Development 20(1):103-120

DOI:10.1016/j.cogdev.2004.11.002

Source
OAI

Authors:

Durham University

Measures of private speech and task performance were obtained for a sample of 46 5- and 6-year-olds engaged on a mechanical version of the Tower of London (ToL) task. Two different sets of four puzzles of increasing difficulty were attempted on two occasions. In line with Vygotskian predictions, there was a quadratic relation between private speech and task difficulty, but no evidence of a shift towards self-regulatory sub-types of private speech with increasing task difficulty. Levels of self-regulatory private speech were significantly related to concurrent, but not subsequent, task performance. We discuss the significance of these findings for the Vygotskian view that private speech has an adaptive function in the self-regulation of behaviour.

Children’s Rehearsal Development Parallels That of Self-Talk in Other Executive Functions

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2024

Rehearsal is a form of self-talk used to support short-term memory. Historically, the study of rehearsal development has diverged from the study of self-talk more generally. The current experiment examines whether two characteristics of self-talk (impact of task difficulty and self-talk’s narrative vs. planning purpose) are also observed in rehearsal. Eighty children, ages 4–7, were tasked with remembering the three-item and six-item lists over a 15-s delay. Children’s spontaneous use of fixed rehearsal (i.e., immediate repetition of a just-presented item) and cumulative rehearsal (i.e., cycling through multiple items at a time) was documented from video recordings. Four-year-olds narrated item presentations using fixed rehearsal. Six- and seven-year-olds proactively planned for recall by engaging cumulative rehearsal. Five-year-olds used both forms of rehearsal, but their frequency of cumulative rehearsal was dependent on list length. Therefore, rehearsal is susceptible to task manipulations that affect other forms of self-talk.

Preschoolers’ Self-Regulation: Private Speech in Cognitive and Emotion Contexts

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2023
J Child Fam Stud

Self-regulation includes the ability to control one’s behavior as needed to meet social expectations and is associated with adaptive developmental outcomes. One tool for self-regulation is private speech; however, research has not examined if children’s private speech is consistent across cognitively-focused and emotionally-focused contexts and if it is associated with regulatory abilities in similar ways. The goal of this study was to investigate relations between children’s private speech and their regulation in three contexts with varying emotional and cognitive demands with children’s age examined as a moderator of the association of private speech to regulation. Preschool-aged children’s (n = 122) private speech (vocalizations, inaudible muttering, task-irrelevant, negatively valenced, and facilitative) was transcribed and coded in three contexts: selective attention where children matched pictures according to certain rules, emotion regulation where children’s persistence in attempting to overcome an obstacle to achieve a goal was observed, and inhibitory control where the children were instructed to wait to color. Using linear mixed modeling, private speech did not significantly predict children’s regulatory abilities in the selective attention task; however, meaningful associations were found between private speech and regulation in the emotion regulation and inhibitory control contexts. Furthermore, age moderated the association of private speech to regulation in the inhibitory control context. Our findings that associations between private speech and regulation outcomes differed across contexts highlight the importance of examining self-regulation as a multidimensional construct and emphasize the importance of considering both cognitive and emotional demands for supporting children’s optimal self-regulation.

Insight into the Role of Interaction in Language Acquisition: Vygotsky’s Interactionist Theory of Language

Article

Jun 2023

Jamilah Alharbi

Psychologists’ theoretical implications have led to several studies investigating L1 and L2 acquisition. This research examines Vygotsky’s (1978, 1987a, 1987b, 1997, 2012) interactionist view of language acquisition and draws on a critical review methodology to assess the relevance of Vygotsky’s (1978) interactionist theory in L1 and L2 acquisition. To assess whether Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of language acquisition is effective, the selected articles will be critically examined. This research indicates that the articles under review prove the validity of Vygotsky’s (1978) arguments. However, they did not address how children from non-western cultures and those with disabilities acquire language, on the one hand, and the role of self-regulatory speech in language acquisition, on the other hand. Though Chomsky’s (1965) Universal Grammar and Skinner’s (1957) behaviourist theory have inspired scholars, linguists, and researchers to examine L1 and L2 acquisition deeply, Vygotsky’s (1978) interactionist theory explains how social interaction is crucial to a child’s cognitive development. The theory’s emphasis on learner-centeredness may significantly empower language teachers if implemented wisely into the L2 Curriculum. To maximize the effectiveness of social interaction in L2 learning, more profound and longitudinal research on the integration of zone of proximal development and scaffolding into teaching is required. Though teacher and peer interactions in L2 learning have been studied empirically, the types of social interactions that enhance language acquisition need to be assessed. Educators, researchers, and scholars must investigate how social interactions affect the cognitive and linguistic development of learners. Educators, researchers, and scholars must investigate how social interactions affect the cognitive and linguistic development of learners.

Private speech amount positively predicts memory performance in young adults

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023
CONSCIOUS COGN

This study used a card-matching game that relies on visual-spatial working memory to investigate whether the amount one talks out loud to themselves (referred to as private speech) predicts cognitive performance in young adults (n = 118, mean age = 20.13 years). Each participant's performance was measured in two "Private Speech" trials, in which they were instructed to complete the game efficiently, while using private speech as much as they can. Using multilevel modeling, we found that participants performed significantly better on trials for which they produced more private speech. This relationship was not moderated by baseline competency on the task (measured in a condition where participants were not instructed to use, and rarely ever used, private speech). The study shows that the degree to which adults use private speech - when instructed to do so, is associated with cognitive performance, which may have important implications for educational/instructional settings.

A proposal for monitoring the process of internalization following Galperin’s conception

Article

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May 2023

A proposal for monitoring the process of internalization following Galperin's conception

Article

Full-text available

May 2023

Since the era of Piaget and Vygotsky, private speech (PS) has been widely discussed, but in recent years, the avenues for its study have greatly expanded. In this study, we explored the use of a recoding scheme for PS inspired by the studies of Pyotr Galperin. A coding scheme for social speech, PS, and the lack of speech, as the form of action (FA) has been proposed (i.e., external social speech, external audible speech, inaudible speech, and mental FA when no speech was produced). An exploratory study was conducted to elucidate the appropriateness of the coding scheme, both ontogenetically and during tasks. The results showed that both the coding scheme by type of speech and FA were adequate for differentiating ontogenetically between children. However, only the coding schemes of the FA were appropriate for differentiating between children as a function of their performance (i.e., time and scores) in a Tower of London task. Moreover, Galperin's scheme was more suitable when there was redundancy in performance between those with audible and inaudible external speech.

Educational Implications of Private Speech for Children’s Problem-solving Abilities

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2023

Jiatong Liu

This paper analyzes the educational implications of using private speech and discusses whether the instruction and guidance of private speech should be a practical teaching strategy for teachers at school and help students master more skills on how to solve multifaceted tasks. It is crucial to comprehend the definition and characteristics of private speech from the perspective of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories. According to the development trajectory of private speech, the frequency of using it varies with age, tasks, and literacy levels. This utterance is most prevalent from the age of 2 to 6 and declines when children enter elementary school; people are most likely to use private speech while doing tasks of medium difficulty level; adults who received more formal education and have higher literacy levels employ internalized private speech more frequently than those with lower literacy level. Additionally, private speech positively influences children’s executive functioning as well as task performance. Together, these benefits suggest that it is promising to apply scaffolding as a pedagogical method to encourage students to use private speech so that teachers can evaluate students’ competence scope. It is also important to construct supportive adult-children interactions for those with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) to make more private speech with a purpose of improving executive functioning. Future studies about using private should focus more on classroom settings and examine the feasibility of encouraging students to use private speech while solving problems.

Concepts, abstractness and inner speech

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

We explore the role of inner speech (covert self-directed talk) during the acquisition and use of concepts differing in abstractness. Following Vygotsky, inner speech results from the internalization of linguistically mediated interactions that regulate cognition and behaviour. When we acquire and process abstract concepts, uncertainties about word meaning might lead us to search actively for their meaning. Inner speech might play a role in this searching process and be differentially involved in concept learning compared with use of known concepts. Importantly, inner speech comes in different varieties—e.g. it can be expanded or condensed (with the latter involving syntactic and semantic forms of abbreviation). Do we use inner speech differently with concepts varying in abstractness? Which kinds of inner speech do we preferentially use with different kinds of abstract concepts (e.g. emotions versus numbers)? What other features of inner speech, such as dialogicality, might facilitate our use of concepts varying in abstractness (by allowing us to monitor the limits of our knowledge in simulated social exchanges, through a process we term inner social metacognition )? In tackling these questions, we address the possibility that different varieties of inner speech are flexibly used during the acquisition of concepts and their everyday use. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences’.

Unraveling the Nature of Children’s Self-directed Speech: Correlates of Five- and Six-year-olds’ Overt and Partially Covert Speech on Three Tasks

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022

Young children’s self-directed speech during activities has long fascinated developmental psychologists. Why do children talk to themselves and does it support development? On Vygotsky’s sociocultural account, children use self-directed speech to regulate thought and behavior while performing challenging tasks, and this speech has a specific developmental trajectory—from overt (i.e., talking at full volume) to partially covert (i.e., whispering or mumbling), before finally becoming fully covert (i.e., inner speech or thought). Many published empirical findings are consistent with this account; however, task-relevant self-directed speech does not always relate to task performance. The reported study aimed to gain insight into why by exploring, in a sample of five and six-year-old children (n = 86), task-relevant overt and partially-covert speech on three tasks, and relations with task performance as well as child and task characteristics. Trial-level multinomial models were used, allowing us to model trial number and task demands that varied by trial. Both overt and partially-covert speech were observed on all tasks, with most children using at least one of these forms of speech some of the time. Relations between self-directed speech and performance varied across tasks, showing positive, null, or negative associations. Self-directed speech varied depending on the demands of the task on a given trial. Overt speech, but not partially covert speech, was related to a parent-report measure of child talkativeness as well as social speech during the task. Age was not consistently related to self-directed speech on the tasks. Together, these findings challenge the notion that overt speech is best understood simply as a transition to partially covert and then fully covert speech. Rather, whether speech is overt (vs. partially or fully covert) may be determined by social goals. More research with a wider variety of tasks is needed to better understand the nature of these two forms of self-directed speech.

Inner Speech and Executive Function in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Implications for Assessment and Intervention

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2022

Purpose Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) also have difficulty with executive function. The presence of co-occurring deficits in language and executive function can obscure assessment results and lead to the implementation of ineffective interventions. It is also the case that inner speech, or the use of self-directed language to guide thought and action, often mediates performance on executive function tasks. The aims of this tutorial are to (a) summarize what is known about how inner speech affects executive function performance in typical populations and children with DLD and (b) highlight potential implications for clinical practice and directions for future research. We provide a brief background on inner speech, including theoretical frameworks, typical development, and measurement approaches. We then summarize research on inner speech and executive function involving typical adults and children, followed by a description of the few studies involving children with DLD. Conclusions Work with typical adults and children has concluded that inner speech operates as a self-cueing device to support understanding of task rules, sequencing of task order, and maintenance of task goals. Work involving children with DLD suggests that their inner speech is less mature, less relevant, and less effective overall when completing executive function tasks. However, very few studies have examined the relations between inner speech and executive function in children with DLD. It is important for speech-language pathologists to understand the potential role of inner speech during executive function tasks, given how often these skills are utilized during everyday activities. Although more research is needed, speech-language pathologists are in a unique position to support both language and executive function goals for children with DLD.

Effect of internalization as evincive on academic achievement in science

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2020

Concept internalization is conceived as the prerequisite condition for achievement through the agency of self-regulation of learning science. Internalization is the individualway of structural and functional transformation of external relations into internal reconstruction of conception leading to task mastery with ease in appropriation of cultural mediational tools. It establishes a shift from inter-psychological plane to intra-psychological plane of consciousness even functional with automatization in the absence of concrete external links.It minimizes the probability of rote memorisation in higher order science learning objectives.The on hand study is committed to disclose the effective circumstantial outcome of internalization upon science achievement through the selection of specific experimental manipulation. Eighty 6th standard learners from an HS rural govt.-aided school following the state board (WBBSE) curriculum of study serve as participants of the experimental study-divided into two equivalent halvesthrough randomisation after the administration of entry level pre-test of the dependent variable-impartially for one (40) is treated by problem solving method (PSM) of teaching and the rest half (40) by play way method (PWM) of teaching for the transaction of selected science lessons in three units. Internalization and achievement data are obtained by the application of SLIQ scale and SAT in three units respectively after the instructions of nearly two months duration. PSM is found to the predictor of science achievement in higher order cognitive levels for all the three units. But no efficiency of PSM over PWM is established in terms of learner's concept internalization scores. The two-way 3 (Unit I vs Unit II vs Unit III) x 2 (PSM vs PWM) ANOVA revealed the significant main effect of only teaching method on achievement. Concept internalization exerts significant effect on Unit I achievement for the learners instructed by PSM of teaching. But no effect evinced for average and low level internalized group on Unit II and Unit III achievement for PSM group. The effect was overall significant except average and low level internalized group of learners instructed by PWM of teaching in all the three units. The analysis for total sample follows the trend yielded by the learners instructed by PSM of teaching. Finally, we sum up our analysis cum discussion through some educational implications about science teaching learning in line with our major research findings.

Function of language skills in preschooler's problem-solving performance: The role of self-directed speech

Article

Jul 2022
J APPL DEV PSYCHOL

Although there is evidence that language skills and executive functions (EF) are highly intercorrelated, so far underlying mechanisms are not clear. Using the Tower of London task as a measure of complex EF performance, the present study examined self-directed speech as one possible mechanism underlying these associations by using three approaches: analyzing quantity and quality of self-directed speech, articulatory suppression, and triggering self-directed speech. Participants were N = 73 preschool children from Germany. Results confirm the relation between language skills and EF albeit it cannot be explained by self-directed speech. While quantity and quality of self-directed speech was related to language skills, the use of self-directed speech with planning function was positively related to performance. Findings suggest that the use of self-directed speech with planning function might be an important factor in explaining cognitive advantages. Moreover, results indicated that self-directed speech is helpful in children with lower non-verbal IQ.

Task difficulty and private speech in typically developing and at-risk preschool children

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2022

Private speech is a cognitive tool to guide thinking and behavior, yet its regulatory use in atypical development remains equivocal. This study investigated the influence of task difficulty on private speech in preschool children with attention or language difficulties. Measures of private speech use, form and content were obtained while 52 typically developing and 25 developmentally at-risk three- to four-year-old children completed Duplo construction and card sort tasks, each comprising two levels of challenge. In line with previous research, developmentally at-risk children used less internalized private speech than typically developing peers. However, both typically developing and at-risk children demonstrated a similar regulatory private speech response to difficulty with no systematic evidence of group difference. This was captured by an increase in all utterances, reduced private speech internalization, and more frequent forethought and self-reflective content. Results support the hypothesis of delayed private speech internalization but not regulatory deviance in atypical development.

Concepts, abstractness, and inner speech

Preprint

Full-text available

Nov 2021

We explore the role of inner speech (covert self-directed talk) during the acquisition and use of concepts differing in abstractness. Following Vygotsky, inner speech results from the internationalization of linguistically mediated interactions that regulate cognition and behaviour. When we acquire and processabstract concepts, uncertainties about word meaning might lead us to search actively for their meaning.Inner speech might play a role in this searching process and be differentially involved in concept learning compared to use of known concepts. Importantly, inner speech comes in different varieties – e.g., it can be expanded or condensed (with the latter involving syntactic and semantic forms of abbreviation). Do we useinner speech differently with concepts varying in abstractness? Which kinds of inner speech do we preferentially use with different kinds of abstract concepts (e.g., emotions vs. numbers)? What other features of inner speech, such as dialogicality, might facilitate our use of concepts varying in abstractness(byallowing us to monitor the limits of our knowledge in simulated social exchanges, through a process we term inner social metacognition)? In tackling these questions, we address the possibility that different varieties of inner speech are flexibly used during the acquisition of concepts and their everyday use.

Preschool children’s private speech content and performance on executive functioning and problem-solving tasks

Article

Oct 2021
COGNITIVE DEV

Emerging in the preschool years, private speech provides a regulatory tool to support task performance. Here, we investigate the presence and nature of regulatory private speech content subtypes and their relationship to task performance in 3- to 5-year-old children. Seventy-one children completed a Duplo construction and an iPad-administered card sort task. Intelligible private speech utterances were coded according to task-relevance and across three regulatory phases – forethought content (planning, analytical and motivational), performance content (self-instructional, observational and attention focusing) and self-reflective content (evaluative and affect-laden). Children produced less task-relevant private speech during the card sort relative to the Duplo task. Children demonstrated all content subtypes with performance content being most prevalent. Forethought content was positively associated with Duplo construction accuracy when children were aged between 36 months to 54 months. In addition, there was a negative association between task-irrelevant content and Duplo construction accuracy. Our findings suggest that preschool children whose private speech contains more forethought content may experience greater success on similar tasks.

Speaking to your Inner Muse: How Self-Regulation by Inner Speaking influences Confidence during Idea Evaluation

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

Alwin de Rooij

Idea evaluation is a critical activity in the creative process due to its role in making a decision about what idea(s) should be developed further and implemented, or whether more ideas should be generated. Confidence in the correctness of the evaluation plays a key role in making that decision. Emerging evidence suggests that inner speaking, the talking that we do inside our own minds, can have an influence on creative thinking through its self-regulatory function. However, how self-regulation by inner speaking influences confidence during idea evaluation specifically is an open scientific problem. To explore this, an experiment was conducted with a within-subject design (n = 152). Each participant was asked to evaluate and rank three sets of ideas, which varied in the number of ideas presented, from least to most creative. After evaluating each set of ideas participants self-reported the frequency of positive and negative events, the frequency of self-critical, self-reinforcing, self-managing and socially assessing inner speaking they experienced during idea evaluation, and the confidence they had in their evaluation. The results showed that the effects of evaluating varying numbers of ideas on the frequency of positive and negative events causes variation in the frequency of self-critical, self-reinforcing, and self-managing inner speaking; and that the effects of increased negative events on increased self-critical and decreased self-reinforcing inner speaking negatively influenced the confidence participants had in their evaluation. Herewith, this study contributes new insights into how self-regulation by inner speaking influences confidence during idea evaluation.

Intra-agent speech permits zero-shot task acquisition

Preprint

Jun 2022

Human language learners are exposed to a trickle of informative, context-sensitive language, but a flood of raw sensory data. Through both social language use and internal processes of rehearsal and practice, language learners are able to build high-level, semantic representations that explain their perceptions. Here, we take inspiration from such processes of "inner speech" in humans (Vygotsky, 1934) to better understand the role of intra-agent speech in embodied behavior. First, we formally pose intra-agent speech as a semi-supervised problem and develop two algorithms that enable visually grounded captioning with little labeled language data. We then experimentally compute scaling curves over different amounts of labeled data and compare the data efficiency against a supervised learning baseline. Finally, we incorporate intra-agent speech into an embodied, mobile manipulator agent operating in a 3D virtual world, and show that with as few as 150 additional image captions, intra-agent speech endows the agent with the ability to manipulate and answer questions about a new object without any related task-directed experience (zero-shot). Taken together, our experiments suggest that modelling intra-agent speech is effective in enabling embodied agents to learn new tasks efficiently and without direct interaction experience.

Observations and Views of Preschool Teachers about Private Speech Term of Vygotsky

Article

Jan 2014

The objective of this research is to examine the observations and views of preschool teachers on private speech. Research was performed within the framework of phenomenological pattern out of qualitative research patterns. This data was collected through a semi-structured interview form designed by the researchers with 44 preschool teachers. Raw data was analysed with frequency analysis and categorical analysis. It was seen that the statements they used were partially consistent with the claims of Vygotsky et al. in terms of the context, content and function of private speech. Moreover, it was determined that the views of preschool teachers on the function of private speech commonly focus on two different functions as descriptive function and motivational function. SUMMARY Purpose and significance: The objective of this research is to examine the observations and views of preschool teachers on private speech. Methods: This research was performed within the framework of phenomenological pattern out of qualitative research patterns. To determine the participants, easily accessible case sampling and maximum diversity sampling were used together. The data was collected through semi-structured interview form designed by the researchers with 44 preschool teachers. The semi-structured interview form used as a data collection tool consisted of two sections: The part that contains demographic information of the participants and the part with questions related to observations and views about private speech. Raw data was analysed with frequency analysis and categorical analysis. Raw data obtained with the semi-structured interview form for validity was recorded and the views of participants were included within the findings of the research. As a measure, for reliability, the consistency between codifications made by one of the researchers and Turkish Educational specialist informed on the subject of the research was calculated as %80. Results: Various pieces of information were collected about teachers' observations/views for the content, function and developmental effects of private speech. It was seen that they used statements that were partially consistent with the claims of Vygotsky et al. in terms of the context, content and function of private speech: Based on the observations of preschool teachers, it was found that the context in which children most frequently display private speech were that they interact with blocks, the context in which they display the least was picture matching context. Moreover, it was determined that the views of preschool teachers about the function of private speech commonly focus on two different functions as descriptive function and motivational function. Discussion and Conclusions: When its considered that private speech is observed frequently in the preschool period and it is an important tool of thinking, it can be stated that it provides a rich area to make observations within the the (framework of the borders of the age period) both for the field experts and for the ones who perform practices in the field. In this research based on the observations of preschool teachers, it was found that the context in which children most frequently display private speech is the one that they interact with blocks, showing that blocks can be used as a tool based on block construction phases in empirical studies to be performed on private speech in Turkey. According to Vygotsky et al., private speech shows two changes in terms of function during the preschool period. Preschool teachers state that private speech of children has two different additional functions: motivational and empirical as well as descriptive and schematic. This case points out that private speech of preschool children can be dealt with various concepts (e.g. Bandura-self-efficacy) offered within the framework of different theoretical bases.

A Critical Evaluation of the Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Theory as Evident within an Aspect(s) of Curriculum, Pedagogy and/or Assessment in Nigeria

Research

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2024

Saul McLeod

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934, 1978) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly what has become known as sociocultural theory.

Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

Preprint

Full-text available

Aug 2024

Saul McLeod

Free Will Implicates Inner Speech via Self-Regulation

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024
OJPP

Alain Morin

Free will typically refers to any form of significant control over one's actions. This definition is remarkably similar to that of self-regulation-the control of one's behavior, emotions, and thoughts in pursuit of long-term goals. Indeed, several scholars have proposed that the latter constitutes the psychological equivalent of the former. A large body of empirical work demonstrates that both covert (inner) and overt (private) forms of self-directed speech are causally associated with self-regulatory outcomes such as action planning, problem solving , emotion regulation, attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and self-reflection. It thus seems logical to propose that free will too recruits self-directed speech. This argument is explored by reviewing the relevant literature pertaining to free will, self-regulation, and inner/private speech. More specifically, free will is defined and contrasted with self-regulation, whose definition ends up being remarkably similar. Examples of typical research on private and inner speech are presented and show a key involvement of self-directed speech in self-regulation. The notion that free will depends on inner speech is further explored based on Wiley's work (2009). One outstanding implication is that individual differences in self-directed speech use could be linked to different levels of free will. That is, people using in-ner/private speech more efficiently could exhibit freer will, and vice-versa.

Free will implicates inner speech via self-regulation

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Apr 2024

Alain Morin

Free will typically refers to any form of significant control over one’s actions. This definition is remarkably similar to that of self-regulation—the control of one's behavior, emotions, and thoughts in pursuit of long-term goals. Indeed, several scholars have proposed that the latter constitutes the psychological equivalent of the former. A large body of empirical work demonstrates that both covert (inner) and overt (private) forms of self-directed speech are associated with self-regulatory outcomes such as action planning, problem-solving, emotion regulation, attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and self-reflection. It thus seems logical to propose that free will too recruits self-directed speech. This argument is explored by reviewing the relevant literature pertaining to free will, self-regulation, and inner/private speech. One outstanding implication is that individual differences in self-directed speech use could be linked to different levels of free will. That is, people using inner/private speech more efficiently could exhibit more free will, and vice-versa.

Shut-up Toys for Second Language Learners: Impact of Digital Media on Early Adolescents’ Private Speech Production in Individual and Collaborative Tasks

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2024
J PSYCHOLINGUIST RES

Researchers, parents, and policymakers from previous generations have recently expressed concern about the inevitable exposure of youngsters to digital media and its potentially detrimental effects on their development. Private speech is the overt audible self-talk people produce when engaged with challenging problem-solving tasks and is believed to aid in second language acquisition as reported (Vygotsky in Thought and language, MIT Press, 1962); (Winsler in Private Speech, Executive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation, 2009). This qualitative case study explored private speech production in three young adolescents (two 11-year-olds and one 10-year-old) while completing an English as a foreign language task (Bingo! game) individually and collaboratively in physical and digital modes. Patterns of participants’ private speech markers emerged from a thematic analysis of the transcribed oral interactions during eight sessions. The frequency of occurrence of the participants’ private speech markers was reported and interpreted based on the emergent typology to compare collaborative and individual task completion in physical and digital modes. Regardless of the individual or collaborative nature of the task, private speech use decreased during the digital version of the game. However, collaborative tasks evoked more private speech from the participants regardless of modality. The findings of the study suggest digital media usage is likely to hinder private speech production for self-regulatory purposes in young adolescents, even in collaboration with peers.

Unleashing the Inner Voices: Exploring Dialogical Self Beyond Dominant Narratives in Unscripted Role-Playing

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2023
J CONSTR PSYCHOL

According to the Dialogical Self Theory, there is a multiplicity of I-positions within the self in a dialogical relationship. Psychodrama refers to these positions as inner parts within the self. We propose an integration of both to create an intervention centered on unscripted intrapersonal role-playing of the I-positions for the purpose of meaning-making. We want less dominant or silenced I-positions to be heard and included in the dialogue. We illustrate this approach with a group of 24 adult participants who engaged in a reflective dialogue process to potentially change their attitudes and perspectives toward an exemplary topic of technological advancement. A mixed-method approach is applied to investigate the potential benefits of this intervention. In pre-and post-intervention, a questionnaire is used to gather self-reported attitudes with Likert-scale and open-ended questions to assess explicit attitudes and perspectives related to our exemplary case. We used a statistical test and thematic analysis to compare the results before and after the intervention. The qualitative results show a shift in perspectives. However, the quantitative results do not show statistical significance regarding attitude change. Furthermore, integrating quantitative and qualitative results shows a convergence of the findings in one group of participants while divergence in the other. Despite these results, the proposed interventional approach promises various potential applications.

Dependencia Interfuncional entre la Teoría de la Mente y el Proceso de Internalización del Lenguaje

Thesis

Full-text available

Mar 2023

Leonardo Rivera Valdez

El siguiente texto aborda la relación interfuncional entre lo que suele conocerse como teoría de la mente (ToM) y la internalización del lenguaje. La primera suele concebirse como la capacidad de predicción del comportamiento de las personas en función de la atribución de estados mentales, mientras que la segunda hace referencia al proceso dialógico entre el niño con los otros para la conformación de sus procesos psicológicos, en este caso el lenguaje. Bajo esta lógica se concibe que la teoría de la mente se relaciona con la internalización del lenguaje debido a que permite el desarrollo en esta a partir de las capacidades operatorias con el contenido semiótico de las perspectivas de otros. El trabajo se divide en un recorrido histórico de la ToM, un análisis de los diferentes modelos dominantes (divididos en modulares-nativistas; metarrepresentacionales; y los modelos asociados al lenguaje) así como su crítica, posteriormente se propone un modelo vigotskiano, y finalmente se presenta la metodología para el estudio de esta interrelación como los resultados. El estudio mostró que los niños van aumentando su grado de internalización (GI) según aumenta su edad, como fue predicho por Vigotsky, además de que su ToM va en aumento según la edad. Sin embargo, la ToM se encontró menos desarrollada en la muestra a cómo sugerían los modelos tradicionales. La relación entre la ToM y el GI no fue significativa a diferencia de lo propuesto por Fernyhough (2008, 2009) y lo encontrado en Fernyhough y Meins (2009), pero se encontró una relación con el tiempo de ejecución de la torre de Londres, por lo que se sugiere que las codificaciones del habla privada evalúan más la función regulativa y no son una buena representación de las capacidades de manipular perspectivas. Aunado a ello, se comprobó que la forma de la acción de los niños iba en aumento conforme lo esperado por Galperin, sin embargo, estas variables tampoco se encontraron asociadas a la ToM coincidiendo con el GI. Se sugiere que los resultados pueden ser comprendidos si se considera al habla privada, y su GI, como medidas de la función regulativa del lenguaje y no de las capacidades de representación de múltiples perspectivas. Además de que medidas más adecuadas para medir dichas capacidades de representación, serían la codificación del habla privada, y habla, de los niños durante períodos de juegos de roles. Esto debido a que implican la consideración explícita de las perspectivas de otros para poder realizar dicha actividad.

Executive Function and Narrative Language Abilities in Emergent Bilingual Preschoolers: An Exploratory Study

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023
LANG SPEECH HEAR SER

Purpose In light of the importance of preschool oral narrative skills as precursors to literacy, this exploratory study examined expressive language skills among emergent bilingual Latine preschoolers using a naturalistic personal narrative task. To understand the factors that support language use in the personal narrative context for this population, we examined the contribution of children's executive function (EF) skills to their narrative language abilities. Method Children completed two subtests from the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment to measure EF and produced two personal narratives in response to conversational prompts. A series of linear regressions were used to evaluate the relation between children's EF skills and their narrative production ability, narrative organization, and expressive language skills derived from automated analyses of narrative samples. Results EF was found to predict children's ability to produce a personal narrative but not the language skills children demonstrated in these narratives. Conclusions The current findings suggest that EF is implicated in emergent bilingual Latine children's narrative abilities. At the preschool age, the contribution of EF to narrative language production is apparent in the global task of producing a narrative, rather than in the organizational or linguistic features of the narrative. As such, supporting both EF and narrative skills might be an important means of facilitating preliteracy among bilingual children.

Examining the role of parents and teachers in executive function development in early and middle childhood: A systematic review

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023
DEV REV

The aim of the current systematic review is (1) to examine theoretical frameworks and mechanisms explaining the association between parental and teacher behaviors and child executive function (EF) development, and (2) to compare and combine empirical findings for the relationship between parental and teacher behaviors and child EF development in early and middle childhood. Results revealed that theoretical frameworks have been established more strongly in the parent literature and parental behaviors have been more extensively studied with more diverse terms compared to studies in teacher literature. Overall, patterns of findings suggest that positive (e.g., emotional support) and cognitive parental/teacher behaviors (e.g., cognitive stimulation) were positively linked to child EF performance while negative behaviors (e.g., intrusiveness) were adversely related. Considering the similar roles of parents and teachers in child EF development, insights from parent literature could enable a better understanding of the impact of teacher behaviors on child EF (and vice versa), and opens new venues for future teacher research. Moreover, these findings suggest that, in addition to genetic transmission, social factors such as parent/teacher-child interactions play a significant role in EF development. Future research should investigate the joint influence of parent and teacher behaviors on child EF.

Seize the Day: Executive Thought Self-leadership and Heterogeneity Among Dynamic Managerial Capability Underpinning Cognitive Capabilities

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2022

Extant literature has established the importance of individual dynamic managerial capabilities to the enterprise level sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring capacities of an organization. Despite theorization that heterogeneity in executive thought processes and thinking disposition stands causal for the oft observed differences in managerial capability between executives, little is known about the individual level antecedents of this cognitive heterogeneity which ultimately influences the direction of the entire firm. In response to calls for future investigation into this critical gap, the present paper draws upon a micro-level theory heretofore underutilized in the strategic realm – self-leadership – to examine how executives’ cognitive processes impact their entire firm. In pursuit of this goal, the cognitive-based thought self-leadership theory is utilized to more thoroughly explain the drivers of heterogeneity among the underlying cognitive capabilities of managers’ crucial dynamic managerial capabilities. In this way, the present study theorizes how specific individual executive cognitive processes (thought self-leadership strategies – e.g., self-talk, mental imagery) can influence the firm-level strategic decisions of innovation and expansion and thus impact overall organizational performance, through the bolstering of individual cognitive capacities and resulting managerial capabilities.

Daneshfar, S., Veresov, N., Turner, M. (2022). Private speech of multilingual English learners: a genetical/developmental approach. In: P. Fossa (Ed.) Inner speech, culture & education (pp.29-50). Springer https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14212-3_3

Chapter

Sep 2022

From a Vygotskian perspective, the process of speech development has three main stages: social speech, private speech and inner speech. Social speech happens in interactions of human beings in the form of dialogues. Inner speech is the individual and intrapsychological process. However, there is a significant bridging stage in the process of speech development that is private speech. In the present chapter, we report on a study of the private speech of multilingual learners of English. This chapter explores private speech as a system of explosions and pauses by considering its intermediary position in its dialectical relationship with inner speech. By investigating the explosions and pauses of adult multilingual English learners as they solve problem-solving tasks written in English, the researchers seek to show how insights can be derived from a genetical/developmental approach to the analysis of private speech.KeywordsExplosionsInner speechPausesPrivate speechSocial speech

Preschoolers’ Vocabulary Skills And Inhibitory Control: The Role Of Classroom Engagement

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

Research Findings: Preschoolers’ vocabulary skills and inhibitory control have been demonstrated critical for later school success; however, the ways in which the individual classroom experiences dynamically interchange with these skills is still unclear. In this paper, we examine the role of children’s individual engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks in facilitating children’s skill development across the school year. Using a sample of 895 preschoolers across 223 classrooms drawn from the Professional Development Study, the current study examined engagement as both outcomes of children’s vocabulary and inhibitory control in the fall of the preschool year and as mediators of linkages between them across the preschool year. Results suggested that vocabulary skills and inhibitory control each shape different aspects of classroom engagement. Children’s vocabulary was associated with positive engagement with teachers and peers, whereas inhibitory control was associated with positive task engagement and negative engagement. We also found that negative engagement as composited by conflicts with teachers and peers and off-task behaviors mediated the association between fall inhibitory control with spring vocabulary and inhibitory control. Practice or Policy: Together, these findings suggest the critical role of individual classroom experiences in explaining children’s vocabulary and inhibitory control development.

Digital media inhibit self-regulatory private speech use in preschool children: The “digital bubble effect”

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022
COGNITIVE DEV

Preschoolers spend much time with digital media and some are concerned about impacts on language development. Private speech (PS) is self-talk children use during play, representing a necessary form of self-regulation. This study examined whether modality (material vs. digital) matters for children’s PS. Twenty-nine White 5-yr-olds (52% female) completed the Tower of London task twice - once as a material version and once on a tablet. Children used more PS on the material than digital version of the task (d=0.46). During the material task, the typical pattern of increased PS as difficulty increased appeared. However, during the digital task, PS declined as difficulty increased. Digital games may inhibit children’s use of PS for self-regulation, having implications for executive function development.

Análisis del engagement infantil durante el juego

Chapter

Full-text available

Jun 2021

El engagement es un constructo complejo relacionado con la motivación y la implicación, que se suele investigar con distintas metodologías y estrategias de análisis, dependiendo de su definición conceptual. Los sistemas de medidas automáticas computacionales empiezan a ser la forma más común de analizar las interacciones de los niños y niñas con herramientas y contenidos digitales. A continuación, se discute la aplicación de los distintos diseños de investigación del engagement durante el juego en la primera infancia y se reflexiona sobre la influencia de factores externos como el contexto, las diferencias culturales, el nivel de independencia de los adultos y las características de las apps seleccionadas.

Reciprocal Relation Between Executive Function and Receptive Vocabulary in Chinese Preschoolers: Evidence From a Two-Year Longitudinal Study

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021

By using a three-time longitudinal design, the present study focuses on three components of executive function (EF), respectively, to examine whether the relation between EF and receptive vocabulary was reciprocal and whether the direction of the above relation would differ by EF components and child gender. A total of 320 Chinese preschool children were assessed when they enrolled in preschool the first year (T1), the second year (T2) and the third year (T3), respectively. Children's EF was assessed by six computerized tasks, and receptive vocabulary was assessed by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test (PPVT-4). Data were analyzed in the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). Findings provided some support for within-person reciprocal relations between EF and receptive vocabulary, but the reciprocal patterns varied depending on EF components. In specific, inhibitory control/attention shift and receptive vocabulary were reciprocally predicted between T1 and T2, and inhibitory control/attention shift at T2 could significantly predict receptive vocabulary at T3, but not vice versa. In addition, working memory and receptive vocabulary were reciprocally predicted between T1 and T2 and between T2 and T3. Finally, no child gender differences were found in the above relations. Our findings suggest that the instructions and interventions integrating EF and language skills may be an important avenue for enhancing success across skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Is There a Causal Link between the Left Lateralization of Language and Other Brain Asymmetries? A Review of Data Gathered in Patients with Focal Brain Lesions

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021
BSRCCS

Guido Gainotti

This review evaluated if the hypothesis of a causal link between the left lateralization of language and other brain asymmetries could be supported by a careful review of data gathered in patients with unilateral brain lesions. In a short introduction a distinction was made between brain activities that could: (a) benefit from the shaping influences of language (such as the capacity to solve non-verbal cognitive tasks and the increased levels of consciousness and of intentionality); (b) be incompatible with the properties and the shaping activities of language (e.g., the relations between language and the automatic orienting of visual-spatial attention or between cognition and emotion) and (c) be more represented on the right hemisphere due to competition for cortical space. The correspondence between predictions based on the theoretical impact of language on other brain functions and data obtained in patients with lesions of the right and left hemisphere was then assessed. The reviewed data suggest that different kinds of hemispheric asymmetries observed in patients with unilateral brain lesions could be subsumed by common mechanisms, more or less directly linked to the left lateralization of language.

Infancia y pantallas Evidencias actuales y métodos de análisis

Book

Full-text available

Jun 2021

Los estudios sobre el uso de tecnologías digitales por parte de niños y niñas indican un aumento de las pantallas en las escuelas, pero sobre todo en los hogares, desde 2013. Los menores ya emplean antes de los dos años smartphones y tablets para jugar, para comunicarse, para crear y para aprender. Para ellos las pantallas son parte de su vida cotidiana y una herramienta más de juego, mientras que para los educadores existen todavía importantes dudas sobre las posibilidades del medio interactivo para el desarrollo de los más pequeños a nivel cognitivo, afectivo y psicomotor. Investigar para conocer cómo los niños y niñas más pequeños interactúan con las tecnologías digitales es hoy más necesario que nunca. Este libro pretende contribuir a la investigación en el campo de la interacción de los menores con las pantallas interactivas durante la primera infancia, y se difunde en abierto para llegar a todos los académicos interesados en esta área, pero también a los educadores y familias preocupadas por seleccionar y ofrecer recursos de calidad que contribuyan a un uso saludable, responsable y educativo de la tecnología por parte de los más pequeños. El libro se estructura en dos partes, con una primera visión más conceptual y una consecuente perspectiva metodológica sobre la observación y el análisis de la interacción niño-pantalla.

AN EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN'S THINKING, LEARNING AND METACOGNITION WHEN MAKING COMPUTER GAMES

Thesis

Full-text available

Mar 2020

Yasemin Allsop

This thesis examines children’s thinking, learning and metacognition when designing their own computer games. The study aims to understand more about what kind of learning takes place, and how it emerges whilst children are authoring their own computer games. The aim is to get an insight into the cognitive processes students exercise that activates the ‘thinking for learning’, in particular in relation to the role of the teacher and digital game making activities as a learning space. Whereas mainly case studies and design-based research projects have been used as methodologies to study learning with digital game making, this study gives an ethnographic account by observing children’s problem-solving activities from moment to moment. Field notes were collected by examining the language and the context children use for their ‘self’ explanations and group discussions, the gestures, the culture of their relationship with their teacher, peers and technology in their classroom settings. A metacognitive skills self-report instrument was created and used to investigate the metacognitive skills that children develop whilst working on their games. The data were collected for a period of eight months, through participant observations, in-depth interviews, informal conversations and video recordings of children’s group discussions in a primary school in London. Learning logs and problem-solving sheets were introduced for the ten focus children to record their thinking when solving problems. During this research there were many opportunities to observe the changes in a child’s reasoning over time, which provided an insight into children’s mental activities. The study found that game design activities have many learning benefits for children. The main themes that are emerged from the study include metacognitive awareness; CT; learning in curriculum subjects; and developing transferrable 21st century skills. Furthermore, the role of conversation in triggering thinking processes and self-regulated learning are discussed using data from the study. Although the study provides insight into different aspects of learning during game design, it also highlights the difficulty in evaluating these different learning benefits. The results contribute to the growing body of knowledge about how to evaluate children’s computational skills by providing a multiple evaluation model and a Metacognitive Skills Instrument (MSI) for measuring metacognitive skills that children develop whilst making their computer games. The challenges and limitations of these methods are discussed to form questions for the future studies.

Differences in cognitive processing? The role of verbal processes and mental effort in bilingual and monolingual children’s planning performance

Article

Jan 2022
J EXP CHILD PSYCHOL

Past research documents a bilingual advantage in the domain of executive functions (EFs). However, controversial debates have questioned the robustness of those behavioral differences. The current study aimed to better understand the underlying cognitive prerequisites in bilingual students as compared with monolingual students and focused on two processes: the role of verbal processes, on the one hand, and mental effort during task execution, on the other. The use of self-regulatory speech has been found to be related to performance in tasks requiring EFs. For bilinguals who have grown up with two language systems from an early age, those relations are not fully understood. Furthermore, results from neuroimaging studies have shown that bilinguals might exhibit less mental effort in EF tasks. We investigated both processes in German-speaking monolingual elementary school students (n = 33; Mage = 8.78 years) and German–Russian bilingual elementary school students (n = 34; Mage = 8.88 years) solving a planning task. Results showed that monolinguals were impaired by a verbal secondary task in comparison with a motor control condition, whereas bilinguals performed in both tasks at an equal level, indicating a differential role of self-regulatory speech in both language groups. Analyses of changes in pupil diameter revealed less mental effort during task execution for bilingual children as compared with monolingual children. The current study adds to the existing literature by supplying further evidence for cognitive differences between monolingual and bilingual children.

Language and Executive Function in Preschoolers With Developmental Language Disorder: The Role of Self-Directed Speech

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2021

Purpose Our goal was to examine the relationship between language and executive function in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or developmental language disorder (DLD) with a specific focus on how language in the form of self-directed speech (SDS) affects executive functioning in this population. Method Participants included thirty-one 4- and 5-year-old children with DLD. Children completed a visual, computer-based continuous performance task (CPT) that tapped their sustained selective attention. SDS children produced during this task was coded off-line for intelligibility, task relevancy, and whether it was regulatory. Regression analyses were used to characterize the relationship between children's performance on the CPT and their SDS. Results The majority of SDS that children produced during the CPT was task relevant and regulatory, but there was individual variability in the total amount of SDS produced. Children's percentage of regulatory SDS was a significant predictor of their CPT performance. Conclusions Because SDS is positively associated with executive function performance but has delayed development among children with SLI and/or DLD, clinicians have an opportunity to support SDS development in children. We discuss specific approaches and clinical activities for supporting SDS development in early childhood.

Aportaciones al análisis del lenguaje infantil durante la interacción con apps

Chapter

Full-text available

Jun 2021

Development of Inner Speech and its Neural Correlates

Article

May 2024

Thomas Wiley

PROTOCOL: Key characteristics of effective preschool‐based interventions to promote self‐regulation: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2024

This is the protocol for a Campbell Systematic Review. The objectives are as follows: The aim of this systematic review is to advance our understanding of the key characteristics of effective preschool‐based interventions designed to foster self‐regulation. To accomplish this, the review addresses the following questions: 1. What types of preschool‐based interventions have been developed to promote self‐regulation? 2. What is the average effect of these preschool‐based interventions on self‐regulation, focusing on four key constructs: integrative effortful control, integrative executive function, self‐regulation, and self‐regulated learning? 3. What characteristics—such as Resource Allocation, Activity Type, and Instruction Method—could potentially contribute to the effects of preschool‐based interventions in promoting self‐regulation?

Private speech improves cognitive performance in young adults

Article

Nov 2023
CONSCIOUS COGN

Inner Speaking and Uncertainty during Idea Generation

Article

Apr 2023

Alwin de Rooij

Inner speaking, the production, and experience of verbal language without any audible vocalization is a critical component of inner experience and imagination. The role that (un)certainty plays in idea generation might explain the unique ways in which idea generation is characterized and affected by different types of inner speech. To explore this open problem, an experiment with a within‐subject design ( n = 202) was conducted. The results suggested that certainty about the potential of selected information for generating original and useful ideas, elicited using creativity instructions, caused increased self‐reinforcement, self‐management, and simulation of social interactions with imagined others by inner speaking, but did influence self‐critical inner speaking. Self‐reinforcing inner speaking, and possibly the simulation of social interactions, subsequently affected the degree of originality and usefulness participants attributed to their ideas. Herewith, the present study contributes novel insight into how inner speaking characterizes and affects idea generation.

Approche développementale et neuro-éducative dans la prise en charge des enfants bilingues souffrant de troubles spécifiques d'apprentissage au Liban

Thesis

Dec 2022

Darine Al Naboulsi

Notre travail de recherche porte sur les relations entre bilinguisme, fonctions exécutives (FE) ainsi que sur leur implication sur les performances scolaires. Face aux particularités des apprentissages scolaires au Liban et aux complexités orthographiques spécifiques à chacune des deux langues considérées : française et arabe, l'enfant bilingue ayant des troubles spécifiques des apprentissages tels que la dyslexie et la dyscalculie se trouve confronter à des exigences qui nécessitent un effort cognitif supplémentaire. Deux études expérimentales sont effectuées dans cette thèse : la première étude vise à clarifier les effets de l'apprentissage d'une langue seconde sur les FE et les performances académiques auprès d'enfants libanais. Une batterie d'épreuves évaluant le fonctionnement exécutif et les habiletés mathématiques et de lecture a été administrée à des élèves monolingues et bilingues âgés entre 8 et 10 ans et scolarisés au Liban. Les résultats confirment les relations positives entre le bilinguisme, la flexibilité et l'inhibition, ainsi qu'avec les performances en lecture et en mathématique. Par contre, aucune relation n'est retrouvée entre le bilinguisme et l'impulsivité cognitive. La deuxième étude, quant à elle, vise à clarifier les effets d'un entrainement intensif des FE par le biais du langage oral chez des enfants bilingues âgés entre 8 et 11 ans souffrant de troubles spécifiques d'apprentissage associés ou non à un déficit exécutif au Liban. Il s'agit d'entraîner l'inhibition, la mémoire de travail et la flexibilité cognitive pendant une durée de 14 semaines et d'évaluer son impact sur les habiletés de lecture et de mathématique des enfants dyslexiques. Une batterie d'épreuves évaluant le fonctionnement exécutif et les habiletés mathématiques et de lecture a été administrée à ces élèves en période pré et post entrainement. Les résultats confirment les relations positives entre les tâches d'entrainement et les FE ciblées. Par ailleurs, entre le prétest et le post-test, l'impulsivité diminue significativement dans le groupe entrainé et de manière tendanciellement significative dans le groupe contrôle 1. En revanche, il n'y a pas de changement significatif dans le groupe contrôle actif 2. Concernant les effets de transfert sur la lecture et les mathématiques, cette étude a permis de mettre en évidence cet effet sur les deux domaines. En revanche, la vitesse de dénomination augmente significativement dans les trois groupes. Au final, ce travail de thèse a permis de démontrer les avantages du bilinguisme sur les FE et les performances scolaires auprès des enfants bilingues au Liban. De plus, il a montré l'efficacité d'une méthode d'entrainement ciblé et intensif basée sur le bilinguisme et les FE afin d'améliorer les habiletés en lecture et en mathématiques chez les enfants souffrants de troubles spécifiques des apprentissages.

Private Speech during Problem-Solving: Tool Innovation Challenges Both Preschoolers’ Cognitive and Emotion Regulation

Article

Nov 2022

The current study examined children’s spontaneous private speech during the vertical and the horizontal Tube Task to shed light on the cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes underlying tool innovation. Tool innovation is defined as solving a novel problem by using or modifying objects in a new and useful way without prior instructions. Relations between private speech of 3- to 4-year-old children (N = 89) and their task performance (i.e., success and latency to success) were analyzed using Bayesian statistics. Children who were successful at the task produced more metacognitive and cognitive speech compared to children who were unsuccessful at the task. Latency to success did not relate to (meta)cognitive speech, but it was associated to negative speech: Children who expressed negative emotions more often and who evaluated the task as being difficult needed more time to find a solution than children who used less negative speech. These findings indicate that cognitive skills and emotion regulation are closely related in preschoolers’ tool innovation.

Особенности взаимодействия речевых и регуляторных функций у больных с вербальными галлюцинациями

Thesis

Dec 2021

Yana R. Panikratova

Epigenomic Studies of Substance Use

Chapter

Mar 2022

Drug addiction is a devastating mental health problem with an alarming increasing prevalence. Underlining biological mechanisms of drug addiction are abnormal neuronal and brain activity following acute and repeated drug exposures. Altered gene-expression patterns are found in reward-related brain regions of drug addicts and in animal models. These changes in gene expression are responsible for morphological and molecular abnormalities in reward-related brain regions. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA (hydroxy)methylation and histone mark modifications are upstream regulators of gene expression. Global and site-specific changes in epigenetic markers are observed in addiction. Here, we discuss recent findings linking epigenetic changes to drug addiction in both animal and human studies. We will speculate on potential directions for diagnosis and therapeutics of drug addiction using epigenetic screening and epigenetic-modifying drugs.KeywordsEpigeneticsHistone modificationsDNA methylationDrug abuseAddiction

Psychological Antecedents and Correlates of Substance Use and Addiction

Chapter

Mar 2022

Addiction, examined in this chapter within a lifespan developmental psychology framework, is posited to consist of two main variants: Ontogenetic addiction ensues from non-normative socialization during childhood and adolescence predisposed by suboptimal acquisition of psychological self-regulation, whereas addiction reaction ensues from stressor-induced diminution of psychological self-regulation.Psychological self-regulation is the main vulnerability trait in both addiction variants. It is a continuous variable encompassing indicators of executive cognitive capacity, behavior control, and emotion stability. Low psychological self-regulation during childhood and adolescence forecasts addiction, defined herein as reduced capacity to voluntarily deter onset or terminate consumption of addictive chemicals (ACs). Addiction is thus obsessive-compulsive behavior. The main challenge in etiology research pertains to delineating how low psychological self-regulation presaging AC consumption onset leads to addiction. Toward this goal, the influence of low psychological self-regulation interacting with sociocultural mores and secular laws are discussed in relation to risk for ontogenetic addiction and addiction reaction.KeywordsAddiction etiologyCultureSubstance abuseChildren and adolescentsGenetics

Early cognitive intervention using mediated learning for preschoolers with developmental delay: A randomized controlled trial

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2022
BRIT J EDUC PSYCHOL

Background The use of mediated learning in cognitive training has been shown to be effective in enhancing students’ cognitive development. Nonetheless, its effects on language development are less explored. Aims This study examined the effects of an early cognitive intervention (Think Bright program) in enhancing the cognitive and language development of Hong Kong preschoolers with developmental delay. Method Sixty-eight children (48 boys and 20 girls; mean age = 58 months) with developmental delay were recruited from preschool rehabilitation centres and randomized to two groups (Think Bright training vs. active control). Each child in the Think Bright group received 12 sessions of 1-hr individual training on thinking skills over 6 months. The control group received the same amount of training based on the regular training regimen adopted at the rehabilitation centres. Results After a 6-month intervention, the Think Bright group significantly outperformed the control group in language, general cognition, analogical thinking, sequential thinking, and logical reasoning. The Think Bright teachers’ mediation skills significantly improved during the course of intervention and correlated moderately with the improvement in students’ language abilities. Conclusion This study has shown promising results on the effectiveness of using mediated learning in early cognitive intervention in enhancing both the cognitive and language development of preschoolers with developmental delay.

Relationship of Elementary School Children's Private Speech to Behavioral Accompaniment to Task, Attention, and Task Performance

Article

Full-text available

Sep 1986

Laura E Berk

Tested assumptions drawn from Vygotsky's (1934 [1962]) theory about the development of private speech (PS) and its relationship to task performance, attention, and motor behaviors accompanying task orientation. 75 1st and 3rd graders were observed in their classrooms while engaged in math seatwork. Results show a developmental trend toward increasingly task-relevant and less audible PS and a shifting relationship of intelligence to PS with grade, which was consistent with Vygotsky's assumption that PS undergoes a curvilinear course of development that is governed by cognitive maturity. The relationship of PS to task success, as measured by classroom assignment performance and scores on the mathematics portion of the Stanford Achievement Test, varied with grade and mental ability (Cognitive Abilities Test—Primary Battery). Findings suggest that using the type of PS that is in natural developmental ascendence, given the child's level of intellectual maturity, is positively related to performance, but reverting to less mature forms is negatively predictive. Use of task-relevant PS predicted greater task attentional focus and reduction of extraneous, tension-reducing motor behaviors. Findings support Vygotsky's theory of the functional significance of PS in children's cognitive development and the validity of the theory for children's task-related behaviors in natural classroom learning contexts. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The relation between private speech and parental interactive style

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1992

build a bridge between two literatures: research on children's self-regulatory private speech and evidence on the role of parent-child interaction in cognitive development present the findings of a unique empirical investigation / it is the first to connect the social origins and self-regulatory effectiveness of private speech by collecting data on three facets of preschoolers' problem solving: (1) maternal teaching strategies, (2) changes in children's private speech over time, and (3) children's task performance / the investigators select scaffolding—the extent to which parents modify instructional messages to fit their child's current ability to handle a task—as the critical maternal style variable propose a preliminary model of relations between social regulation, self-regulation, and task performance / the model reflects Vygotsky's core belief that private speech is a critical intermediate step in the mastery of cognitive skills (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Development of private speech among low-income Appalachian children

Article

Full-text available

Mar 1984

Observed the occurrence of 9 subtypes of private speech (e.g., self-guidance and expression of affect) among 36 low-income 5–10 yr old Appalachian children in the school environment. Narratives of Ss' behavior were recorded and coded. Findings support L. Vygotsky's (1962) viewpoint in that most private speech appeared to serve a cognitively self-guiding function. Subtypes showed developmental trends predicted by Vygotsky's theory, resembled those found by L. Kohlberg et al (1968), and showed generally positive relationships with social speech. Private speech increased under conditions of cognitively demanding tasks and adult absence. The suggestion by Kohlberg claiming that private speech is functionally unitary and that the subtypes emerge in a hierarchically related sequence was not supported. Ss were slower in rate but not different in form of development as compared with previously studied middle-class children. Boys developed more slowly than did girls, a finding related to Appalachian cultural sex roles. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Self-Regulatory Functions of Children's Private Speech. A Critical Analysis of Recent Challenges to Vygotsky's Theory

Article

Full-text available

Mar 1985

Recent empirical findings have challenged L. S. Vygotsky's (1962) theory regarding the self-regulatory functions of children's private speech by suggesting that such speech occurs infrequently and that there is little functional relationship between children's production of private speech and success in cognitive tasks. It is hypothesized that the scarcity of private speech is an artifact of the typical research paradigm used in recent investigations. Within a Vygotskian framework, private speech will tend to co-occur with failure in cognitive tasks because both private speech and the likelihood of failure increase with task difficulty. In the present study, 32 3.5–6 yr olds were videotaped while performing semantic and perceptual tasks, and their verbalizations were transcribed and coded into social and private speech categories. Results indicate that the condition most frequently used in recent studies indeed minimized production of private speech and that failure in tasks was associated with greater production of self-regulatory speech. As the number of self-regulatory utterances declined, the number of whispers and mutterings increased, supporting Vygotsky's notion that private speech does not disappear with age but "goes underground" to constitute inner speech. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Functional brain maps of Tower of London performance: A positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2003

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrasts represent different physiological measures of brain activation. The present study aimed to compare two functional brain imaging techniques (functional magnetic resonance imaging versus [(15)O] positron emission tomography) when using Tower of London (TOL) problems as the activation task. A categorical analysis (task versus baseline) revealed a significant BOLD increase bilaterally for the dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex and for the cerebellum. A parametric haemodynamic response model (or regression analysis) confirmed a task-difficulty-dependent increase of BOLD and rCBF for the cerebellum and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In line with previous studies, a task-difficulty-dependent increase of left-hemispheric rCBF was also detected for the premotor cortex, cingulate, precuneus, and globus pallidus. These results imply consistency across the two neuroimaging modalities, particularly for the assessment of prefrontal brain function when using a parametric TOL adaptation.

A New Look at Children's Private Speech: The Effects of Age, Task Difficulty, and Parent Presence

Article

Full-text available

Sep 1989

The present study re-evaluated several hypotheses concerning the selfregulatory nature of children's private speech. It was hypothesised that if children's private speech is self-regulatory, it should differ systematically as a function of child's age, task difficulty, and the presence of another in a task situation, and it should be positively related to task performance. Twenty-four children at each of three age levels (2, 31/2, and 5 years) were videotaped while working alone and with a parent on different sets of 3 puzzles that varied in difficulty. Children's speech was recorded and coded as private or social. The proportion of total speech coded as private increased slightly with age and was curvilinearly related to puzzle difficulty, with the most private speech observed on moderately difficult puzzles. In addition, private speech was positively related to task performance, especially on medium and difficult tasks. These results are consistent with the view that private speech is self-regulatory. Parental presence had no effect on the percentage of private speech. These results suggest that parents' behaviour during joint problem-solving probably should not be taken to be strictly regulatory. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67047/2/10.1177_016502548901200302.pdf

Specific Impairments of Planning

Article

Full-text available

Jul 1982

Tim Shallice

An information-processing model is outlined that predicts that performance on non-routine tasks can be impaired independently of performance on routine tasks. The model is related to views on frontal lobe functions, particularly those of Luria. Two methods of obtaining more rigorous tests of the model are discussed. One makes use of ideas from artificial intelligence to derive a task heavily loaded on planning abilities. A group of patients with left anterior lesions has a specific deficit on the task. Subsidiary investigations support the inference that this is a planning impairment.

Frontal-striatal cognitive deficits in patients with chronic SCZ

Article

Full-text available

Nov 1997

Spatial working memory and planning abilities were assessed in 36 hospitalized patients with chronic schizophrenia, using the computerized Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), and compared with those of normal subjects and patients with neurological disorders (frontal lobe lesions; temporal lobe and amygdalohippocampal lesions; Parkinson's disease), matched for age, sex and National Adult Reading Test IQ. The patients in the group with temporal lobe lesions were unimpaired in their performance on these tasks. Patients with schizophrenia were impaired on visuo-spatial memory span compared with all the other groups, while severity of Parkinson's disease was correlated with the degree of impairment on this task. The patients with schizophrenia and those with frontal lobe lesions were impaired on a 'spatial working memory' task, with increased 'between-search errors'. Patients with Parkinson's disease performed this task poorly compared with the younger control subjects. Patients with schizophrenia were unable to develop a systematic strategy to complete this task, relying instead on a limited visuo-spatial memory span. Higher level planning ability was investigated using the CANTAB 'Tower of London'. All groups were equally able to complete the task. However, the groups of patients with schizophrenia and frontal lobe lesions made fewer perfect solutions and required more moves for completion. Movement times were significantly slower in the schizophrenia group, suggesting impairment in the sensorimotor requirements of the task. The patients with schizophrenia were not impaired in their 'initial thinking' (planning) latencies, but had significantly prolonged 'subsequent thinking' (execution) latencies. This pattern resembled that of the group with frontal lobe lesions and contrasted with the prolonged 'initial thinking' time seen in Parkinson's disease. The results of this study are indicative of an overall deficit of executive functioning in schizophrenia, even greater than that seen in patients with frontal lobe lesions. However, the pattern of results in schizophrenia resembled that seen in patients with lesions of the frontal lobe or with basal ganglia dysfunction, providing support for the notion of a disturbance of frontostriatal circuits in schizophrenia. Our findings also indicate that there is a loss of the normal relationships between different domains of executive function in schizophrenia, with implications for impaired functional connectivity between different regions of the neocortex.

Private speech in preschool children: Developmental stability and change, across-task consistency, and relations with classroom behaviour

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2003

This study examined (a) developmental stability and change in children's private speech during the preschool years, (b) across-task consistency in children's self-speech, and (c) across-setting relations between children's private speech in the laboratory and their behaviour at home and in the preschool classroom. A group of 32 normally developing three- and four-year-old children was observed twice (six month interobservation interval) while engaging in the same individual problem-solving tasks. Measures of private speech were collected from transcribed videotapes. Naturalistic observations of children's behaviour in the preschool classroom were conducted, and teachers and parents reported on children's behaviour at home and school. Individual differences in preschool children's private speech use were generally stable across tasks and time and related to children's observed and reported behaviour at school and home. Children whose private speech was more partially internalized had fewer externalizing behaviour problems and better social skills as reported by parents and teachers. Children whose private speech was largely task-irrelevant engaged in less goal-directed behaviour in the classroom, expressed more negative affect in the classroom, and rated as having poorer social skills and more behaviour problems. Developmental change occurred during the preschool years in children's use and internalization of private speech during problem-solving in the form of a reduction over time in the total number of social speech utterances, a decrease in the average number of words per utterance, and an increase in the proportion of private speech that was partially internalized.

The problem of abbreviation and internalization of private speech

Article

Jan 1992

P.P. Goudena

Developmental trends in the differentiation of social and private speech

Article

Jan 1992

D. Furrow

Expertise, private speech, and the development of self‐regulation

Article

Jan 1992

Margarita Azmitia

DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE SPEECH AMONG LOW-INCOME APPALACHIAN CHILDREN

Article

Jan 1984

Nature and instrumental function of private speech in problem solving situations

Article

Jan 1973

J. Beaudichon

The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.

Le langage privé

Article

Jan 1966

John H. Flavell

Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation

Article

Jan 1992

R.M. Díaz

The development of self-regulating aspects of speech: A review

Article

Jan 1979

K.C. Fuson

A longitudinal study of the development of elementary school children’s private speech

Article

Jan 1990

British Picture Vocabulary Test

Book

Jan 1997

The Language and Thought of the Child

Book

Jan 1923

J.P. Piaget

The Social Nature of Private Speech of Pre-Schoolers During Problem Solving

Article

Jun 1987

P.P. Goudena

Extending Vygotsky's theory, young children's private speech during problem solving is conceptualised as having a dual nature; as a reaction to the task and as, at the same time, an indirect appeal to a potentially helpful person. The interactional function of private speech is elaborated within a developmental pragmatic frame of explanation. Based on the dual nature conceptualisation of private speech, the hypothesis was tested that children would produce more private speech during problem solving following interaction with a collaborative adult than following interaction with a non-collaborative adult, the adult being non-actively present during the child's execution of the cognitive task. Twenty-two children (ages: 4 years 2 months to 4 years 10 months) participated in the experiment. Support was found for the main hypothesis. No reliable relationship was found between the amount of private speech produced and the quality of task performance. Results are discussed in relation to other studies of private speech, two of which are re-interpreted in accordance with a dual nature conceptualisation of private speech. The role of private speech in the regulation of non-verbal task performance is critically analysed. It is emphasised that private speech should be studied while taking into account the interactional framework in which the child has been functioning.

Microgenetic Change in the Quantity and Quality of Preschoolers’ Private Speech

Article

Feb 1997

Forty preschool-aged children were videotaped while carrying out paper-folding and story-sequencing tasks, during a series of three experimental sessions. During the first session, participants worked on both easy and difficult items, and in the second and third sessions they worked on familiar items (the first session difficult items, presented repeatedly) and novel items, of each task type. Participants used more private speech on difficult/novel items than on easy/familiar items, during all three sessions. Private speech production declined across sessions when participants worked on the repeated items. A greater percentage of participants’ private speech preceded action when they worked on difficult/novel items, compared with easy/familiar items. On the paper-folding items, a cross-session increase occurred in the percentage of private speech that preceded action, supporting some of Vygotsky’s (1934/1987, 1978) claims about the emergence of verbal planning in private speech. The potential of microgenetic experimental methodology for research on private speech is emphasised.

Thought and Language

Article

Jan 1962

Social and Private Speech at Two Years

Article

Apr 1984

David Furrow

This study compared social and private uses of language in 2-year-old children. 12 children 23-25 months of age were videotaped in free play with an adult. 200 spontaneous utterances were (a) categorized as occurring in eye contact, other social, or private speech contexts, and (b) assigned 1 of 12 communicative functions. Function differences across the 3 contexts were examined. Results showed that regulatory, attentional, and informative uses of language all appeared more frequently in speech addressed to another, while self-regulatory, describing own activity, and expressive functions had an increased incidence in speech for self. This study supports Vygotsky's notion that private speech has social origins and demonstrates differences in the functions of social and private speech.

Children’s private speech during algorithmic and heuristic drawing tasks

Article

Oct 2003

Julia Matuga

This cross-sectional study examined the private speech and task-related activity of 108 school-aged children while they drew pictures of real objects (i.e., a house, a person, and an animal) and make-believe objects (i.e., a house, a person, and an animal) to investigate developmental and task-related changes in self-regulation. Composite scores for each first-grade (N=36), third-grade (N=36), and fifth-grade (N=36) participant were calculated from the repeated raw frequencies of overall private speech and private speech in conjunction with task-related behavior during the two types of drawing activities (i.e., real and make-believe). Scores were then analyzed using regression analysis and 3×2 (Grade×Task Type) ANOVA’s to explore study hypotheses. This study found that: (1) there was a concave curvilinear developmental trend in overall private speech production, (2) participants utilized more private speech during heuristic (i.e., make-believe) drawing tasks than algorithmic (i.e., real) drawing tasks, and (3) school-aged children used private speech in conjunction with task-related behavior in a different manner during the two types of drawing activities. These findings contribute to the Vygotskian perspective regarding the development and function of private speech.

Alien Voices and Inner Dialogue: Towards A Developmental Account of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

Article

Apr 2004
NEW IDEAS PSYCHOL

Charles Fernyhough

The phenomenon of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) is one of the most intriguing features of the psychiatric literature. Two alternative models of the development of AVHs in both normal and psychotic populations are proposed. In the disruption to internalisation (DI) model, AVHs result from a disruption to the normal processes of internalisation of inner speech. In the re-expansion (RE) model, AVHs result when normal inner speech is re-expanded into inner dialogue under conditions of stress and cognitive challenge. Both models draw on Vygotsky's (The Collected Works Of L.S. Vygotsky, New York, Plenum Press, 1987) ideas about the development of inner speech. On this view, normal inner speech is considerably abbreviated relative to external speech, and also undergoes some important semantic transformations. In both the DI and RE models, AVHs arise when the subject's inner speech involves inappropriately expanded inner dialogue, leading the subject to experience the voices in the dialogue as alien. The two models may prove useful in explaining some of the social-developmental evidence surrounding the phenomenon, and also make a number of testable predictions which are suggested as priorities for future research.

Distinguishing One’s Own Voice from Those of Others: A Function for Private Speech?

Article

May 1997

The aim of the study reported here was to test a new hypothesis about the function of private speech, namely that children’s private speech in social contexts presents them with an opportunity to distinguish their own voices from those of others. Data on the social and private speech of 22 five-year-olds were collected during single hour-long group play sessions. In a later session, children heard extracts from an audio recording of an earlier group discussion, and were asked to state which of each pair of extracts contained their own speech. It was found that children’s performance on this speech recognition task was positively correlated with both proportional and frequency measures of private speech. There was no relationship between the speech recognition measure and frequencies of social speech or overall verbosity; and performance on a test of children’s ability to recognise their own speech in isolation was no better than chance. We suggest that these findings are consistent with private speech having a specific function in the development of an understanding of oneself as a speaking agent among other such speakers.

Children's private speech: An overview of theory and the status of research

Article

Jan 1992

Laura E Berk

the largest portion of this chapter evaluates evidence that bears on Vygotsky's theory of private speech—its social origins, its developmental course, and its self-regulating function in facilitating task performance despite considerable support for the Vygotskian position, research has highlighted a number of issues that pose serious problems for it / addresses these concerns, concludes with an assessment of the status of current research, and highlights major unresolved questions in need of investigation (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

A longitudinal study of the development of children's private speech

Article

Oct 1990

Examined Vygotskian predictions about the development of private speech (PS) and its relationship to behavioral accompaniment to task, attention, and task performance in a 3-yr longitudinal study. 33 children who had been 1st-grade Ss in a study by L. E. Berk (see record 1987-03603-001) were observed in the classroom during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade while they worked on mathematics. In agreement with Vygotsky's theory, PS moved from externalized to more internalized task-relevant forms. Task-relevant private speech predicted future task performance more effectively than concurrent performance. Consistent with Vygotsky's belief that PS promotes effective task-related behavior, individual trajectories of PS development were paralleled by similar changes in behavioral self-control and attentiveness to seatwork tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The self-regulatory nature of preschool children's private speech in a naturalistic setting

Article

Mar 2000
APPL PSYCHOLINGUIST

ELIZABETH PATRICK

Private speech (PS) – or speech for the self – was studied in preschool-age children to determine how widely and with what characteristics it occurs when examined in the familiar home setting. Activities were selected that required several steps and that were intended to engage working memory or longer term recall. Both quantitative (numbers of words and utterances produced) and qualitative (utterance type) analyses were conducted on the children's PS. Across the age range from 4 [fraction one-half] to 6 years, younger children had higher frequencies of PS than older children, which fits the predictions made by Vygotsky (1958/1962, 1978). Increased information loads resulted in more PS, indicating a relation between PS and task difficulty; however, total quantities of PS were not correlated with degree of task success. Self-regulatory utterances accounted for 89% of the PS produced; the majority of these utterances involved repetitions of the instructions that appeared to enhance recall, to help pace the children's activity, or to enable deliberation with respect to making choices. There was a strong age trend in which the amount of audible PS decreased with age. Qualitative differences across tasks are presented and considered in relation to how PS functions for different activities and possibly achieves adaptive significance.

A longitudinal study of executive function and Theory of Mind development in autism

Article

Jun 1994
DEV PSYCHOPATHOL

Both executive function and theory of mind impairment have been suggested as primary deficits of autism. One test of the primacy of a deficit is its persistence and stability throughout development. This longitudinal study examined development of executive function and theory of mind abilities over a 3-year time period, comparing nonretarded autistic adolescents with learning-disabled controls matched on age, IQ, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Results indicate that both executive function and theory of mind abilities are seriously deficient in autistic individuals, improve little with development, may never reach normal functioning levels, and appear to eventually hit a developmental ceiling. Developmental variables showed little relationship to overall task performance or improvement in either cognitive domain. The similar developmental trajectories of executive function and theory of mind performance found in this investigation suggest that these skills may be related and interdependent, rather than independent modules of cognitive function. Implications for the neurological basis of autism and intervention are also discussed.

Thinking and Speech

Book

Jan 1987

L S Vygotsky

Mother‐Child Interaction, Private Speech, and Task Performance in Preschool Children with Behavior Problems

Article

Sep 1999
J CHILD PSYCHOL PSYC

The purpose of the present study was to explore patterns of mother-child interaction, children's private speech use, and behavioral self-regulation among a sample of preschool children identified by their preschool teachers as evidencing behavior problems. Forty preschoolers were classified into two groups (behaviorally at-risk and a matched comparison group) on the basis of teacher ratings of impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity. Children completed a magnet board puzzle task once in collaboration with their mother and once individually, and maternal and child speech and behavior were coded from videotapes.Although there were no group differences in children's behavior or speech during the collaborative session, nor were there differences in children's individual task performance or on-task attention, mother-child interaction involving behaviorally at-risk children was characterized by more other-regulation, negative control, less praise, and less physical withdrawal over time, compared to interactions involving comparison children. Behaviorally at-risk children, compared to controls, used more overt, task-relevant private speech during individual problem solving. Partially internalized private speech use among at-risk preschoolers was positively associated with task performance. Group differences rather than similarities prevailed in terms of the relations between maternal behavior, child speech, and child performance.

Private speech in young adults Task difficulty, self-regulation, and psychological predication

Article

Jan 2002
COGNITIVE DEV

In a repeated measures factorial experiment, private speech was recorded while young adult university students worked on computer and paper-folding tasks during two ses-sions. Each session included an easy computer task, a difficult computer task, a repeti-tion of the difficult task, and three trials copying an origami model. All 53 participants used private speech. Private speech was more frequent on the first trial on the difficult computer task than on either the second trial or the easy task, and its frequency de-creased across paper-folding trials within each session. Predicted short-term changes in temporal relations between speech and action and in structural characteristics of private speech were also observed. The present findings of high rates of private speech use and of its self-regulatory and predicative characteristics among young adults call into question longstanding generalizations regarding the ontogeny of private speech. Changes in pri-vate speech may reflect localized knowledge based on particular experiences and activity rather than — or in addition to — generalized developmental patterns.

The role of private speech in the transition from collaborative to independent task performance in young children

Article

Dec 1997
EARLY CHILD RES Q

This study was designed to examine the following central Vygotskian hypotheses about the functions of preschool children's private speech: (1) that private speech facilitates the transition from collaborative to independent task performance, and (2) that children's use of private speech is conducive to task success. Age-related changes in children's use of private speech were also examined. Forty preschoolers, ranging in age from three to five, completed a selective attention task with scaffolded assistance given from an experimenter when needed. In an effort to overcome several methodological limitations found in previous research, a new microgenetic method of analyzing speech-performance relations based on assigning task items to discrete categories reflecting six possible co-occurrences between private speech (item-relevant speech, item-irrelevant speech, silence) and performance (success, failure) was introduced. Results were that (1) item-relevant speech was used more often during successful than during failed items while the opposite was true for item-irrelevant speech; (2) children were more likely to use private speech on successful items after scaffolding than they were on similar items not following scaffolding; (3) after scaffolding, children were more likely to succeed on the next item if they talked to themselves than if they were silent; and (4) hypothesized curvilinear, age-related patterns in children's item-relevant private speech and silence were found, however, only when analyzing speech during successful items. Implications of this research for preschool teachers and parents are discussed.

Individual Differences in Cognitive Planning on the Tower of Hanoi Task: Neuropsychological Maturity or Measurement Error?

Article

May 2001

The Integration of Verbal and Motor Behavior in Preschool Children

Article

Mar 1981

Sherryl Hope Goodman

38 preschool children were observed and videotaped while spontaneously emitting private speech during jigsaw-puzzle solving. The study examined how children's verbalizations are sequentially related to the ongoing stream of motoric behavior. Results indicated that puzzle solutions which were accompanied by a high rate of verbalizations, especially verbalizations of plans or thoughts and emotional expletives, were judged as more proficient, solved with a high rate of puzzle-solving moves, and also were completed in a shorter period of time. Verbalizations were found not to be distributed randomly across the stream of puzzle-solving behaviors. While success on the task is associated with and occurs in the presence of private speech, the verbalizations actually occur within a series of failed or nearly failed acts in the sequence of puzzle-solving activities. Findings are interpreted in light of Vygotsky's notion of the integral use of language in children's task performance.

The relation between private speech and cognitive performance

Article

Apr 2014

comprobar con certeza la propuesta vygotskiana sobre el efecto que tiene el habla privada en la realización eficaz de diferentes tareas. En este estudio proponemos que tres problemas metodológicos han impedido el estudiar los efectos del habla privada en la actividad cognoscitiva de los niños. Primero, la relación entre habla y tarea se ha buscado en una forma demasiado amplia y global, sin tomar en cuenta funciones específicas del habla privada con respecto a diferentes aspectos más específicos de las tareas. En segundo lugar, los estudios anteriores no han tomado en cuenta el efecto que tiene la dificultad de la tarea; tareas de mayor dificultad aumentan el uso del habla privada pero al mismo tiempo disminuyen la posibilidad de una ejecución eficaz. Finalmente, la mayoría de estudios no han examinado el efecto que tiene el habla privada en una ejecución futura o posterior de la tarea, posiblemente el mayor efecto del habla privada se puede descubrir en una mejora gradual en la realización de diferentes tareas. El presente estudio demuestra que, cuando se toman en cuenta estos tres problemas metodológicos, se puede observar una relación positiva entre el uso del habla privada y la mejora en tareas de clasificación realizada por niños entre tres y cinco años de edad.

Development and functional significance of private speech among attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal boys

Article

Jul 1991

We compared the development of spontaneous private speech and its relationship to self-controlled behavior in a sample of 6- to 12-year-olds with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and matched normal controls. Thirty-eight boys were observed in their classrooms while engaged in math seatwork. Results revealed that ADHD children were delayed in private speech development in that they engaged in more externalized, self-fuiding and less inaudible, internalized speech than normal youngsters. Several findings suggest that the developmental lag was a consequence of a highly unmanageable attentional system that prevents ADHD children's private speech from gaining efficient mastery over behavior. First, self-guiding speech was associated with greater attentional focus only among the least distractible ADHD boys. Second, the most mature, internalized speech forms were correlated with self-stimulating behavior for ADHD subjects but not for controls. Third, observations of ADHD children both on and off stimulant medication indicated that reducing their symptoms substantially increased the maturity of private speech and its association with motor quiescence and attention to task. Results suggest that the Vygotskian hypothesis of a unidirectional path of influence from private speech to self-controlled behavior should be expanded into a bidirectional model. These findings may also shed light on why treatment programs that train children with attentional deficits in speech-to-self have shown limited efficacy.

Private Speech: Four Studies and a Review of Theories

Article

Oct 1968

Similarities and differences in the views of private or egocentric speech held by Piaget, Vygotsky, G. H. Mead, and Flavell are examined. These views are related to previous findings and to four new studies of the effects of age, IQ, and task difficulty upon private speech in various natural and experimental settings. These studies support the "cognitive development" interpretation common to all the theorists in that mental age and task difficulty were found to be primary and regular determinants of private speech in contrast to such factors as sex, nationality, or chronological as opposed to mental age. The findings also support Vygotsky's belief that private speech has a curvilinear course of development (due to its functioning as a transition from outer speech to thought) as opposed to Piaget's view that it declines monotonically with cognitive and social maturity. 7 types of private speech are defined and evidence is presented suggesting that they form a developmental hierarchy consistent with Mead's view of the transformations of external communication to inner thought.

Neural systems engaged by planning: A PET study of the Tower of London task

Article

Jul 1996
NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

The functional anatomy of planning was investigated using the Tower of London task. Activation was observed in a distributed network of cortical areas incorporating prefrontal, cingulate, premotor, parietal and occipital cortices. Activation in corresponding areas has been observed in visuospatial working memory tasks with the exception of the rostral prefrontal cortex. This area may be identified with the executive components of planning comprising response selection and evaluation. Enhanced neural activity in both this rostral prefrontal area and the visuospatial working memory system was associated with increased task difficulty.

Mentalising, schizotypy, and schizophrenia

Article

Jun 1999
COGNITION

Despite accumulating evidence that patients with schizophrenia perform poorly in mentalising tasks, doubts remain about the primacy of the role played by defective mentalising in schizophrenia. This study investigated the relationship between mentalising ability and self-reported schizotypal traits in non-clinical adults who reported no history of psychiatric illness in order to test two counter-proposals: (1) defective mentalising is a primary cause of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia; and (2) defective mentalising in schizophrenia is a secondary consequence of the chronic asociality that is typical of general psychiatric illness. Mentalising ability was tested using a false-belief picture sequencing task that has been used elsewhere to demonstrate poor mentalising in patients with schizophrenia. Evidence of selective mentalising deficits in high schizotypal non-clinical subjects discounted the view that defective mentalising is restricted to psychiatric illness and strengthened the case for continuity models of psychosis-proneness. Furthermore, evidence that poor mentalisers in the normal population are more likely to self-report psychotic-like traits, as well as asocial or idiosyncratic behaviours, refuted suggestions that defective mentalising is linked solely to asocial symptomatology and supported the view that defective mentalising may have a fundamental role to play in the explanation of psychotic symptoms. In order to specify what that role might be, alternative theoretical accounts of defective mentalising were tested. Neither executive planning deficits nor failure to inhibit cognitively salient inappropriate information could adequately explain the pattern of selective mentalising deficits found in high schizotypal non-clinical subjects. Our findings suggest that there exists a domain-specific cognitive module that is dedicated to inferring and representing mental states which, when dysfunctional, causes defective mentalising that manifests phenomenologically in psychotic-like traits and impoverished social awareness of variable expression and ranging severity.

Mother–Child Interaction, Private Speech, and Task Performance in Preschool Children with Behavior Problems

Article

Oct 1999

The purpose of the present study was to explore patterns of mother-child interaction, children's private speech use, and behavioral self-regulation among a sample of preschool children identified by their preschool teachers as evidencing behavior problems. Forty preschoolers were classified into two groups (behaviorally at-risk and a matched comparison group) on the basis of teacher ratings of impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity. Children completed a magnet board puzzle task once in collaboration with their mother and once individually, and maternal and child speech and behavior were coded from videotapes. Although there were no group differences in children's behavior or speech during the collaborative session, nor were there differences in children's individual task performance or on-task attention, mother-child interaction involving behaviorally at-risk children was characterized by more other-regulation, negative control, less praise, and less physical withdrawal over time, compared to interactions involving comparison children. Behaviorally at-risk children, compared to controls, used more overt, task-relevant private speech during individual problem solving. Partially internalized private speech use among at-risk preschoolers was positively associated with task performance. Group differences rather than similarities prevailed in terms of the relations between maternal behavior, child speech, and child performance.

Verbal Self-regulation over Time in Preschool Children at Risk for Attention and Behavior Problems

Article

Nov 2000

This study is a prospective, longitudinal attempt to explore behavioral self-regulation, private speech, and speech-action coordination in a sample of behaviorally at-risk preschool children. Preschoolers (N = 72) were classified at age 3 years into a behaviorally at-risk group or a comparison group on the basis of preschool teacher behavioral ratings. Children were videotaped on four different occasions across the span of almost 2 years as they completed problem-solving tasks, and private speech, task performance, executive functioning, and speech-action coordination were analyzed. Children identified 2 years earlier as being hard to manage were at risk for continued behavior problems at elementary school entry. Behaviorally at-risk children consistently used more spontaneous private speech than comparison children across all observations. Both groups of children demonstrated a pattern of increasing silence with task success over time. No group differences were observed in children's speech-action coordination at age 5 years. Intraindividual developmental changes in private speech for both groups were associated with task performance, speech-action coordination, and executive functioning at age 5, but not with teacher- and parent-reported problem behavior.

Individual Differences in Cognitive Planning on the Tower of Hanoi Task: Neuropsychological Maturity or Measurement Error?

Article

Jun 2001

The Tower of Hanoi (ToH) task was given to 238 children aged from 7 to 15 years, and 20 adults. Individual variation within an age band was substantial. ToH score did not correlate significantly with Verbal IQ, nor with ability to inhibit a prepotent response. We readministered the ToH to 45 children after 30 to 40 days. The test-retest correlation of .5 is low in relation to accepted psychometric standards, though at least as high as reliability of the related Tower of London (ToL) in adults. The reasons for low reliability remain unclear: task novelty did not seem to be involved, as children did not improve on retest. We conclude that it is not safe to use this test to index integrity or maturation of underlying neurological systems in children. We compared our results with three published studies using the ToL with children, and found similar levels of performance on problems involving the same number of moves. Another study using automated ToL obtained much poorer scores, suggesting that computerised presentation may impair children's performance.

A Comparison of Performance on the Towers of London and Hanoi in Young Children

Article

Jun 2004

The Towers of London (TOL) and Hanoi (TOH) have been viewed as equivalent measures of planning and/or problem solving, although recent evidence in adults suggests that the underlying measurement characteristics of these two tasks may differ. As tower tasks are one of the few instruments that can be used to assess executive functioning in young children, the cognitive demands for both tasks merit further examination. The relation among tower tasks and those of short-term memory, inhibition, and shifting ability were examined in a sample of 118 typically developing young children (M age = 4 years, 9 months, SD = 6 months). Half the children completed TOL and half completed TOH, with groups matched with respect to age, sex, and child vocabulary. Whilst performance on a shifting task uniquely predicted TOH performance, none of the executive function measures were related to TOL performance after statistically controlling for the influence of baseline naming speed. For both tower tasks, performance on a shifting task contributed more strongly on complex trials that required more moves in the counter-intuitive direction relative to the end-state goal, whereas inhibition task performance only predicted performance on complex TOL trials. Successful tower task performance may be determined, at least at higher levels of complexity, by mental flexibility in this age range. However, overall the findings suggest that TOL and TOH are not interchangeable tasks even in young children, and more generally, raise methodological issues regarding the complex nature of executive function tasks.

The integration of verbal and motor behavior in preschool children The social nature of private speech of preschoolers during problem solving

280-289

S Goodman
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Expertise, private speech, and the development of self-regulation Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation (pp. 101–122) Neural systems engaged by planning: A PET study of the Tower of London task

Jan 1992
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M S C Azmitia
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Social and private speech as determinants of early cognitive functioning

C Fernyhough

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The relation between private speech and parental interactive style Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation (pp. 85–100) Relationship of elementary school children's private speech to behavioral accompaniment to task, attention, and task performance

Jan 1986
671-680

D A Behrend
K S Rosengren
M Perlmutter

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Private speech on an executive task: Relations with task difficulty and task performance

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