Inhibitory Control and Internal State Language in 30 Month Old Toddlers (2015)
Undergraduate: Elizabeth Raines
Faculty Advisor: J. Steven Reznick
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience
Inhibitory control, an aspect of executive functioning, which also includes cognitive processes such as working memory and planning, specifically refers to the ability to inhibit a natural response in favor of a novel response. Internal state language refers to words that are self-referent and is related to Theory of Mind. Examples of these words include: hungry, thirsty, love, sleepy, look, see, and watch. Both of these abilities undergo rapid development in the preschool years, and previous research suggests that the development of these processes is related. Bellagamba and colleagues (2014) found that inhibitory control is significantly related to Internal State Words in 24 month old children. Behavioral data was collected during lab visits where the child completed various tasks while one caretaker filled out a language measurement, the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MCDI) Words and Sentences. Inhibitory control was measured using a sticker delay task in which the child was instructed to wait for the assessor to ring a bell before retrieving a sticker placed under a clear cup. It is hypothesized that children who exhibit high self-regulation during the sticker delay task will exhibit larger internal state vocabularies than those who exhibit lower self-regulation during the task. Analyses regarding the present study are currently in progress, but preliminary results suggest trends supporting this hypothesis.