Relationship between Theory of Mind and Conflict Inhibitory Control in Japanese Children

Previous research has revealed that executive function (EF), particularly conflict inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM), contribute to the development of a theory of mind (ToM). Although most studies show that conflict IC, rather than WM, may influence ToM, Japanese studies indicate that WM, rather than conflict IC, might influence ToM. We propose that these inconsistent results could be attributed to using only one ToM task and an extended test session. Therefore, we re-examined the relationship between ToM and conflict IC in 50 3–5-yearold Japanese children using test batteries and shortening a test session. The results showed a significant correlation between the conflict IC and the ToM batteries after controlling for age and gender. This result is consistent with findings from other countries and contradicts those of previous Japanese studies. Our findings suggest that Japanese children may use conflict IC to perform ToM tasks as seen in other countries

ECEC Teachers’ cognition of Externalizing Problems of Children with Special Needs, and Effectiveness of Feedback of Cognitive Tendencies

Two surveys were conducted to examine the cognition of externalizing problems by early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers, and the effectiveness of feedback on cognitive tendencies. Survey 1 administered a questionnaire to ECEC teachers on the description of a 5-year-old child’s daily situation at the ECEC to examine their cognition of the severity, burden, background factors, and correspondence with the externalizing problems and their relationship to childcare. The analysis of the 77 open-ended responses generated six categories of background factors for externalizing problems, as recognized by ECEC teachers, and ten categories of correspondence. The results showed that the more group-cohesion-oriented teachers were, the higher they recognized the severity and burden of actions related to externalization. In childcare, emphasizing the needs of each child, and behaviors related to externalizing problems were considered less severe. These teachers tended to reflect on the relationships in the ECEC, and chose environmental adjustment over direct instruction, based on their understanding of the child. In Study 2, the results of Study 1 were used as feedback to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of feedback and daily reflections. There were 80 participants in the analysis. The mean score for effectiveness was 4.89 (on a 6-point scale), indicating that the feedback was generally effective. The higher the reflection score, the higher the score of effectiveness. Based on these results, support for ECEC teachers is important to prevent the vicious cycle surrounding externalizing problems.本研究は，科学研究費補助金（課題番号：18K13134，研究代表者：濱田祥子）の助成を受けて行った

Japanese and Chinese Children’s Use of Spatial Reference Frames in a Reconstruction Task: The Effects of Experimenter’s Position

Humans typically use three kinds of spatial reference system to understand the world: the relative reference frame, the absolute reference frame, and the intrinsic reference frame. In the current study, we used a reconstruction task (the animals-in-a-row task) to examine the development of the spatial reference system in children. Japanese and Chinese children aged 3-5 years participated in experiments to examined whether Japanese and Chinese children utilized different reference frames in a reconstruction task and whether children utilized different reference frames when the experimenter’s position was changed. The results revealed that Chinese children using relative or absolute reference frame increased with age and the other responses decreased with age. However, in Japanese children only the other responses decreased with age. In addition, both Japanese and Chinese children tended to use absolute reference frames when the experimenter was in an absolute position, and they tended to use the relative reference frame when the experimenter was in a relative position

Review of studies on teachers’ understanding of children’s behaviors and characteristics: With a focus on cognitive processes

Recently, researchers have begun to examine teachers’ perspectives on and understanding of the behaviors and characteristics of children. This paper reviews previous studies based on the following four topics. First, it examines the link between teachers’ perspectives and teachers’ behaviors, suggesting that teachers have common perspectives or frameworks and particular interaction styles depending on children’s behaviors and characteristics. Second, it examines teachers’ perspectives toward children’s behaviors and characteristics, identifying the importance of the external objective viewpoint, the internal empathetic viewpoint, and the background environment. Third, regarding reflection for improving teachers’ understanding of children, previous research suggests that it is important that teachersreflect on children analytically. To reflect on children analytically, teachers need to be particularly aware of the external objective viewpoint, the internal empathetic viewpoint, and the background environment. Fourth, regarding knowledge for understanding the behaviors and characteristics of children, more research is needed concerning the specific nature of knowledge and knowledge representation, particularly with reference to cognitive psychology research. Finally, the review suggests that it is necessary to clarify and visualize the cognitive processes involved in teachers’ understanding of children’s behaviors and characteristics

The cognition of intra-familial kinship terms among junior high school students

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Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care and Child Development Evaluation Research in Higashi-hiroshima.: A report of 2021

In this study, we clarified how the quality of childcare at preschool childcare facilities (kindergartens, nursery schools, certified children’s kindergartens ) in the city is affected by the implementation status of the “Higashi-Hiroshima City Early Childhood Education and Childcare Action Plan.” The Action Plan includes, (1) the creation of an attractive childcare environment that nurtures the five abilities, (2) the promotion of natural childcare, (3) the enhancement of public childcare, and (4) the training and collaboration of childcare coordinators. Specifically, first, we clarified how teachers played a role in the growth of children from 0 years to preschool age through the implementation of the Higashi-Hiroshima City Early Childhood Education and Childcare Action Plan; second, we also evaluated parental childcare

Construction of Childcare Support Program for two-children families: From Cooperation with Higashi-Hiroshima City Childcare Support Centers

The purpose of this study was to construct a childcare support program for the families who have two children to bring up. With the assistance of Higashi-Hiroshima city and childcare support centers, members from early childhood education research facility in Hiroshima University built up the program. In this program, it is demanded that the supporters draft the program while being conscious of four times, specifically approach-time, core-time, free-time and feedback-time. And this program also has four main components including topics, leaflet, picture books and reflection sheets. According to the practice, supporters can not only grow up with mothers and children by making use of their childcare specialty, but also can build a relationship of mutual trust with the participants. Besides, the support of the high quality is maintained by the collaboration of Higashi-Hiroshima city and childcare support centers and Hiroshima University.本研究は平成29年度「広島大学地域連携推進事業」に提案した「地域における虐待防止ペアレントトレーニングの効果検証－親が抱えるリスク要因の低減を目指して－」という研究の一環として，東広島市子ども家庭課の協力で実施したものである

Children's reorientation in a small-scale environment : A reexamination of the use of geometric information

本稿では, 模型空間での対象の再定位における, 模型空間以外の基準の利用ならびに模型空間を基準とする際の幾何学性の理解を検討するため多田・杉村(2009)の再分析を試みた。その結果, 自己, 周辺環境といった基準も対象を再定位する際に利用されており, 年齢によって主に利用される基準に違いがあることが示唆された。また, 模型空間に備わった幾何学性はさほど厳密に把握されているわけではない可能性が窺われた。しかし, それと同時に, 従来の再定位課題にはこれらの点を検討するうえで大きな問題があることが明確になり, その改善方法が提案された