Thinking about thinking: A longitudinal investigation of the developmental link between metacognition, inhibitory control and theory of mind

This longitudinal study tracked the developmental relationship between metacognition, theory of mind and inhibitory control in N=52 Scottish children across a 1.5-year interval, beginning at 3 to 4 years. Metacognition and inhibitory control emerged before theory of mind and were predictive of growth in theory of mind competence. Moreover, there was evidence of developmental mediation, whereby metacognition predicted inhibitory control which predicted theory of mind. We suggest that metacognitive self-reflection may provide the ‘developmental enrichment’ necessary to think about thinking in Scottish children, and when inhibitory control is sufficiently developed, this thinking can be extended to complex reasoning about own and other minds.