Social distancing. Shuttered schools and businesses. Their mental health? Their social development? Left unexamined was whether the pandemic impacted the social cognition of preschool children β kids younger than 6 β whose social norms were upended by day care closures and families sheltered at home. Right after the lockdowns, we were seeing 5-year-olds not passing it. The UC Merced team β including graduate students Gabriel Nguyentran and James Sullivan, who co-authored the study β tested the children for a social cognition skill called false-belief understanding β the ability to recognize other people can be wrong As a crucial step in distinguishing the mind from reality, false-belief understanding can play a vital role in developing social cooperation, communication and learning.
There were 94 children in the first group tested. Each was given three false-belief tasks. In one task, the child watched as a puppet named Piggy put a toy in one of two containers and leave the stage. A second puppet appeared and moved the toy to the other container. Piggy returned. The child was asked where Piggy would look for the toy.
A toddler who falls behind in cognition skills may grow into a student who struggles to get along with peers or who finds academic tasks more difficult, Scott said. Testing for the first group ran from August to March , when the pandemic took hold. A second, statistically similar group was tested starting in September Children in the post-pandemic group and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds showed a significant drop in cognitive ability compared to the pre-pandemic group.
Children from homes at a higher socioeconomic level; however, showed little cognitive effect from the lockdowns. Why was the difference more pronounced for children of lower socioeconomic levels? And that could lead to children spending more passive time on electronic devices, an activity linked to low false-belief understanding, she said.
The low scores in false-belief understanding were still there, persisting like a wave, Scott said. Ears perked up. The attention has only accelerated since the paper was published in November. Come in and let us help You Relax". More News Articles.
