Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Role of Pretend Play in the Cognitive Development of Executive Function:
An Annotated Bibliography
Tabitha M. Bathras
Johns Hopkins University School of Education
1
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstract
The following document contains an annotated bibliography of five separate sources. The
annotations present a short review, analysis, and reflection of the listed article. Future
implications for extended research are also discussed.
Keywords: pretend play, cognitive development, executive function, generativity, inhibitory
control, Theory of Mind (ToM)
2
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Role of Pretend Play in Cognitive Development: An Annotated Bibliography
Dunn, J. & Hughes, C. (2001). "I got some swords and you're dead!": Violent fantasy, antisocial
behavior, friendship, and moral sensibility in young children. GCHILD
DEVELOPMENT, 72(2), 491-505.
The longitudinal research conducted within this article, while highly interesting from a
parental and educator viewpoint, was only somewhat relevant in data referencing the role of
pretend play in the cognitive development of executive functions. This study analyzed three
distinct issues related to violence in pretend play. 1. Whether young, hard-to-manage
preschoolers showed an interest in violence during pretend play. 2. The relation between
children’s interest in violent pretend play to children’s social behavior toward friends. 3. The
relation of children’s interest and engagement in violent pretend play to later moral sensibility at
the age of six.
For the purposes of the current research focus, this annotation will only address the
executive function tasks and results from this article. The executive function tasks used during
this study were designed to analyze a child’s impairment in inhibitory control and planning
ability. This was conducted through the Marble-Retrieval game and the Tower of London task.
In the end, violent fantasizing was positively correlated with poor understanding of peers’
thoughts, poor performance on executive function tasks, and poor verbal skills when compared
to the children in the control group.
Future research lends itself toward the question of whether or not violent tendencies in
pretend play would be heightened during social interactions between children considered to be
“non-friends.”
3
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kelly, R. & Hammond, S. (2011). The relationship between symbolic play and executive
function in young children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 21-27.
The research conducted by Kelly and Hammond sought to measure the relationship
between symbolic play and executive function, specifically inhibitory control and generativity,
during structured and unstructured play. Various measures were taken to evaluate the
development of these executive control functions and symbolic play abilities in a group of
normal developing children. The development of inhibitory control was measured using the
Sun/Moon Stroop Task while generativity was measured using the Semantic Fluency and
Object-Substitution Tasks. Finally, symbolic play ability was measured by coding play actions
using the Test of Pretend Play (ToPP).
The findings reflected in this study supported the results of the Rutherford et al. study.
Inhibitory control was found to be associated with symbolic play while generativity could not
be correlated with symbolic play ability. As with the Rutherford et al. study, the validity of the
test for generativity was questionable since true generativity of ideas was not measurable.
McAlister, A. & Peterson, C. (2006). Mental playmates: Siblings, executive functioning and
theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 733-751.
This meta-analysis seeks to examine the relationship between the number of siblings a
child has and their performance on Theory of Mind (ToM) and executive function tasks. After
reflection upon various related experiments, the authors integrate their findings into the current
research. The ToM ability in children was measured through the false belief, appearance-reality,
and pretend representation tasks. The executive function ability in children was measured
4
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
through the route navigation and resisting instructions tests. These measures were designed to
assess forward planning, attention to relevant features, resistance to distraction, and response
inhibition for the route navigation task. Response inhibition, task switching, and adherence to
directions were assessed in the resisting instructions task.
The results of these tests showed that children with siblings within the age range of onetwelve were more advanced in ToM development and scored higher on executive function
tasks, due to the opportunity to play games, resolve conflicts, take turns, and observe and model
each other’s executive function abilities during cooperative play. Executive Function scores also
predicted ToM performance which supports specific theories stating executive function abilities
are prerequisites for the development of ToM capabilities. Ultimately, the data suggests that
child siblings are beneficial to the development of executive function and ToM abilities.
Future research could extend these findings by analyzing the influence of parental styles
on sibling relationships and thus the development of executive function and therefore, based on
the above-mentioned theory, ToM capabilities.
Peskin, J. & Ardino, V. (2003). Representing the mental world in children's social behavior:
Playing hide-and-seek and keeping a secret. Social Development, 12(4), 496-512.
In this article the authors examined a group of normal-developing children’s ability and
successful age range at which they were able to complete the social interactions tasks of hideand-seek and keeping a secret. These tests were completed by ensuring that the children were in
a comfortable, but controlled and naturalistic setting. The data compiled stemmed from the
analysis of the children’s behavior during the two social interaction tasks, performance on two
5
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks, and two executive function tasks. Ultimately, a positive correlation
was found between age and the measured tasks. It is significant to note however that the
immaturity of inhibitory control, an executive function, in three-year olds prevented this age
group from demonstrating their knowledge in the social interaction tasks. While the majority of
this age group understood the “surface rules” (p. 509) of the game of hide-and-seek, only a small
percentage were able to correctly play the game.
Executive function was easily measured in the structured, artificial settings of the ToM
tasks but appeared unrelated to the children’s success in the social interaction activities. It is
likely that variables in the set-up of the social interaction task of keeping a secret may have
presented a greater challenge to the three-year old age group in the area of inhibitory control.
Upon reflection, the data provided in this study argues against Piaget’s theory that
children are not able to effectively develop executive function abilities until the age of seven.
According to the authors, executive function abilities appear to be reasonably developed, in
normal-developing children, by the age of five.
Rutherford, M., Young, G., Hepburn, S., & Rogers, S. (2007). A longitudinal study of pretend
play in autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 37(6), 1024-1039.
The empirical data found in this longitudinal study sought to test seven different
hypotheses concerning the development of pretend play in autistic children. For current research
purposes the focus of this annotation is the effect of pretend play upon executive function,
specifically generativity of ideas and working memory. Throughout the study, generativity was
measured by recording the number of novel ideas facilitated by the child. Working memory was
6
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
tested through a spatial reversal task. Ultimately, when compared to children with other
developmental disorders and children with normal development, the autistic children showed
significant deficits in areas of spontaneous play indicating possible issues with generativity. The
spatial reversal task did not yield results that pretend play aides in the development of working
memory. According to the author, measures that were designed to test a broader array of
executive functions may have yielded different results.
Upon reflection, the study groups appear to be a sufficient snapshot of modern-day
community as it not only contains autistic children but also developmentally delayed and
normal-developing children at the same developmental age. However, the measurement of
novel play is questionable. While novel play is defined within the article it may be difficult to
code play behavior depending on how the child elicits play. Is silent play taken into
consideration? Were the children prompted to explain their thinking? If this is how generativity
was exclusively measured it is difficult to determine the validity of these specific results.
7