Why is Japanese children's development on the guessing-mind task one year slow? : Model based on the information processing theory.

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In Study 1, studies on the theory of mind were reviewed and discussed theories about the theory of mind. There are theory theory and bias theory. It is assumed in theory theory that children would acquire "Theory of mind" on 4 year-old. On the other hand, it is assumed in bias theory that even children younger than 4 year old would have a basic ability to acknowledge other's mind. Especially, it is possible in bias theory that the difference of development of acknowledge of the mind would be explained by the difference of information processing including working memory. In Study 2, it was examined whether there is the difference of gender on the mind inference task. The results indicated that girl's number of correct judgments on the false belief task was more than boy's. However, the results of response time indicated that there was no difference of gender. The result of correct judgment and response time suggested that boys would have ability of acknowledgement of the other's mind as well as girls although girls would use it more easily than boys. In Study 3, it was examined whether there is the difference of acknowledgement of mind between Japanese and British children. The results showed that the number of correct judgment of British children was more than one of Japanese children. In Study 4, it was examined whether there is the difference of adult' acknowledgement of mind between Japanese and British. It was examined whether there is the difference of information by which people understand the other mind between Japanese and British : their own knowledge and knowledge from other. The results showed that British judged based on the knowledge from other but Japanese judge based on their own knowledge.