Description
Successful social interactions depend on our ability to take other people’s perspectives. Even though adults can rapidly and accurately compute their own and other people’s perspectives, they still experience difficulties when another person’s viewpoint conflicts with their own. This study explored the longitudinal associations between visual perspective-taking abilities and executive functions across the lifespan. Participants (aged 10-89 years old; N=320) completed two visual perspective-taking tasks (measuring level 1 and level 2 processing) alongside four executive function tasks (measuring inhibition, working memory, set-shifting and planning), at two time points (~2.5 years apart). We examined how individual differences in each of the sub-components of executivefunctioning influences the degree to which interference is experienced from the irrelevant perspective when perspectives are in conflict (i.e., egocentric and altercentric interference). Multiple mediation models showed that at time 1, working memory predicted increased egocentric interference, but none of the executive functions predicted altercentric interference. Longitudinal associations between visual perspective-taking and components of executive function were examined using cross-lagged mediation models, and revealed a predictive role for working memory and inhibition in managing egocentric interference, but again no link between executive functions and altercentric interference.
| Period | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Experimental Psychology Society Meeting - Keele University |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Keele, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |