Metaphors, pragmatics and theory of mind: A developmental perspective
Valentina Bambini
Is pragmatics a special type of theory of mind? This question has been addressed through a variety of approaches, from brain imaging to studies on atypical populations. In this talk I will address the issue of the relationship between pragmatics and theory of mind from a developmental perspective, focusing on a specific aspect of the pragmatic competence, namely metaphor understanding. I will present a series of studies on metaphor comprehension in middle childhood indicating that children’s ability to interpret metaphors develops hand in hand with mind reading skills, yet the two domains are sufficiently distinct (Lecce et al. 2019, Del Sette et al. 2020, 2021). I will present also a novel training program to promote metaphor comprehension (MetaCom) in children (Tonini et al., 2022), and describe its effects on metaphor skills, as well as reading skills and socio-cognitive skills.
References
Lecce, S., Ronchi, L., Del Sette, P., Bischetti, L., and Bambini, V., 2019. Interpreting physical and mental metaphors: Is Theory of Mind associated with pragmatics in middle childhood? Journal of Child Language, 46 (2), 393–407.
Del Sette, P., Bambini, V., Bischetti, L., and Lecce, S., 2020. Longitudinal associations between theory of mind and metaphor understanding during middle childhood. Cognitive Development, 56, 100958.
Del Sette, P., Ronchi, L., Bambini, V., and Lecce, S., 2021. Longitudinal associations between metaphor understanding and peer relationships in middle childhood. Infant and Child Development, (April), 1–22.
Tonini, E., Lecce, S., Del Sette, P., Bianco, F., Canal, P., and Bambini, V., 2022. Efficacy and benefits of the MetaCom training to promote metaphor comprehension in typical development. First Language.