단순언어장애아동의 마음이론

Social Cognition of Children with Specific Language Impairment: Ability of Theory of Mind

마음이론은 사회인지의 최근 연구주제로 자신과 다른 사람이 각각 독립적인 심적 상태를 가지고 있다는 것을 인식하고 이러한 심적 상태를 귀인할 수 있는 능력이다. 본 연구에서는 틀린 믿음과제를 이용하여 단순언어장애아동 16명을 대상으로 마음이론발달을 살펴보았다. 이를 위해 생활연령을 일치시킨 정상아동 16명과 언어능력을 일치시킨 정상아동 16명을 통제집단으로 하여 그 수행을 비교하였다. 연구결과, 단순언어장애아동들은 생활연령을 일치시킨 정상아동들 뿐 아니라 언어능력을 일치시킨 정상아동들보다 틀린 믿음과제 수행에서 유의하게 열등한 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구결과들을 기초로 단순언어장애아동들의 특성에 대해 논의하였다.

Social cognition means cognition and knowledge about people and their doings. The theory of mind is an emerging research area in social cognition. The ability to understand that a person has a belief that does not match reality and that he or she may act in accordance with that belief is an important milestone of cognitive development. To have a mature theory of mind is to understand that human beings possess mental states which are related to the environment in the reality and which can be used to predict and explain human behaviors. Using false-belief task, this study examined a theory of mind for children with specific language impairment. The results showed that children with specific language impairment were poorer in the ability of theory of mind compared with chronological-age matched children as well as with language-ability matched children. Relationships between social cognition and language development were discussed.