Relationships Between Private Speech and Task Performance andAttention for Two Kinds of Tasks

Abstract

This study investigated relationships among specific categories of private speech, problem solving performance, and focus of attention for two kinds of tasks: one is perceptual task (i.e., visual-spatial task) that could be solved without the use of verbal or linguistic mediators and the other is semantic task that could be facilitated by the use of language. Thirty 5-year-old children were recruited from three preschools and asked to solve both the semantic and perceptual tasks individually. Each child’s performance, focus of attention, and use of private speech while carrying out two kinds of tasks were measured. A significant result from the analyses was that task-relevant private speech, performance, and focus of attention on the Perceptual Task were positively interrelated. Specifically, it was found that high frequency of ‘task-relevant affect expression’ was associated with successful performance and more focused attention on the task.