LEARNING TO ACT AS A TEAM: DEVELOPMENTAL ONSET, UNDERLYING PROCESSES AND PRE-REQUISITES OF CO-REPRESENTATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Co-representation has been argued to be a mechanism in adult joint action that allows participants in a joint task to co-ordinate their actions with a partner. Substantial evidence for this mechanism has come from tasks such as the joint Simon task (Sebanz, Knoblich & Prinz, 2003), which show interference from a partner’s task on one’s own performance. The following studies aim to use this mechanism as a measure of children’s joint action abilities and a way of directly comparing adult and child behaviours. Chapter 1 presents three studies which suggest a developmental onset of co-representation effects at around 4 years old. Chapter 2 attempts to uncover what type of representations may be formed in joint tasks at this age. Chapter 3 presents an individual differences study, suggesting that both Inhibitory Control and explicit Theory of Mind, but not Working Memory, play an indirect role in avoiding interference from co-representation. These findings contribute to the Joint Action Development literature, by demonstrating at least one way in which adult and child joint action may not be comparable. They also shed light on the adult co-representation literature, by highlighting cognitive skills that may interact with co-representation in order to reduce potential interference.