Hashmi Salim, Vanderwert Ross E, Price Hope A, Gerson Sarah A
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2020 Oct 1;14:560176. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.560176. eCollection 2020.
It has long been hypothesized that pretend play is beneficial to social and cognitive development. However, there is little evidence regarding the neural regions that are active while children engage in pretend play. We examined the activation of prefrontal and posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) regions using near-infrared spectroscopy while 42 4- to 8-year-old children freely played with dolls or tablet games with a social partner or by themselves. Social play activated right prefrontal regions more than solo play. Children engaged the pSTS during solo doll play but not during solo tablet play, suggesting they were rehearsing social cognitive skills more with dolls. These findings suggest social play utilizes multiple neural regions and highlight how doll play can achieve similar patterns of activation, even when children play by themselves. Doll play may provide a unique opportunity for children to practice social interactions important for developing social-emotional skills, such as empathy.
长期以来，人们一直假设假装游戏对社交和认知发展有益。然而，关于儿童进行假装游戏时活跃的神经区域，几乎没有证据。我们使用近红外光谱法，对42名4至8岁儿童在与社交伙伴一起或独自自由玩娃娃或平板电脑游戏时前额叶和颞上沟后部（pSTS）区域的激活情况进行了研究。社交游戏比独自游戏更能激活右侧前额叶区域。儿童在独自玩娃娃时会激活pSTS区域，但在独自玩平板电脑时则不会，这表明他们用娃娃更多地演练社交认知技能。这些发现表明社交游戏利用了多个神经区域，并突出了即使儿童独自玩耍时，玩娃娃也能实现类似的激活模式。玩娃娃可能为儿童提供一个独特的机会，来练习对发展社交情感技能（如同感心）很重要的社交互动。
