Pretense and Executive Function: Testing the Roles of Representational Hierarchical Complexity and Embodiment

Pretense has been linked to children’s executive function, but less is known about whether specific characteristics of pretense influence subsequent executive function performance. Drawing on the Iterative Reprocessing (IR) model and research on embodied cognition, this study examined the roles of representational hierarchical complexity and embodiment in children’s immediate executive function performance following a single story-based pretense activity. A 2 (representational hierarchical complexity: primary vs. secondary) × 2 (embodiment: embodied vs. disembodied) between-subjects pre-test–post-test design was used with 131 first-grade children (M = 6.90 years). After correction for multiple testing across executive function outcomes, no significant main effects or interactions were found for inhibition, working memory, shifting, or the executive function composite. In the unadjusted analysis, an interaction between representational hierarchical complexity and embodiment emerged for inhibitory control, but this effect did not survive multiplicity correction and should therefore be considered exploratory. Overall, the findings do not provide robust evidence that varying representational hierarchical complexity or embodiment within a single pretense session influences children’s subsequent executive function performance. The exploratory inhibition pattern warrants further testing in independent studies.