Cognitive predictors of narrative retelling in early childhood

This study examined the associations between inhibitory control, working memory, inductive reasoning, awareness, and children’s narrative retelling abilities in early childhood. A total of 212 children aged 4–7 years participated in the study. Executive functions were assessed through measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory and inhibitory control, inductive reasoning was assessed using a Raven-like matrix task, and awareness was assessed through perceptual and inferential awareness tasks. Narrative retelling was evaluated using a story retelling task that captured multiple aspects of narrative performance. Correlational analyses indicated moderate associations between inhibitory control, working memory, and several narrative retelling indicators. Narrative retelling performance also increased significantly with age, indicating clear developmental gains from the preschool to the early school years. Structural equation modeling further showed that inhibitory control and verbal working memory were significant predictors of the latent narrative retelling construct, whereas visuospatial working memory and inductive reasoning were not significantly associated with narrative retelling. Awareness showed small but significant associations with certain narrative retelling indicators.