Children's books are full of animal characters whose antics capture the hearts and inspire the imaginations of their young readers.
However, a new study has shown that iconic characters such as Peter Rabbit - or Toad and Ratty from The Wind in the Willows - can also play an important role in children's psychological development.
The research explored the extent to which different non-human characters influence children's theory of mind skills, which include the ability to read and predict social changes in the environment through tone of voice, choice of words, or facial expression.
For the study, more than 100 children aged between five and ten were tested on their theory of mind skills when presented with stories featuring animal characters as opposed to those featuring human ones.
The study found that when faced with human characters, there was a clear age-related progression, with older children consistently outperforming their younger counterparts. In fact, Year 3 children performed better than the researchers had predicted in the tests featuring human characters.
However, in tests that involved animal characters, Year 1 participants were able to match the scores achieved by pupils from Year 3, two years older than them.
Writing in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the researchers say the findings highlight the importance of both human and non-human characters for children's earliest development.
The research was led by
Dr Gray Atherton and
Dr Liam Cross, from the University of Plymouth's
School of Psychology.
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