According to Garvey, what cognitive ability is linked to the onset of sociodramatic play?

The correct answer is linked to the comprehension of different social roles. According to Garvey, the emergence of sociodramatic play, which is a type of play where children engage in role-playing and storytelling, significantly relies on their ability to recognize and understand various social roles. This cognitive capacity allows children to coordinate their interactions, adopt roles, and enact scenarios that reflect real-life social structures.

Through sociodramatic play, children experiment with and internalize the norms and expectations associated with these roles. This form of play serves as a vital platform for social learning, helping children navigate their social world by testing out different perspectives and behaviors. It promotes the development of critical thinking and empathy as they begin to understand how others might think and feel in different situations.

In contrast, options like understanding basic mathematics, recognizing emotions, or developing motor skills, while important cognitive abilities in their own right, do not directly connect with the engagement and enactment characteristic of sociodramatic play as discussed by Garvey. These skills may contribute to overall cognitive development, but they do not specifically underpin the ability to engage in role-playing scenarios, which is the essence of sociodramatic play.