bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The perception of faces in different poses by 1‐month‐olds
Authors: Sai F. , Bushnell I. W. R.
Published: July 2011

An experiment is described in which the ability of 1‐month‐old infants to recognize their mothers visually was explored with the live faces of mother and stranger presented in three different poses. The en face and half‐profile poses resulted in significant visual preferences for the mother being demonstrated, but the profile pose did not. The temporal stability of the observed memory is discussed along with potential methodological artifacts.
Social representations of gender and young children's play: A replication
Authors: Lloyd Barbara , Duveen Gerard , Smith Caroline
Published: July 2011

Forty target children aged 3 to 4 years were observed playing with gender stereotyped toys with both a boy and a girl partner in a replication and extension of an earlier study of toy choice in action and pretend play (Lloyd & Smith, 1985). The findings which were replicated were: (1) in action play girls used girls' toys more and boys used boys' toys more, (2) in pretend play girls used girls' toys more but no differentiation occurred in the use of boys' toys. The absence of pair‐type effects which were found in the earlier study raises questions about socio‐psychological aspects of the replication design.
The child's conception of the conservation task
Authors: Pratt Chris
Published: July 2011

Sixteen conservers and 16 non‐conservers were asked to describe a conservation of liquid task that had been administered to each of them. The children were requested to provide a general description of the task and were then asked specific questions relating to the various aspects of the task (e.g. the initial equality, the transformation, the post‐transformation judgement). Analysis of children's general descriptions revealed that both groups made reference to the salient aspects of the task and that the main difference between the groups was in the content of the answers concerning the relative quantities of liquid following the transformation. In response to the specific questions, there was a greater tendency amongst the conservers to indicate awareness of the purpose of the task (i.e. to refer to the assessment of their knowledge) and to accept that others may make a different judgement following the transformation. The results suggest that there may be an important link between performance on these tasks and the development of meta‐representational ability in children.
Psychological and demographic predictors of entry to tertiary education in young Australian females and males
Authors: Winefield Helen R. , Winefield Anthony H. , Tiggemann Marika , Goldney Robert D.
Published: July 2011

Although schoolchildren and tertiary students are often subjects for psychological investigations, little information exists about the transition process whereby individual school‐leavers decide to enter tertiary education rather than the work‐force. Taking advantage of an extensive set of longitudinal data, we examined the demographic and psychological characteristics of South Australian schoolchildren who, four years later, had become tertiary students of average age 19.6 years. Differences from the employed, both satisfied and unsatisfied, and from the unemployed, are apparent in the tertiary students' sex, social status, cultural background, and rated academic potential at school. In addition female students had shown differences from other girls while they were at school in self‐esteem and locus of control. In a subsample, female tertiary students reported different paternal rearing behaviours compared with other young women, while male students did not differ from other young men. These results contribute to understanding of identity formation in late adolescence for females.
The effect of make‐believe play on deductive reasoning
Authors: Dias M. G. , Harris P. L.
Published: July 2011

Under certain circumstances, a deductive or ‘theoretical’ mode of reasoning is revealed among young children, as well as among illiterate adults. In four experiments we asked whether 4‐, 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children can extend their deductive abilities to syllogisms whose content runs counter to their practical world knowledge. In Experiment 1, premises were presented within the context of play, using suitable toys and props, or in the ordinary verbal mode. Syllogisms with known, unknown as well as contrary facts were included. Children's performance following presentation in the verbal mode was less accurate than with presentation in the context of play, particularly when syllogisms with contrary facts were included in the premises. Experiments 2, 3 and 4 showed that it is the make‐believe context of play rather than the visible presence of toys during play that facilitates children's reasoning when the premises of the problems run counter to their experience.
Bilingualism, literacy and meta‐linguistic awareness in preschool children
Authors: Edwards Derek , Christophersen Hilde
Published: July 2011

This study attempts to separate the effects of literacy from those of bilingualism, on some specific measures of meta‐linguistic awareness in a group of children at a bilingual preschool in Italy. Controls for age are incorporated, with socio‐economic background held constant. Literacy and bilingualism are treated as continuous variables, with subjects rated on 10‐point scales by their teachers. Distinct and specific effects are shown, with literacy being related to the ability to recognize words as discrete sentence units, and bilingualism related to the perception of two sorts of semantic arbitrariness. In contrast to other studies, no effects were found for perception of the general rule‐governed nature of language, nor for the evaluation of the truth value of tautologies and contradictions (non‐empirical statements). Explanations are offered in terms of the lack of important controls in those studies, as well as the importance of the social and educational context in which the skills of literacy and bilingualism are learned and practised.
Oral activity and exploration in 1–2‐month‐old infants*
Authors: Pêcheux Marie‐Germaine , Lepecq Jean‐Claude , Salzarulo Piero
Published: July 2011

In order to study how information is processed through oral activity during infancy, its two main components, irregular mouthing (M) and non‐nutritive sucking (NNS), were investigated. It was hypothesized that if information is actually processed during M or NNS then it should subsequently be demonstrable in a recognition or a discrimination task.

The first experiment tested this hypothesis through the use of cross‐modal transfer from oral touch to vision. Sixteen 1‐month‐old infants were first orally familiarized with a nubby or plain rubber nipple, and then tested for visual preference on corresponding shapes. Several results show that M rather than NNS involves information processing, but the amount of mouthing on such soft nipples was low and the links between M and subsequent preference were only marginally significant.

A second experiment dealt with intra‐modal discrimination. Oral activity on hard nipples was video‐recorded in 24 2‐month‐old infants. During familiarization the amount of M decreased while the amount of NNS increased. The amount of M increased when a new oral shape was presented. Both experiments support the hypothesis that information about the stimulus is processed during mouthing rather than during NNS. Both approaches, cross‐modal and intra‐modal, are necessary to go beyond specific problems of transfer of information and adaptation of motor programmes.
Complementary error patterns in collective and individuating judgements: Their semantic basis in 6‐year‐olds
Authors: Freeman N. H. , Schreiner K.
Published: July 2011

Children are often asked questions starting ‘how many?’/‘which are more …?’/‘are all the …?’, failing to compute the right total when count nouns (e.g. ‘flowers’) are used but succeeding with collectives (like ‘bunch’). This has been used as evidence for the claim that collective terms encourage children to think in superordinate terms. However, this ignores the communicative influence of the quantifiers in the question. Whilst all is appropriate for collectives, it is the individuator every which is appropriate for count nouns. Our study was designed to probe the influence of quantifier type (every or all) against question type (about fixed or moveable items) in the cars‐in‐garages task. The different quantifiers evoked different patterns of error. Questions with all led children to be concerned with whether garages were filled up, whilst questions with every led to concern with finding as many cars or garages as possible. This sensitivity to the difference between collection‐appropriate and class‐appropriate language is discussed in terms of the functional basis of natural language quantification.
The effect of movement on infants' memory for visual compounds
Authors: Burnham Denis K. , Vignes Genevieve , Ihsen Elfrieda
Published: July 2011

Memory for stationary and moving colour‐shape compounds by 4‐, 7‐ and 10‐month‐old infants was investigated using a sequential habituation method. Infants of all three ages were found to remember stationary colour‐shape compounds but not moving colour‐shape compounds. This suggests that memory for colour‐shape compounds is somehow affected by movement. Implications of the results for the processes involved in memory for compounds are discussed.
Prerequisites for the concept of shop profit: Logic and memory
Authors: Berti Anna Emilia , De Beni Rossana
Published: July 2011

Several studies have shown that it is very difficult for children younger than 10 years old to understand the notion of shopkeepers' profits. In order to investigate the relationship between the development of this notion and the development of logico‐arithmetical abilities and of STM span, 59 children (about 20 at each school grade from second through fourth) were administered the following tasks: (1) interview on buying and selling and shopkeepers' profits; (2) a task consisting of comparing expenses and income of a shopkeeper selling his goods at cost; (3) digit span forwards and backwards, and Case's (1985) counting span test. There was a strong association between the level of a child's conceptions of how shopkeepers make their living, and the procedures he or she adopted in comparing costs and income. Only low associations were found between the scores of children's performances on the memory tests and the levels they reached in the other two tasks.
Neonatal recognition of the mother's face
Authors: Bushneil I. W. R. , Sai F. , Mullin J. T.
Published: July 2011

Three experiments are described which investigated the ability of neonates to discriminate between the face of their mother and that of a strange adult female and to show face recognition. The first experiment indicated a reliable preference for the mother's face even where a control for olfactory information was used. No evidence for any effect of sex or breast vs. bottle feeding was found. A second experiment used the same procedure but substituted a visual mask for the olfactory one previously adopted. Under these conditions no evidence of preference was found. Finally, a third experiment considered the possibility that mothers were actively recruiting their own infant's attention and found that adult observers were unable reliably to distinguish mothers from strangers on the basis of any differential behaviour by mother and stranger. The conclusion is drawn that neonates can recognize their mother on the basis of visual clues alone and that these cues relate to memory for featural attributes of the mother's face rather than to attention‐recruiting behaviour on her part.
Conservation and the appearance—reality distinction: What do children really know and what do they answer?
Authors: Bijstra Jan , van Geert Paul , Jackson Sandy
Published: July 2011

Two experiments aimed to explore whether children's failure on conservation tasks is due to their tendency to give subjective judgements when objective ones are required. In Expt 1, 5‐, 6‐ and 7‐year‐old children were given four conservation tasks. First, the subjects were asked to say how the task situations looked and then how they really were. The results indicated that the children gave significantly more correct answers in this appearance‐reality (A‐R) condition than in the control condition, a standard procedure. In Expt 2, an extended conservation task with both appearance‐reality and standard statements was used. It appeared that a particular group of children gave non‐conserving answers to standard statements and conserving answers to A‐R statements. This group intermediated between real non‐conservers and real conservers. The findings are discussed in relation to the Piagetian concept of the intermediate child and to recent research on socio‐cognitive conflict theory.
Phonological disorders in children: Underlying cognitive deficits
Authors: Dodd Barbara , Leahy Judi , Hambly Gail
Published: July 2011

Three subgroups of phonologically disordered children, those exhibiting predominantly delayed errors, consistently deviant errors and deviant inconsistent errors, were compared on a series of tasks. In one experiment, children's phonological errors when imitating, picture naming and describing absurd pictures were analysed. The results distinguished between the groups. In a second task, children's understanding of the phonological system was examined by asking them to indicate a preference between legal and illegal nonsense words. While the delayed and inconsistent children showed a preference for phonologically legal nonsense words, children with bizarre but consistent phonological processes did not. A third experiment investigated the three groups' perception of their own phonological forms as compared with their perception of the correct form of the same words. None of the children showed any difficulty in discriminating the correct forms, but all had considerable difficulty identifying their own tape‐recorded utterances. The results are discussed in terms of deficits that might underlie the three different types of developmental phonological disorder.
Young children's evaluations of experience‐ and non‐experience‐based oral communications
Authors: Pratt C. , Tunmer W. E. , Nesdale A. R.
Published: July 2011

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ability of 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children to evaluate the internal consistency of three different types of short, orally presented passages that varied in the extent to which they were based on the young child's experience. The passage types were experience‐based, presenting information that was within the child's experience; neutral, presenting information that was arbitrary with respect to the child's experience; and contra‐experience, presenting information that contradicted the child's experience. The results of the study revealed that the ability to evaluate the consistency of short passages is developing around 5 years of age and that young children are equally able to evaluate experience‐based and neutral passages. Both 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children have more difficulty evaluating the internal consistency of contra‐experience passages, especially when such passages present internally inconsistent information.
Developmental changes in understanding the limitations of majority decisions
Authors: Kinoshita Yoshiko
Published: July 2011

Two studies were conducted to examine how children come to understand the limitations of majority rule. In study 1 children of 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 and 16 years and undergraduates were presented with 11 hypothetical situations in each of which group‐members intended to make a group decision. These situations differed both in what was to be decided and in the conditions for the decision. In each situation subjects were asked whether it was appropriate to apply majority rule, and had to give reasons for their judgement. Study 2 was carried out to confirm the results of study 1 by using different situations. The younger children were unable to judge satisfactorily when majority rule was suitable, and overused the rule even when it was clearly inappropriate. Though 5th graders' judgements were similar to those of undergraduates in almost all situations, they could not verbalize the conditions for applying majority rule clearly.
Do obstetric factors affect the mother's perception of her new‐born's behaviour?
Authors: James‐Roberts Ian St. , Wolke Dieter
Published: July 2011

Recent theory suggests that the development of infants who experience obstetric adversities is mediated by their social interactions with their caregivers. This study examines the implied question of whether mothers' perceptions of their new‐borns' behaviour reflect differences of obstetric optimality. Professionals' measures showed full‐term new‐borns with poor obstetric histories to be less alert and more fretful than comparisons, with standardized researcher measures showing the clearest differences. Mothers' diaries, ratings and impressions measures did not show such differences, probably due to a combination of new‐born behavioural instability, contextual effects and effects of maternal perceptual and cognitive processes. The findings indicate the need for alternative methodologies for measuring constitutional and social‐developmental contributions to infant behaviour. In addition, they emphasize that little is known about the bases for parents' views of their infants' characteristics, or the role of such views in maladaptive developmental relationships.
The effect of imposed optical flow on guided locomotion in young walkers
Authors: Schmuckler Mark A. , Gibson Eleanor J.
Published: July 2011

Three groups of infants, differing in their age and walking experience, were presented with optical flow in a moving hallway, and postural adjustments were measured. Children either stood still, or walked back and forth within this hallway in two conditions. In the first, the hallway was uncluttered; in the second, a guidance task was created by placing obstacles (rubber traffic pylons) along the path. For standing trials, there were no significant differences in postural responses between the two conditions. For walking trials, children staggered and fell more often in the presence of obstacles. It appears that steering through a cluttered environment increases postural perturbation during imposed optical flow. These results suggest that two discrete functions, maintaining postural stability and steering, are involved in locomotion, and are guided by different informational aspects of optical flow. Increasing age and walking experience allows children to learn to distinguish between these two types of information, providing them with a means for better integrating these two concurrent functions.
Children's self‐attribution of embarrassment
Authors: Bennett Mark
Published: July 2011

An experiment is reported which examines the possibility that the self‐attribution of embarrassment emerges in two stages: firstly, ‘primitive’ embarrassment, caused by others' overt reactions towards the self, and latterly, ‘mature’ embarrassment, resulting from others' assumed evaluations of the self. One hundred and ninety‐two children, aged between 5 and 13 years, were asked to report, and justify, their likely emotional reactions in hypothetical situations involving either a rule violation or a solo performance under one of three conditions: no audience, passive audience or active (i.e. deriding) audience. As predicted, the proportion of 5‐ and 8‐year‐olds who self‐attributed embarrassment was significantly greater in the active than in the passive audience condition. This effect was not present amongst 11‐ and 13‐year‐old subjects, for whom any audience was potentially embarrassing. Justifications too indicated a shift with age from concern with others' manifest reactions to their subjective evaluations of the self.
Warmth in mother‐child and father‐child relationships in middle childhood
Authors: Russell Alan , Russell Graeme
Published: July 2011

Using a global scale based on interview responses, mothers and fathers (n = 54) of children aged 6–7 years were rated on the warmth‐hostility dimension. The ratings were correlated with measures of parent‐child interactions obtained from a home observation. The main aim was to determine whether mothers and fathers differ in the way in which verbally expressed warmth is revealed in natural interactions with their children, and whether, as well, warmth might be displayed differently in interactions with sons versus daughters. The observational measures included the frequency and nature of interactions parents initiated with their children as well as parental responses to the behaviour of children. In addition, the behaviour of the children was examined. Higher interview‐rated warmth was associated with different behaviours in the four parent‐child dyads (mother‐son, mother‐daughter, father‐son and father‐daughter). For example, with sons, mothers rated higher on warmth showed more concern and more playful joking, while with daughters mother warmth was mainly associated with being less negative in reactions to daughter's behaviour. Parental warmth was also associated with different behaviours in sons and daughters and according to whether the child was interacting with mothers or fathers. Warmth, therefore, was displayed differently in the relationships of the four parent‐child dyads. The issue of whether parental warmth determines child behaviour or child behaviour affects parental warmth and acceptance is discussed.
Children's representations of economic inequality: A replication
Authors: Burgard P. , Cheyne W. M. , Jahoda G.
Published: July 2011

In a study of children's estimates of occupational incomes Emler & Dickinson (1985) found substantial social class but no age differences in a Scottish sample, a result they interpreted as supporting Moscovici's theory of social representation. The main part of that study was replicated with West German children of the age range 8–12, whose parents were also interviewed. In addition to income children were also asked to make price estimates of common consumer goods. Significant age but no social class differences were found, estimates of both types progressively converging upon true values. There were no significant relationships between the estimates of children and their parents. These contrasting findings are discussed with reference to the theory of social representation.
Exploring the development of area judgements using a PEST technique
Authors: Avons S. E. , Thomas Sally
Published: July 2011

Previous studies of the information integration rules used in area judgements have employed either rating scales, or area‐matching techniques in which a pair of rectangles is presented and one is adjusted to match the other in size. In this study a PEST (Parameter Estimation by Sequential Testing) procedure was used to track the point of subjective equality between a standard rectangle and a comparator rectangle of different shape. This method has the advantage that a simple binary choice is the only response required. Functional measurement analysis was carried out on groups of adults, 5‐ and 10‐year‐old children who each completed two replications of a 3 × 3 design in which 3 values of standard area were combined with 3 values of comparator width. The results supported previous findings that young children generally use an addition (height + width) rule whereas older children and adults use a multiplying rule in area judgement. A second experiment confirmed the difference in predominant strategy between 5‐ and 11‐year‐old children and eliminated one possible artefact due to the starting value of the tracking series. This confirmation of the development change in area‐judgement strategies using a different method suggests that the strategy changes are real and not an artefact of measurement techniques. In addition, the present technique reveals more widespread use of the multiplying strategy than previous methods based on rating scales. The implications of this finding are discussed.
The shifting focus of maternal tutoring across different difficulty levels on a problem‐solving task
Authors: McNaughton Stuart , Leyland Jane
Published: July 2011

The present study extends research into maternal tutoring which employs concepts of a ‘zone of proximal development’ and ‘scaffolding’. It examines the effects of different difficulty levels of a jigsaw task on mothers' tutoring behaviour with their 3‐year‐old children. A zone of proximal development was established for individual children and a titration procedure used to explore shifts in tutor behaviour. The nature of scaffolding shifted across levels. Like cross‐sectional studies children's puzzle‐making became increasingly other‐regulated with greater difficulty. Maternal teaching was most obvious and focused within the zone of proximal development.
Age‐related differences in children's understanding of shyness
Authors: Crozier W. Ray , Burnham Maria
Published: July 2011

Drawing upon Buss's theory and upon research into self‐reflection it was hypothesized that fearful shyness would be developmentally prior to self conscious shyness with the transition between the two forms taking place at 7–8 years of age. Analysis of interviews conducted with 60 children aged between 5 and 11 years showed a clear tendency for references to self‐consciousness and embarrassment (which were rare at 5–6 years) to increase with age. References to fearful shyness were frequent at all age groups, suggesting an expansion in children's understanding of shyness rather than the replacement of one form by another.
A situated schema of proportionality
Authors: Schliemann Analúcia Dias , Nunes Terezinha
Published: July 2011

The studies reported here are aimed at: (1) investigating the ability of fishermen with low levels of schooling to invert the everyday schema of proportionality; (2) investigating their ability to transfer the schema to another problem content; and (3) comparing their performance with that displayed by students of the same community who had been instructed on division and proportions, a comparison which may contribute to our understanding of the interplay between development and instruction.
Comments on everyday science
Authors: Cole Michael
Published: July 2011

In his introduction to this special section, Giyoo Hatano has done an admirable job of motivating the need for cross‐fertilization between two approaches to cognitive development: the first begins from an analysis of everyday, culturally organized activities that are then modelled in experimental procedures; the second tradition focuses on domains of knowledge that seem to represent universal natural kinds, whose structures and implications for cognition are interrogated through interview or experiment.
Everyday science: Is it right or does it work?
Authors: Driver Rosalind
Published: July 2011

That human beings have developed theory‐like cognitive structures that provide systematic ways of interpreting and acting in the world has been recognized for many years by anthropologists and psychologists. An interesting issue, and one which is addressed in this series of articles, is how such theory‐like structures which characterize everyday science develop.
Looking ahead: Planning for the inclusion of detail affects relative sizes of head and trunk in children's human figure drawings
Authors: Henderson Julie A. , Thomas Glyn V.
Published: July 2011

We investigated whether children preplan the sizes of head and trunk in their human figure drawings. We asked children aged 4 to 7 years to draw a man, and examined the effects of asking for specific details on the relative sizes of head and trunk. Asking children to depict details of a jacket in their drawing of a man resulted in drawings with a reliably larger trunk area relative to that of the head. Although asking children to depict teeth did result in a larger head relative to the trunk, this effect was not statistically significant. However, asking children to draw a man from the back so that his face could not be seen resulted in significantly smaller heads relative to the trunk. These results indicate that children can preplan the size of head and trunk in anticipation of the amount of detail they intend to include within the outline. The results also suggest that the overestimation of the size of the head commonly found in young children's figure drawing is partly a result of the greater amount of detail usually included in the outline of the head compared to the trunk.
The effect of instructions on view‐specificity in young children's drawing and picture selection
Authors: Beal Carole R. , Arnold David S.
Published: July 2011

While young children have been characterized as drawing what they know rather than what they see, recent research has shown that they can make view‐specific drawings under some task conditions. The goals of this experiment were first, to learn if 5‐year‐old children would draw and select view‐specific pictures of a mug with its handle turned out of view when the task instructions emphasized this as the goal, and second, to compare performance on the drawing and picture selection tasks. Children participated in both tasks after hearing either a standard or clarified version of the instructions. The results showed first, that children who heard the clarified instructions were more likely to provide view‐specific responses on both tasks, and second, that children were more likely to give a view‐specific response on the picture selection task than on the drawing task.
What minds have in common is space: Spatial mechanisms serving joint visual attention in infancy
Authors: Butterworth George , Jarrett Nicholas
Published: July 2011

A series of experiments is reported which show that three successive mechanisms are involved in the first 18 months of life in ‘looking where someone else is looking’. The earliest ‘ecological’ mechanism enables the infant to detect the direction of the adult's visual gaze within the baby's visual field but the mother's signal alone does not allow the precise localization of the target. Joint attention to the same physical object also depends on the intrinsic, attention‐capturing properties of the object in the environment. By about 12 months, we have evidence for presence of a new ‘geometric’ mechanism. The infant extrapolates from the orientation of the mother's head and eyes, the intersection of the mother's line of sight within a relatively precise zone of the infant's own visual space. A third ‘representational’ mechanism emerges between 12 and 18 months, with an extension of joint reference to places outside the infant's visual field.

None of these mechanisms require the infant to have a theory that others have minds; rather the perceptual systems of different observers ‘meet’ in encountering the same objects and events in the world. Such a ‘realist’ basis for interpersonal knowledge may offer an alternative starting point for development of intrapersonal knowledge, rather than the view that mental events can only be known by construction of a theory.
Children's understanding of visual ambiguity
Authors: Ruffman Ted , Olson David R. , Astington Janet W.
Published: July 2011

Two stages have been suggested in children's understanding of the mind between ages 4 and 8. The first stage is signalled by success on false belief tasks around age 4 and is thought to indicate an understanding of the mind as ‘representational’. The second stage is signalled by success on ambiguity tasks around age 6–8 and is thought to indicate a new understanding that people ‘interpret’ or ‘process’ perceptual information. The study reported here was carried out with 108 subjects aged 3–6 to determine whether children begin to understand that ambiguous visual cues are an insufficient source of knowledge around age 6 as previous research suggests (e.g. Taylor, 1988), or whether this development occurs around age 4 when they begin to understand related tasks such as false belief. Two differently coloured (unambiguous) and two same coloured (ambiguous) stuffed animals were introduced to a subject and another character. The animals from one pair were then secretly placed in two separate boxes which had a small hole in the centre enabling a viewer to see each animal's colour but not the shape. Almost no 3‐year‐olds, but about half the 4‐year‐olds and most 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds, recognized that the other could identify the unambiguous pair, but not the ambiguous pair. It is argued that an understanding of ambiguity develops around age 4 because it requires an understanding that beliefs may be false, and that there is one stage (at least with respect to these abilities) rather than two.
Monsters, ghosts and witches: Testing the limits of the fantasy—reality distinction in young children
Authors: Harris Paul L. , Brown Emma , Marriott Crispin , Whittall Semantha , Harmer Sarah
Published: July 2011

Estes, Wellman & Woolley (1989) have shown that children as young as 3 years of age can distinguish between mental entities such as an image or dream of an object and a real object. Nevertheless, children often show persistent fear of imaginary creatures, particularly monsters (Jersild, 1943). To find out what conception children have of such imaginary creatures, 4‐ and 6‐year‐olds were questioned about three types of item: real items (e.g. a cup), ordinary imagined items (e.g. an image of a cup) and supernatural imagined items (e.g. an image of a monster). In two experiments, both age groups sharply differentiated the real items from both types of imagined item. Despite this apparently firm grasp of the distinction between fantasy and reality, two further experiments showed that 4‐ and 6‐year‐olds are not always certain that a creature that they have imagined cannot become real. Having imagined a creature inside a box, they show apprehension or curiosity about what is inside the box, and often admit to wondering whether the creature is actually inside. The experiments suggest that children systematically distinguish fantasy from reality, but are tempted to believe in the existence of what they have merely imagined.
Against the Cartesian view on mind: Young children's difficulty with own false beliefs
Authors: Wimmer Heinz , Hard Michael
Published: July 2011

The present study was concerned with children's ability to identify a prior expectation of their own as false belief. In Expt 1 a sharp improvement was found between 3 years and 5 years not only in the ability to identify own beliefs but also in the explanation of what caused that belief and in the ability to infer another person's belief from exposure to misleading information. Experiment 2 ruled out that 3‐year‐olds' failure with belief identification was due to a memory problem or to a misunderstanding of the test question. Experiment 3 excluded the further possibility that 3‐year‐olds simply failed belief identification because of embarrassment about having said something false. The younger children's difficulty with the identification of own beliefs contradicts Wimmer, Hogrefe & Sodian's (1988) proposal that young children's difficulty in understanding another person's false belief is solely due to a failure to understand informational origins of beliefs. The present finding also speaks against the Cartesian assumption that the mind is transparent to itself, an assumption which underlies the perspective taking tradition.
When 3‐year‐olds understand ignorance, false belief and representational change
Authors: Sullivan Kate , Winner Ellen
Published: July 2011

This study examined conditions under which 3‐year‐olds can conceptualize ignorance, false belief, and representational change, and assessed the order of emergence of these three abilities. One hundred and twenty children between 2:11 and 4:1 were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: standard, explanation, and trick. In the standard condition, children were administered a standard false belief task. In both experimental conditions, the discrepancy between children's false expectation and reality was highlighted. In the explanation condition, children were also given an explanation of the source of a false belief. In the trick condition, the questions were placed in the context of a deceptive game. None of the experimental manipulations affected the younger subjects (2:11‐3:7). However, for the older subjects (3:8‐4:1), performance on the ignorance question was significantly elevated by both the highlight alone and a combination of the highlight with either explanation or trick; performance on the false belief question was significantly elevated by the highlight alone; and performance on the representational change question was significantly elevated by a combination of the highlight plus explanation. Thus, only children over 3:7 can be helped to pass the standard ignorance and false belief questions. Finally, contrary to previous findings, all three kinds of understandings emerged simultaneously, suggesting that all require a similar level of representational ability.
Pleased and surprised: Children's cognitive theory of emotion
Authors: Hadwin Julie , Perner Josef
Published: July 2011

This study looks at two emotions that are determined by whether a person's mental state matches or mismatches the state of the world. Results show that children from 3 years understand that being ‘pleased’ is a function of the match or mismatch between desire and reality. That is between what a person wants and what a person gets. A structurally similar problem is presented by the emotion ‘surprise’. ‘Surprise’ is a function of the match or mismatch between belief and reality. That is between what a person believes or expects to be the case and what actually is the case. It is shown that ‘surprise’ is not understood until children are 5 years old at the earliest. This developmental discrepancy can partly be explained by the fact that ‘surprise’ requires an understanding of belief as a misrepresentation. This is not typically understood before children reach 4 years of age. However, children younger than 4 years can understand ‘pleased’ as the result of reaching or not reaching a desired situation. Results also show that it is not until 5 years of age that children understand ‘happiness’ when ‘happiness’ is made dependent on belief about reality and not on reality itself. The fact that children understand ‘surprise’ and belief‐based ‘happiness’ later than 4 years indicates a general lag between understanding belief and its role in determining emotion.
‘You can cry, mum’: The social and developmental implications of talk about internal states
Authors: Brown Jane R. , Dunn Judy
Published: July 2011

The social processes implicated in the early development of children's talk about desires, feelings and mental states were studied by analysing the content and pragmatic context of naturally occurring conversations at home. Six second‐born children were observed with their mothers and older siblings at two‐month intervals from 24 to 36 months. In addition to increases in the frequency with which children referred to internal states, developmental changes were noted in the content and context of their talk. These included: more frequent references to others' inner states, increased use of inner state turns in reflective discussions and in efforts to manipulate the feelings and behaviour of others, and more frequent references to the causes and consequences of inner states. Parallel changes were noted in mothers' conversations about inner states; maternal references to the thoughts, feelings and desires of those other than the child increased, and their use of these terms in behaviour‐controlling contexts decreased. Results highlight the role of social interaction in children's developing understanding of inner states.
Distinguishing irony from deception: Understanding the speaker's second‐order intention
Authors: Winner Ellen , Leekam Sue
Published: July 2011

This study investigated how children detect the attitude behind irony and distinguish it from the attitude conveyed by a white lie. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) the ability to distinguish the second‐order intentions of the liar vs. ironist (i.e. what each wants the listener to know) should be a prerequisite for the ability to distinguish ironic from deceptive attitude; (2) the presence of distinctive intonations (sarcastic *** sincere) should facilitate the distinction between ironic and deceptive attitude. Five‐ to 7‐year‐olds heard two stories which ended in either a deceptive or an ironic statement. Children distinguished between the stories in two ways: (a) in terms of whether the speaker wanted the listener to believe him or not (second‐order intention judgement); (b) in terms of whether the speaker was being mean or nice (attitude judgement). In one condition, the final utterances were distinguished by intonation (sarcastic for the irony, sincere for the lie); in the other condition, the utterances were spoken identically, without intonation, in the form of an indirect quote. Results supported the first but not the second hypothesis. Almost all children who failed to make correct second‐order judgements also failed to distinguish which speaker was being mean (ironist) and which was being nice (white liar). However, those who succeeded on the second‐order question but failed the attitude question were equally distributed across the intonation and no‐intonation conditions. Thus, for children of this age, intonation failed to facilitate the ability to distinguish the negative attitude conveyed by irony from the positive attitude conveyed by a white lie.
Developing awareness of mind reflected in children's narrative writing
Authors: Fox Richard
Published: July 2011

An investigation of narratives written by 135 children aged 9, 11 and 13 years reveals the steady development during middle childhood of children's ability to realize their understanding of mental events within the tradition of story writing. These developments are examined in relation to the representation of the inner world of characters, of expressive behaviour and of inferences about others. Narrative writing is seen as both a source of data for understanding the emergence into awareness of children's developing theories of mind and as a possible means for the development of such awareness.
The recognition of attitude conveyed by utterance: A study of preschool and autistic children
Authors: Roth Daniel , Leslie Alan M.
Published: July 2011

A growing body of work shows that autistic children and adolescents have very limited understanding of propositional attitudes. One aspect of this is their typical failure to employ a concept of belief. In normal children the concept of belief seems to undergo an important development around age 4 years. The question naturally arises whether autistic impairment comprises simply a 3‐year‐old level of conceptual competence or whether their similarity to 3‐year‐olds in performance on certain theory of mind tasks masks underlying differences at the level of cognitive mechanism. We present data which show that in following a conversational interaction, normal 5‐year‐olds display a sophisticated understanding of the beliefs of the protagonists. Three‐year‐olds showed a much more limited comprehension but were able to attribute propositional attitudes. Our autistic adolescents did not display even this limited understanding of the conversational situation. We interpret our findings in terms of the metarepresentational theory of autism and point out the theoretical importance of a comparative approach to understanding normal cognitive development.
Drawing to differentiate: Flexibility in young children's human figure drawings
Authors: Sitton Ruth , Light Paul
Published: July 2011

This paper reports a study concerned with (a) how children's ability to differentiate between men, women, boys and girls in their drawings changes between 4 and 6 years of age, and (b) how the introduction of a communicative context for drawing affects such differentiation. Data collected from 72 Israeli children revealed increasing differentiation between human figures across the age range studied, with qualitative changes in the types of cue used. The introduction of a communicative context had no effect on children's drawings at 4 years, significant though complex effects at 5 years, and significant effects of a more predictable nature at 6 years. Results are discussed in terms of children's use of a hierarchy of cues to establish differentiation.
The development of depth representation in children's drawings: Effects of graphic surface and visibility of the model
Authors: Klaue Karen
Published: July 2011

This experiment investigates the role of the orientation of the drawing surface (horizontal vs. vertical) and the visibility of the model to be reproduced (visible vs. hidden) on children's drawings of partially occluded or fully visible objects placed one behind another. A total of 256 children, aged 5–11 years, were asked to make two drawings of two objects located at different distances from each other along an oblique line with reference to subject's viewing position. Drawings were analysed according to the reproduced inter‐object distance and angular relations between the two objects.

Results show that the drawings were closer to the real spatial relations existing in the model on horizontal surfaces and closer to the projected spatial relations on vertical surfaces. Visibility of the model played a role only in interaction with orientation of graphic surface. Paradoxically, when the model remained visible, children who were drawing on a vertical transparent screen had difficulties in rendering the appearance of the scene. The main effects were salient between 7 and 9 years. These findings are discussed in terms of coordination and differentiation of physical and symbolic aspects of graphic surface paralleled by the construction of a unique stable viewpoint.
The acquisition of conceptual knowledge in science by primary school children: Group interaction and the understanding of motion down an incline
Authors: Howe Christine , Tolmie Andrew , Rodgers Catherine
Published: July 2011

It is widely accepted that primary school children will approach science with strong “alternative conceptions” about the variables at play which, unless directly challenged, will circumscribe learning. Extensive discussion concerning the form the challenges should take has led to the conclusion that learning will be maximized if children explore their conceptions while working with peers whose alternative conceptions arc different. At present, however, there is little research to support this, and the small amount that does exist says little about the process by which learning is effected. The current study attempted to redress this in the context of motion down an incline. Individual pre‐tests were administered to 113 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children to establish their alternative conceptions. On the basis of their pre‐test responses, and in order to establish adequate controls, the children were put into groups of four according to whether their conceptions were different or similar. The children worked in their groups on tasks designed to elicit the exploration of alternative conceptions, and were subsequently post‐tested. The pattern of pre‐ to post‐test change gave some support to the notion that learning is maximized when alternative conceptions differ. However, it gave few grounds for thinking that learning involves the internalization of conceptions that the groups jointly construct. Rather, it suggested a process of private conflict resolution, for which the catalyst was discussion held during the groups but continuing long after their completion.