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Related Experiment Video

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Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task
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Thinking about representations: the case of opaque contexts.

Deepthi Kamawar1, David R Olson

  • 1Institute of Cognitive Science and Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B7. deepthi_kamawar@carleton.ca

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|November 25, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Young children

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Theory of Mind (ToM) is crucial for understanding others' mental states.
  • Referential opacity, a complex linguistic phenomenon, tests advanced ToM skills.
  • Children's understanding of referential opacity is not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how young children (ages 4, 6, 8) understand referential opacity.
  • To examine differential sensitivity across epistemic, quotational, and intentional opaque contexts.
  • To determine if ToM skills develop gradually in relation to linguistic context.

Main Methods:

  • Children aged 4, 6, and 8 years were assessed.
  • Performance was measured across three types of opaque contexts: epistemic (e.g., 'know'), quotational (e.g., 'said'), and intentional (e.g., 'mean to').

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  • Statistical analysis compared performance across age groups and context types.

    • Main Results:

    • Children's ability to process referential opacity improved significantly with age.
    • Performance varied notably depending on the type of opaque context.
    • Children performed best with epistemic opacity and poorest with intentional opacity.

    Conclusions:

    • Sensitivity to referential opacity is not a binary skill but develops nuancedly.
    • Contextual factors, such as verb type, significantly influence children's comprehension.
    • Further research should explore the cognitive and linguistic factors underlying this developmental variability.