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Developing Conflict Monitoring Abilities Predict Children's Revision of an Intuitive Theory
Elfriede R Holstein1,2, Maria Theobald2,3, Leonie S Weindorf1,2
1DIPF|Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Frankfurt, Germany.
Abstract:
We investigated the role of children's conflict monitoring skills in revising an intuitive scientific theory. Children aged 5 to 9 (N = 177; 53% girls, data collected in Germany from 2019-2023) completed computer-based tasks on water displacement, a concept prone to misconceptions. Children predicted which of two objects would displace more water before receiving feedback. With increasing age, children showed slower response times for incorrect predictions (β = -0.04) and greater pupil dilation to unexpected outcomes (β = -0.04), indicating better conflict monitoring. Better conflict monitoring, in turn, predicted faster belief revision (β = 0.07). These findings suggest that conflict monitoring is crucial for learning in discovery-based activities.
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