Preschool children's use of information about age and perceptual access to infer another person's knowledge

Preschool children's use of information about age and perceptual experience to infer other people's knowledge was investigated. Because young children may view adults as omniscient, the hypothesis that 3-year-olds regard an observer's age and perceptual experience as equally important when inferring the observer's knowledge was tested. In Experiment 1, 3- and 4-year-olds were asked to judge which of 2 observers, 1 adult and 1 same-age child, knew the identity of a hidden object. On some trials, the adult looked at the hidden object; on other trials, the same-age peer looked at the hidden object. The children who were 3.5 years old relied on information about perceptual experience when judging knowledge. However, the younger 3-year-olds often chose the peer, even though the adult was knowledgeable. The children may have chosen the peer on the basis of familiarity; therefore, adult and child dolls were used in Experiment 2. Neither the 3-year-olds nor the 4-year-olds attributed knowledge on the basis of age rather than perceptual experience.