Learning language requires learning not only the content of language, but also how to use language to communicate. Iterated reference games provide a window into such skills, requiring sustained interactive communication as participants converge on mutually understandable names for initially novel referents. Some early experiments are interpreted as evidence that 4–5-year-old children cannot converge on the mutually understandable names needed to succeed in an iterated reference game. Here, we revisit young children’s referential communicative abilities using a simpler, child-friendly version of the iterated reference game paradigm. Across 4 experiments and 82 pairs of children (N = 158), we found that 4–5-year-olds could successfully establish reference with each other. Children were 81% accurate, and they often used descriptions similar to their partner’s. These findings suggest that children’s capacity to construct effective referring expressions in novel contexts emerges earlier than previously thought, consistent with the view that children show early pragmatic competence in supportive contexts.
Young children's communicative skills in language and gesture are well documented, yet much less is known about their -ability to interpret graphical symbols. Across three coordinated studies using identical procedures, we examined children's spontaneous comprehension of unfamiliar graphic symbols in a simple object-ch...
Gregor Kachel, D. Haun, M. Bohn· Child Development· 0 citations
It is generally assumed that children and adults learn language through fundamentally different mechanisms: Children predominantly rely on implicit learning, and adults utilize more explicit strategies (Lichtman, 2016). However, little is known about when and how learners begin to benefit from explicit instruction ov...
Wen-Si Zhang, P. Rebuschat, P. Monaghan· Language Learning· 0 citations
Preschoolers often fail tasks that require that they select between a necessary and a merely possible outcome. Prior work has interpreted these failures as evidence that children hold a minimal representation of possibility or as reflecting performance factors. However, all previous paradigms have operationalized child...
Luisa Andreuccioli, Sophie Mazor, K. Begus et al.· Developmental Psychology· 0 citations
This study investigated whether preschool children act on the understanding that identical-looking objects can no longer be re-identified once their positions change unnoticed, using an everyday task assessing the ability to avoid misidentification and comparing their performance with that of adults. Although children...
Frauke Hildebrandt, L. Fenger, R. Glauer et al.· Journal of Experimental Chil...· 0 citations
ABSTRACT Metacognition—the capacity to represent and reflect upon our knowledge and its sources—is fundamental for higher cognition and learning. Developmental research suggests that the ability to make explicit metacognitive judgments emerges surprisingly late, not before school age. However, this research has assumed...
M. Meyer, Marina Proft, Jan M. Engelmann et al.· Developmental Science· 0 citations
