Abstract
In two experiments, we examined young children's ability to delay a response to ambiguous input. In Experiment 1, 5- and 6-year-olds performed as poorly when they needed to choose between basing an interpretation on ambiguous input and delaying an interpretation as when making explicit evaluations of knowledge, whereas 7- and 8-year-olds found the former task easy. In Experiment 2, 5- and 6-year-olds performed well on a task that required delaying a response but removed the need to decide between strategies. We discuss children's difficulty with ambiguity in terms of the decision-making demands made by different procedures. These demands appear to cause particular problems for young children.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 252-270 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2008 |
Keywords
- implicit and explicit understanding
- knowledge
- ambiguity