We examined differences among children in their endorsement of an adult's claim, their subsequent empirical investigation of that claim, and their resolution of any potential conflict between the claim and their empirical investigation. American and Chinese preschool (N = 171, M = 4.71 years) and elementary school (N = 128, M = 7.59 years)…

When learning about the existence of unobservable scientific phenomena such as germs or religious phenomena such as God, children are receptive to the testimony of other people. Research in Western cultures has shown that by 5 to 6 years of age, children--like adults--are confident about the existence of both scientific and religious phenomena. We…

Are thematic roles linked to verbs in young children as in adults or will children accept any participant in a given role with any verb? To assess early verb comprehension we used typicality ratings with adults, parental questionnaires, and Intermodal Preferential Looking with children. We predicted that children would look at named targets, would…