ERIC Number: EJ890967
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Aug
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Thinking about False Belief: It's Not Just What Children Say, but How Long It Takes Them to Say It
Atance, Cristina M.; Bernstein, Daniel M.; Meltzoff, Andrew N.
Cognition, v116 n2 p297-301 Aug 2010
We examined 240 children's (3.5-, 4.5-, and 5.5-year-olds) latency to respond to questions on a battery of false-belief tasks. Response latencies exhibited a significant cross-over interaction as a function of age and response type (correct vs. incorrect). 3.5-year-olds' "in"correct latencies were faster than their correct latencies, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for 4.5- and 5.5-year-olds. Although these results are most consistent with conceptual change theories of false-belief reasoning, no extant theory fully accounts for our data pattern. We argue that response latency data provide new information about underlying cognitive processes in theory of mind reasoning, and can shed light on concept acquisition more broadly. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Reaction Time, Cognitive Processes, Cognitive Development, Evaluation Methods, Task Analysis, Data Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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