This research investigated children's ability to recognize gaps in their knowledge and seek missing information from appropriate informants. In Experiment 1, forty-five 4- and 5-year-olds were adept in assigning questions from 3 domains (medicine, firefighting, and farming) to corresponding experts (doctor, firefighter, or farmer). However, when…

Although "hindsight bias" (the "I knew it all along" phenomenon) has been documented in adults, its development has not been investigated. This is despite the fact that hindsight bias errors closely resemble the errors children make on theory of mind (ToM) tasks. Two main goals of the present work were to (a) create a battery of hindsight tasks…

Three experiments in which photo or video presentations could guide one's search for a hidden object showed that under certain circumstances even 24-month-olds displayed representational insight. The first two experiments replicated earlier findings of chance performance across 4 trials, with 24-month-olds performing above chance in 3 of 4…

This study examined the generality of the logarithmic to linear transition in children's representations of numerical magnitudes and the role of subjective categorization of numbers in the acquisition of more advanced understanding. Experiment 1 (49 girls and 41 boys, ages 5-8 years) suggested parallel transitions from kindergarten to second grade…

Examined 7- to 10-year-olds' ability to acquire a domain-general processing strategy--Control of Variables Strategy (CVS)-- and make valid inferences. Found that with explicit training within domains and probe questions, children could learn and transfer the CVS. Probes without direct instruction did not improve CVS and inferential thinking…