Research on the development of children's decontextualized language has focused primarily on their references to events displaced in time. Here, we examine children's early emerging ability to talk about individuals who are elsewhere and therefore not participating in the conversation. We analyzed the references made by three Mandarin-speaking…

Previous research suggests that children gradually understand the mitigating effects of apology on damage to a transgressor's reputation. However, little is known about young children's insights into the central emotional implications of apology. In two studies, children ages 4-9 heard stories about moral transgressions in which the wrongdoers…

Examined preschool children's recall of deictic verbs of motion presented within stories either consistently or inconsistently with the protagonist's viewpoint. Found that 3- and 4-year-olds accurately recalled verbs of motion (come, go, bring, take) that were consistent with the protagonist's viewpoint but made substitution errors of…

This response to the commentary on the research reported in this monograph discusses children's understanding of pretending adults' attitudes to pretend situations; the effect of the distinction between fictional and instructional texts on interpreting children's understanding of pretense, when pretense comprehension is seen as analogous to text…

What role does contextual information play in children's early word comprehension? Using an inter-modal preferential looking task, we investigated how different background contexts influence children's looking times before and after an image has been named. Prior to the experiment, early comprehension of words was assessed using parental…

Three experiments examined 24- though 39-month-olds' understanding of pretend episodes, such as a puppet pouring pretend milk into a container and then tipping it over a toy animal. The children understood the linkage between the two actions and realized that the toy animal would become "wet." (MDM)

Seven experiments tested 18- to 36-month-old children's understanding of adult pretense. Results indicated that children understood when adults referred to make-believe substances or made make-believe substitutions; appropriately directed their pretend actions; understood the causal consequences of imaginary actions; produced suitable remedial…

Western and Chinese children six years of age judged that an initially intense positive or negative emotional reaction would wane gradually over time. Children four years of age were less consistent, but, when steps were taken to insure their comprehension, they too judged that emotion wanes gradually over time. (Author/RH)

Two experiments assessed preschoolers' ability to understand pretend transformations. Subjects were two-, three-, and four-year-olds who viewed episodes in which either one or two similar props were altered in a pretend fashion. In both the single and double transformation, children demonstrated that they could keep track of the pretend…

Children ages 3 to 5 years old are observed in a series of 3 experiments assessing their use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning. Results suggest that young children readily interpret the cause of an outcome in terms of a contrast between the observed sequence of events, and a counterfactual alternative in which the outcome did not…