Why the Child's Theory of Mind Really Is a Theory

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73444/1/j.1468-0017.1992.tb00202.x.pd

Thinking about the Past: Early Knowledge about Links between Prior Experience, Thinking, and Emotion

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66219/1/1467-8624.00267.pd

Creepiness Creeps In: Uncanny Valley Feelings Are Acquired in Childhood

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150519/1/cdev12999_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150519/2/cdev12999.pd

Children’s Early Awareness of Comprehension as Evident in Their Spontaneous Corrections of Speech Errors

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147836/1/cdev12862_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147836/2/cdev12862.pd

Infants' use of social partnerships to predict behavior

The experiences of social partners are important motivators of social action. Can infants use such experiences to make predictions about how social agents will behave? Sixteen‐month‐old infants were introduced to two social pairs. Initial events established within‐pair cooperation as well as between‐pair conflict involving an individual from each pair. Following these events, infants looked longer when between‐pair members who had never previously interacted now cooperated – instead of conflicted – with each other. Thus, infants tracked the third‐person allegiances and inferred that the conflict would generalize across social partnerships. These findings demonstrate a critical feature of early social cognition and promote needed, further research on the role of social allegiances in social cognition across development.The experiences of social partners are important motivators of social action. Can infants use such experiences to make predictions about how social agents will behave? In three studies, following initial instances of conflict between individual members of different social pairs, sixteen‐month‐old infants looked longer when those individuals' social partners–who had never previously interacted–cooperated rather than conflicted with one other. Thus, infants tracked the agents' third‐person allegiances and inferred that the conflict would generalize across social partnerships.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115912/1/desc12267.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115912/2/desc12267_am.pd

Infants Use Statistical Sampling to Understand the Psychological World

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133581/1/infa12131.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133581/2/infa12131_am.pd

Selective information use and perseveration in the search behavior of infants and young children

Two experiments examined the early development of selective information use in search. The first experiment tested 9- and 16-month-olds on a modification of Piaget's Stage IV object permanence task. It examined infants' use of information from previous experiences with an object (prior information) and from the most recent hiding (current information) to locate a hidden object. In the second experiment, 2-, -, and 4-year-old children received these same sources of information along with new forms of prior and current information: information about the typical locations of objects (location specificity) and verbal information. No systematic perseveration was observed at 9 months, although previous findings related to perseveration were replicated. Perseveration was found at 16 months, but there was also evidence of selectivity at that age. When errors occurred, they tended to be to the prior location, but they were infrequent in comparison to correct searches at the current location. The preschoolers, while continuing to show perseveration, were more consistently selective than the infants. They also showed considerable generality in extending their selectivity to new sources of information.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25209/1/0000649.pd

Neural correlates of belief‐ and desire‐reasoning in 7‐ and 8‐year‐old children: an event‐related potential study

Theory of mind requires belief‐ and desire‐understanding. Event‐related brain potential (ERP) research on belief‐ and desire‐reasoning in adults found mid‐frontal activations for both desires and beliefs, and selective right‐posterior activations only for beliefs. Developmentally, children understand desires before beliefs; thus, a critical question concerns whether neural specialization for belief‐reasoning exists in childhood or develops later. Neural activity was recorded as 7‐ and 8‐year‐olds ( N  = 18) performed the same diverse‐desires, diverse‐beliefs, and physical control tasks used in a previous adult ERP study. Like adults, mid‐frontal scalp activations were found for belief‐ and desire‐reasoning. Moreover, analyses using correct trials alone yielded selective right‐posterior activations for belief‐reasoning. Results suggest developmental links between increasingly accurate understanding of complex mental states and neural specialization supporting this understanding. Theory of mind requires belief‐ and desire‐understanding. Event‐related brain potential (ERP) research on belief‐ and desire‐reasoning in adults found mid‐frontal activations for both desires and beliefs, and selective right‐posterior activations only for beliefs. Developmentally, children understand desires before beliefs; thus, a critical question concerns whether neural specialization for belief‐reasoning exists in childhood or develops later. Neural activity was recorded as 7‐ and 8‐year‐olds ( N  = 18) performed the same diverse‐desires, diverse‐beliefs, and physical control tasks used in a previous adult ERP study.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93540/1/j.1467-7687.2012.01158.x.pd

The development of understanding as an indirect memory strategy

Ten-through 14-year-old children were presented a complex task designed to elicit a variety of memorization strategies. There was a curvilinear relation of age and memory performance on the task; 12- and 13-year-olds took many more trials to memorize the items than did younger or older children. Subjects reported using strategies ranging from attempts at rote memorization through attempts to avoid memorization altogether by deriving some systematic understanding of the task. Differences in reported strategies were related to age and to differences in memory performance. Results are discussed in terms of a general development of the use of understanding as a deliberate, indirect memory strategy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23633/1/0000597.pd

Insides and essences: Early understandings of the non-obvious

Insides and essences are both critical concepts for appreciating the importance of non-obvious entities: neither are observable, both contrast with external appearances, and both can be more important than external appearances. The present research examined understandings of insides and essences in 3- to 5- year-old children. In Study 1, children were asked questions requiring them to think about both the insides and the outer appearances of a series of objects. In Study 2, children were tested on their understanding that insides are typically more important than outer surfaces for an object's identity and functioning. In Studies 3, 4, and 5, children were tested on their understanding of innate potential, a concept that reflects understanding of an inborn essence. Contrary to the traditional view of children as externalists (cf. Piaget, 1951), these studies demonstrate that by age 4 children have a firm grasp of the importance of both insides and essences. Even by age 3 children reason clearly about the inside- outside distinction. These results suggest that preschool children attend to non- obvious features and realize their privileged status. They may also indicate a more basic predisposition toward psychological essentialism in young children.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29429/1/0000510.pd