Not doing what you are told: early perseverative errors in updating mental representations via language.
This research examined the ability of young (N = 96) children to learn about a change in the location of a hidden object, either via an adult's verbal testimony or from direct observation. Thirty-month-olds searched with equal accuracy whether they were told about the change or directly observed it. By contrast, when 23-month-olds were told about the change of location, they often returned to the container where they had last observed the object--even when that container was visibly empty. When interference from prior observational encoding was minimized, 23-month-olds, and even 19-month-olds, successfully updated their knowledge of the object's location on the basis of language. The processing demands of updating experience-based representations from new verbal information are discussed.
Ganea
Patricia A
PA
Department of Psychology, 64 Cummington St., Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. pganea@bu.edu
Harris
Paul L
PL
D000368:Aged; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014825:Vocabulary