title: Do young and old preschoolers exhibit response bias due to different mechanisms? Investigating children's response time.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that younger preschoolers exhibit a yes bias due to underdeveloped cognitive abilities, whereas older preschoolers exhibit a response bias due to other factors. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the response latency to yes-no questions pertaining to familiar and unfamiliar objects in 3- to 6-year-olds. The 3-year-olds exhibited a strong yes bias for both objects, and their response latency was significantly shorter than that of the 6-year-olds. The 4- and 5-year-olds did not exhibit any response bias, whereas the 6-year-olds exhibited a nay-saying bias (a response bias to say "no") for unfamiliar objects. Overall, children's response bias scores were stronger for familiar objects than for unfamiliar objects. The results suggest that 3-year-olds exhibit a yes bias automatically, but 5- and 6-year-olds are sensitive to question context.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3-11 Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan. mako-okanda@garnet.kobe-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okanda
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Itakura
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014705:Verbal Behavior