title: Can infants make transitive inferences?
abstract: Researchers have long been interested in the emergence of transitive reasoning abilities (e.g., if A>B and B>C, then A>C). Preschool-aged children are found to make transitive inferences. Additionally, nonhuman animals demonstrate parallel abilities, pointing to evolutionary roots of transitive reasoning. The present research examines whether 16-month-old infants can make transitive inferences about other people's preferences. If an agent prefers object-A over B (A>B) and B over C (B>C), infants seem to reason that she also prefers A over C (A>C) (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 provides indirect evidence that a one-directional linear ordering of the three items (A>B>C) may have helped infants to succeed in the task. These and control results present the first piece of evidence that precursors of transitive reasoning cognitive abilities exist in infancy.
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Mou
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
authors: Jordan M
authors: JM
authors: Province
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: luoy@missouri.edu.
authors: Yuyan
authors: Y
authors: Luo
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Infants; Preferences; Transitive reasoning