Can you choose the cupcake she wants?

For children aged 3 through 7 years

In this study, your child will hear a story about a character choosing cupcakes and teddybears, and your child will have to figure out which one the character means from a set. In each case, the narrator will tell the participant what the character wants, but using indirect description, to see at what age children can figure out what is meant. For example, if I tell you "I don't want the GREEN hat", you might infer that I want a different color hat, rather than no hat at all. When do children do this?

Children are undergoing very rapid language acquisition in the late preschool years, figuring out all kinds of complex forms including negatives, multiple adjectives, and stress patterns. Little is known about children's understanding of how negatives, multiple adjectives, and stress patterns jointly determine what someone is referring to. The study will allow us to answer some preliminary questions about the age at which children understand them like adults, and if not, what they do instead.

12 minutes

At the end, your child can choose which teddybear they like best to decorate their Junior Scientist Certificate! There is no other compensation.