Two-year-old children differentiate test questions from genuine questions.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Children are frequently confronted with so-called 'test questions'. While genuine questions are requests for missing information, test questions ask for information obviously already known to the questioner. In this study we explored whether two-year-old children respond differentially to one and the same question used as either a genuine question or as a test question based on the situation (playful game versus serious task) and attitude (playful ostensive cues versus not). Results indicated that children responded to questions differently on the basis of the situation but not the expressed attitude of the questioner. Two-year-old children thus understand something of the very special communicative intentions behind test questions.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Grosse, G; Tomasello, M
Published Date
- January 2012
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 39 / 1
Start / End Page
- 192 - 204
PubMed ID
- 21457590
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1469-7602
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0305-0009
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1017/s0305000910000760
Language
- eng