Patricia A Ganea
Biographic Data
| ID | 5759135 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Patricia A Ganea |
| GIVEN NAMES | Patricia A |
| FAMILY NAME | Ganea |
| SIGNATURE | GANEA P A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0119-7987 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Revisiting the Acquisition of Conditionals
Children produce conditional if -clauses later than other complex constructions, but the source of this delay is debated. On the conceptual complexity explanation, children acquire if -clauses later than other morphosyntactically similar constructions because they are cognitively more complex. On the pragmatic overlap explanation, children produce if -clauses infrequently because other, simpler constructions can convey similar conditional meaning…
The co-construction of counterfactual worlds in parent–child reminiscing
Counterfactual thinking plays a central role in human judgment and decision making. Most of what we know about its development comes from studies where children are prompted to reason counterfactually. In which everyday contexts do children first hear and produce counterfactuals? In this study, we explored parent-child reminiscing as a promising context. We propose that children's early counterfactual thinking might be scaffolded by caregivers vi…
Promoting scientific understanding and conceptual change in young children using explanations and guidance
Evaluating evidence and restructuring beliefs based on anomalous evidence are fundamental aspects of scientific reasoning. These skills can be challenging for both children and adults, especially in domains where they possess inaccurate prior beliefs that can interfere with the acquisition of correct scientific information (e.g., heavier objects fall faster than light ones). Across two experiments, we examined the additive benefit of combining ex…
Children's hypothetical reasoning about complex and dynamic systems
Children's hypothetical reasoning about a complex and dynamic causal system was investigated. Predominantly White, middle-class 5- to 7-year-old children from the Greater Toronto Area learned about novel food chains and were asked to consider the effects of removing one species on the others. In Study 1 (N = 72; 36 females, 36 males; 2018), 7-year-olds answered questions about both direct and indirect effects with a high degree of accuracy, where…
The Role of Alternative Theories and Anomalous Evidence in Children’s Scientific Belief Revision
Children’s naive theories include misconceptions which can interfere with science learning. This research examined the effect of pairing anomalies with alternative theories, and their order of presentation, on children’s belief revision. Children believe that heavy objects sink and light ones float. In a pre-, mid-, and post-test design, 5-year-olds (N = 96) were assigned to one of two conditions, where they were either exposed to an alternative …
Infants Use Category Label Knowledge to Interpret Absent Reference
This research investigated infants’ (16 and 20 months) use of category information in responding to references to absent objects. Infants were asked to find an object in the box (e.g., “Find an apple!”). When allowed to search, they found either an object from the mentioned category (a plastic apple) or a different object. Infants in both age groups searched again in the box trying to find another object more often on nonreferent than on referent…
Object Locations, Identity and Absent Reference Understanding at 12 Months
Spatial and contextual information plays an organizing role in many cognitive processes including object individuation and memory retrieval. Recently, attention has been drawn to the fact that changes in an object's location negatively affect infants' learning in different domains. One example is that prestudy exposure to a target object in a nontest location disrupts infants' ability to locate that object when it is hidden in a test room. In the…
When familiar is not better
Three experiments that demonstrate a novel constraint on infants' language skills are described. Across the experiments it is shown that as babies near their 1st birthday, their ability to respond to talk about an absent object is influenced by a referent's spatiotemporal history: familiarizing infants with an object in 1 or several nontest locations before the study interferes with their ability to respond to talk about the object when it is out…
The role of symbol-based experience in early learning and transfer from pictures
Extensive exposure to representational media is common for infants in Western culture, and previous research has shown that soon after their 1st birthday, infants can acquire and extend new information from pictures to real objects. Here we explore the extent to which lack of exposure to pictures during infancy affects children's learning from pictures. Infants were recruited from a rural village in Tanzania and had no prior experience with pictu…
Talking about the near and dear
The present research investigated the role of familiarity and proximity in infants' comprehension of displaced speech. When 13- and 16-month-old infants heard a researcher talk about a familiar person immediately after she left the room, they showed comprehension of the name by looking, pointing, or searching for the person in question. The majority of 16-month-olds were also able to reveal comprehension of the reference to the absent person afte…
Promoting scientific understanding and conceptual change in young children using explanations and guidance
Evaluating evidence and restructuring beliefs based on anomalous evidence are fundamental aspects of scientific reasoning. These skills can be challenging for both children and adults, especially in domains where they possess inaccurate prior beliefs that can interfere with the acquisition of correct scientific information (e.g., heavier objects fall faster than light ones). Across two experiments, we examined the additive benefit of combining ex…
When familiar is not better
Three experiments that demonstrate a novel constraint on infants' language skills are described. Across the experiments it is shown that as babies near their 1st birthday, their ability to respond to talk about an absent object is influenced by a referent's spatiotemporal history: familiarizing infants with an object in 1 or several nontest locations before the study interferes with their ability to respond to talk about the object when it is out…
When familiar is not better
Three experiments that demonstrate a novel constraint on infants' language skills are described. Across the experiments it is shown that as babies near their 1st birthday, their ability to respond to talk about an absent object is influenced by a referent's spatiotemporal history: familiarizing infants with an object in 1 or several nontest locations before the study interferes with their ability to respond to talk about the object when it is out…
The role of symbol-based experience in early learning and transfer from pictures
Extensive exposure to representational media is common for infants in Western culture, and previous research has shown that soon after their 1st birthday, infants can acquire and extend new information from pictures to real objects. Here we explore the extent to which lack of exposure to pictures during infancy affects children's learning from pictures. Infants were recruited from a rural village in Tanzania and had no prior experience with pictu…
Talking about the near and dear
The present research investigated the role of familiarity and proximity in infants' comprehension of displaced speech. When 13- and 16-month-old infants heard a researcher talk about a familiar person immediately after she left the room, they showed comprehension of the name by looking, pointing, or searching for the person in question. The majority of 16-month-olds were also able to reveal comprehension of the reference to the absent person afte…
Object Locations, Identity and Absent Reference Understanding at 12 Months
Spatial and contextual information plays an organizing role in many cognitive processes including object individuation and memory retrieval. Recently, attention has been drawn to the fact that changes in an object's location negatively affect infants' learning in different domains. One example is that prestudy exposure to a target object in a nontest location disrupts infants' ability to locate that object when it is hidden in a test room. In the…
Infants Use Category Label Knowledge to Interpret Absent Reference
This research investigated infants’ (16 and 20 months) use of category information in responding to references to absent objects. Infants were asked to find an object in the box (e.g., “Find an apple!”). When allowed to search, they found either an object from the mentioned category (a plastic apple) or a different object. Infants in both age groups searched again in the box trying to find another object more often on nonreferent than on referent…
The Role of Alternative Theories and Anomalous Evidence in Children’s Scientific Belief Revision
Children’s naive theories include misconceptions which can interfere with science learning. This research examined the effect of pairing anomalies with alternative theories, and their order of presentation, on children’s belief revision. Children believe that heavy objects sink and light ones float. In a pre-, mid-, and post-test design, 5-year-olds (N = 96) were assigned to one of two conditions, where they were either exposed to an alternative …
Children's hypothetical reasoning about complex and dynamic systems
Children's hypothetical reasoning about a complex and dynamic causal system was investigated. Predominantly White, middle-class 5- to 7-year-old children from the Greater Toronto Area learned about novel food chains and were asked to consider the effects of removing one species on the others. In Study 1 (N = 72; 36 females, 36 males; 2018), 7-year-olds answered questions about both direct and indirect effects with a high degree of accuracy, where…
Promoting scientific understanding and conceptual change in young children using explanations and guidance
Evaluating evidence and restructuring beliefs based on anomalous evidence are fundamental aspects of scientific reasoning. These skills can be challenging for both children and adults, especially in domains where they possess inaccurate prior beliefs that can interfere with the acquisition of correct scientific information (e.g., heavier objects fall faster than light ones). Across two experiments, we examined the additive benefit of combining ex…
The co-construction of counterfactual worlds in parent–child reminiscing
Counterfactual thinking plays a central role in human judgment and decision making. Most of what we know about its development comes from studies where children are prompted to reason counterfactually. In which everyday contexts do children first hear and produce counterfactuals? In this study, we explored parent-child reminiscing as a promising context. We propose that children's early counterfactual thinking might be scaffolded by caregivers vi…
Revisiting the Acquisition of Conditionals
Children produce conditional if -clauses later than other complex constructions, but the source of this delay is debated. On the conceptual complexity explanation, children acquire if -clauses later than other morphosyntactically similar constructions because they are cognitively more complex. On the pragmatic overlap explanation, children produce if -clauses infrequently because other, simpler constructions can convey similar conditional meaning…
Child and Animal Learning Development (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Linguistics (5 works) · Language Development and Disorders (4 works) · Referent (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Cognitive development (3 works)