The development of mental terms

Pragmatics or semantics

Dados Bibliográficos

ID20366997
AutoresChris Moore (0000-0002-5183-1707, Mount Saint Vincent University, autor correspondente), Jane Davidge (Mount Saint Vincent University)
Ano1989
Volume16
Fascículo3
Páginas633-641
Data de publicação1989-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Child Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0305-0009 • E-ISSN: 1469-7602
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s030500090001076x
PMID2808578
OpenAlexW2038257139
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas59
Referências citadas15

The distinctions between the mental terms, know, think and sure was examined in an experiment with 60 children between three and six years of age. The children were required to find an object hidden in one of two places. Their only clues were two statements involving contrasting mental terms, with each statement referring to one of the possible hiding places. Results showed a significant improvement with age for the know-think and sure-think contrasts, with think treated as a less reliable index of location than both know and sure by four to five years of age. No change with age was found for know-sure contrast. It is concluded that by four to five years of age, children recognize the function of mental terms to express degrees of certainty, and that this understanding is probably not based on the factive properties of the terms

Certainty · Cognition · Cognitive development · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Linguistics · Mental age · Pragmatics · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Language Development and Disorders · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development