The development of mental terms

Pragmatics or semantics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20366997
AutoresChris Moore (0000-0002-5183-1707, Mount Saint Vincent University, autor de correspondencia), Jane Davidge (Mount Saint Vincent University)
Año1989
Volumen16
Número3
Páginas633-641
Fecha de publicación1989-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Child Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0305-0009 • E-ISSN: 1469-7602
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s030500090001076x
PMID2808578
OpenAlexW2038257139
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas59
Referencias 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