Children flexibly compare their confidence within and across perceptual domains

Bibliographic Data

ID9793192
AuthorsCarolyn Baer (0000-0003-4521-8006, corresponding author), Darko Odic (0000-0001-5783-2789, University of British Columbia)
Year2020
Volume56
Issue11
Pages2095-2101
Publication date2020-11-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/dev0001100
PMID32915050
OpenAlexW3085642933
LanguageEN
Citations received3

How does a person make decisions across perceptual boundaries? Here, we test the account that confidence constitutes a common currency for perceptual decisions even in childhood by examining whether confidence can be compared across distinct perceptual dimensions. We conducted a strict test of domain-generality in confidence reasoning by asking 6- to 7-year-olds to compare their confidence in 2 decisions, either from the same perceptual dimension (e.g., number vs. number) or from two different perceptual dimensions (e.g., area vs. emotion). Not only could children compare their confidence across and within domains but there were no differences in their abilities to make within- and across-domain comparisons. Our findings support the idea that confidence is represented in a common format even in childhood, which could provide an account for perceptual integration in childhood that doesn't necessitate the use of language. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Dimension (graph theory · Generality · Low Confidence · MEDLINE · Perception · PsycINFO · Test (biology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Cognitive Science and Mapping · Face Recognition and Perception · Psychology · Social Psychology

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