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Two-year-old children differentiate test questions from genuine questions*

  • GERLIND GROSSE (a1) and MICHAEL TOMASELLO (a1)
Abstract

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.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 2011
Corresponding author
Address for correspondence: Gerlind Grosse, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology – Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany. e-mail: gerlind.grosse@eva.mpg.de
Footnotes
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[*]

We would like to thank Stefanie Voigt for help with data collection, Angela Loose for helpful advice with the procedure and Roger Mundry for statistical advice. We also want to thank two anonymous reviewers from JCL for a helpful critique. Many thanks go to the participating children and their parents.

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Journal of Child Language
  • ISSN: 0305-0009
  • EISSN: 1469-7602
  • URL: /core/journals/journal-of-child-language
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