Children's epistemic forecasting: The case of knowledge loss.
J Exp Child Psychol 2020;
199:104926. [PMID:
32745916 DOI:
10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104926]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Revised: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Do children understand the cognitive changes that happen with development? Two experiments examined whether 4- and 6-year-olds understand that, as time passes, children forget some of the things they currently know. In Experiment 1, children were taught the names of a new person and a new object and then were informed that contact with these items will discontinue. Children were asked whether they would know the names tomorrow and as grown-ups. Both age groups demonstrated awareness that forgetting might occur. In Experiment 2, children showed a similar pattern of judgments about a peer's knowledge. The findings suggest that knowledge loss is integral to children's future thinking and is part of their understanding of the mind as a dynamically changing system.
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