False‐belief understanding in 2.5‐year‐olds: evidence from violation‐of‐expectation change‐of‐location and unexpected‐contents tasks

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00980.x
• Publication Date: 2010-06-18T11:05:49Z
• Authors: Zijing He; Matthias Bolz; Renée Baillargeon
• Keywords: False belief

Until recently, it was generally assumed that the ability to attribute false beliefs did not emerge until about 4 years of age. However, recent reports using spontaneous- as opposed elicited-response tasks have suggested this may be present much earlier. To date, researchers employed two kinds spontaneous-response false-belief tasks: violation-of-expectation been used with infants in second year life, and anticipatory-looking toddlers third life. In research, 2.5-year-old were tested involving a change-of-location situation (Experiment 1) an unexpected-contents 2). Results positive both situations, providing first demonstrations understanding and, such, pointing consistent continuous picture early understanding.