EXPLAINING YOUNG CHILDRENS DIFFICULTY ON THE FALSE BELIEF TASK - REPRESENTATIONAL DEFICITS OR CONTEXT-SENSITIVE KNOWLEDGE

This study compared two explanations for the poor performance of 3-yea r-olds on the fate belief task: an inability to represent false belief s and context-sensitive problem solving schemas. Experiment 1 tested p reschoolers' understanding of the appearance-reality distinction and o f false beliefs. Some of the results were: an age difference was found on the appearance-reality assessment but not on the false belief asse ssment; 3-year-olds performed better on the false belief assessment th an on the appearance-reality assessment; and task content was found to affect performance on both assessments. In Expt 2, explicit reference to deception was found to facilitate performance on the false belief task. It was suggested that the representational-deficit theories may not be able to account for these results. Performance on the false bel ief task was discussed in terms of the development and application of context-sensitive problem-solving schemas.