HE FORGOT - YOUNG CHILDRENS USE OF COGNITIVE EXPLANATIONS FOR ANOTHERPERSONS MISTAKES

Children, ages 4 and 5 years, and adults were asked (a) to explain a s tory character's incorrect search for a desired object, and (b) to exp lain the source of the character's ignorance or false belief concernin g the object's true location. The character either (a) did not receive information about the object's location, (b) received information abo ut the object's original location, but not about a subsequent change o f location, (C) received information but searched for the object after a delay, or (d) received information about the object's location, but was engaged in another activity when the information was presented. W ith increased age, there was an increase in explanations that referred to perceptual experience or cognitive activities as the source of the character's ignorance or false belief. By age 5 years, children shift ed between explanations that referred to perceptual experience or to t he cognitive activities of forgetting or attentional focus, depending upon the circumstances in which the incorrect search occurred. During the late preschool years a conception of cognitive activities as contr ibuting to knowledge and belief becomes integrated into children's con ceptual framework for explaining human action.