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I Don't Want to Pick! Introspection on Uncertainty Supports Early Strategic Behavior
Author(s) -
Lyons Kristen E.,
Ghetti Simona
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12004
Subject(s) - psychology , introspection , certainty , perception , task (project management) , control (management) , developmental psychology , social psychology , inhibitory control , strategic control , cognitive psychology , cognition , strategic thinking , strategic planning , neuroscience , management , epistemology , economics , philosophy
Although some evidence indicates that even very young children engage in rudimentary forms of strategic behavior, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that uncertainty monitoring underlies such behaviors. Three‐, four‐, and five‐year‐old children ( N = 88) completed a perceptual discrimination task. Results indicated that children are more likely to withhold (vs. volunteer) responses on trials for which, when forced to provide an answer, they report subjective uncertainty (vs. subjective certainty). Furthermore, uncertainty monitoring positively predicted the strategic regulation of accuracy via withholding of incorrect responses, even when controlling for individual differences in inhibitory control. Overall, results suggest that children's awareness of their own knowledge states contributes to early strategic behavior.