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Young Children's Understanding of “Remember” and “Forget”
Author(s) -
Lyon Thomas D.,
Flavell John H.
Publication year - 1994
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/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00821.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , cognitive development , salient , character (mathematics) , cognition , child development , comprehension , association (psychology) , concept learning , knowledge level , cognitive psychology , linguistics , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , mathematics education , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science , psychotherapist
3 studies examined young children's understanding that if one “remembers” or “forgot,” one must have known at a prior time. In Study 1,4‐year‐olds but not 3‐year‐olds understood the prior knowledge component of “forgot”; both groups understood that a character with prior knowledge was “gonna remember.” Study 2 controlled for the possibility that good performance on “remember” might be due to a simple association of remembering with knowledge. A significant number of 4‐year‐olds but not 3‐year‐olds understood that when 2 characters currently knew, the one with prior knowledge remembered, and that when neither character currently knew, the one with prior knowledge forgot. Study 3 made prior knowledge more salient by making the remembered or forgotten item visible to the subjects throughout. 4‐year‐olds performed near ceiling on both verbs, whereas 3‐year‐olds' performance did not differ from chance. The results are discussed in relation to children's developing understanding of the mind.