development

Exploring cognitive and social differences in children with and without imaginary companions

During pretend play, children create imaginary scenarios and take on various roles, from princesses to pirates conquering the Seven Seas. Some children, particularly those with imaginary companions (IC), become deeply immersed in these imagined …

Developmental trajectories in the understanding of everyday uncertainty terms

Dealing with uncertainty and different degrees of frequency and probability is critical in many everyday activities. However, relevant information does not always come in the form of numerical estimates or direct experiences, but is instead obtained …

Finding the (most efficient) way out of a maze is easier than asking (good) questions

We investigate whether a spatial representation of a search task supports 4- to 7-year-old children’s information-search strategies, relative to their performance in a question-asking game. In Experiment 1, children played two computationally and …