Blocking a redundant cue: what does it say about preschoolers' causal competence?
Blocking a redundant cue: what does it say about preschoolers' causal competence?
复制标题
阻止多余的线索：它对学龄前儿童的因果能力有何说明？
DOI：
10.1111/desc.12047
复制
发表时间：
2013
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Sloutsky,VladimirM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kloos,Heidi;Sloutsky,VladimirM
目前的研究调查了学龄前儿童在阻塞范式中参与因果推理的程度，在这种范式中，线索始终与目标相关联，要么单独（a‐T），要么与另一个线索（AB‐T）配对。与之前针对学龄前儿童的阻断性研究不同，我们在不改变特定偶然性的情况下操纵了事件的因果结构。特别是，线索被认为是潜在的原因（预测条件），或者它们被认为是潜在的影响（诊断条件）。当冗余线索B是目标的潜在原因时，在因果关系上适当的推断是阻止它，但当它是潜在的结果时，则不是。研究结果显示，学龄前儿童和成年人的表现存在明显差异：成年人只在预测条件下阻止了多余的线索，而儿童在两种情况下都不加区分地阻止了多余的线索。因此，儿童，而不是成年人，忽略了事件的因果结构。这些发现挑战了将复杂的因果推理机制归因于幼儿的发展解释。
The current study investigates the degree to which preschoolers can engage in causal inferences in a blocking paradigm, a paradigm in which a cue is consistently linked with a target, either alone (A‐T) or paired with another cue (AB‐T). Unlike previous blocking studies with preschoolers, we manipulated the causal structure of the events without changing the specific contingencies. In particular, cues were said to be either potential causes (prediction condition), or they were said to be potential effects (diagnosis condition). The causally appropriate inference is to block the redundant cue B when it is a potential cause of the target, but not when it is a potential effect. Findings show a stark difference in performance between preschoolers and adults: While adults blocked the redundant cue only in the prediction condition, children blocked the redundant cue indiscriminately across both conditions. Therefore, children, but not adults, ignored the causal structure of the events. These findings challenge a developmental account that attributes sophisticated machinery of causal reasoning to young children.