The cognitive mechanisms underlying selective learning in early childhood

年幼的孩子经常接触到关于他们周围世界的新信息。尽管他们以容易上当而闻名，但研究表明，即使在他们生命的头几年，年幼的孩子也可以评估信息来源，并有选择地更喜欢从某些来源学习，而不是其他来源。这可以被认为是批判性思维的一种非常早期的形式。目前的研究目的是探索选择性学习能力的认知机制，主要是在儿童早期，但也包括整个发展过程。第一系列实验将调查儿童时期及以后选择性学习能力的相关因素和预测因素。第一组实验将评估选择性学习能力是否存在稳定的个体差异--换句话说，在一种类型的选择性学习情景中倾向于理解的儿童是否也表现出优于其他学习情景的选择性学习。如果在不同的选择性学习能力上发现了稳定的个体差异，将进行额外的实验，以检验哪些认知能力可以预测这些个体差异。假设的预测因素包括心理理论和执行功能；其他能力的贡献也将被评估。*第二系列实验，重点是学龄前儿童(18个月到5岁)，将调查理解能力和将知识归因于个人在儿童选择性信任中的作用。学龄前儿童倾向于信任那些表现出知识线索的人，例如，有提供准确(而不是不准确)信息的历史，或自信的语言和非语言线索。然而，目前还不清楚他们是否理解这些可观察到的线索背后的知识心理状态，如果是的话，他们在什么年龄发展这种理解。为了探索这一点，几项研究将测试儿童是否根据个人表达的知识线索形成对知识的期望或无知。*这项研究计划将填补目前关于儿童早期学习技能的文献的空白，并将促进我们对重要早期批判性思维能力潜在机制的理解。这项工作的发现将帮助家长和教育专业人员找到更好地支撑幼儿早期学习和发展的方法。**

Young children are constantly exposed to new information about the world around them. Though they have a reputation to be gullible, research has demonstrated that even in the first few years of their lives young children can evaluate sources of information and selectively prefer to learn from some sources rather than others. This may be considered a very early form of critical thinking. The purpose of the current research is to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying selective learning abilities, primarily in early childhood but also throughout development.***In order to investigate this, two series of experiments will be conducted. A first series of experiments will investigate correlates and predictors of selective learning abilities in childhood and beyond. A first set of experiments will assess whether there are stable individual differences in selective learning abilities - in other words, whether children who tend to be savvy in one type of selective learning situation also show superior selective learning across other learning situations. If stable individual differences are found across different selective learning abilities, additional experiments will be conducted to examine what cognitive abilities predict these individual differences. Hypothesized predictors include theory of mind and executive function; the contributions of other abilities will also be evaluated.***A second series of experiments, focusing on preschool-age children (ages 18 months to 5 years), will investigate the role of the ability to understand and attribute knowledge to individuals in children's selective trust. Preschoolers tend to prefer to trust individuals who show cues of knowledge, for instance having a history of providing accurate (rather than inaccurate) information, or verbal and nonverbal cues of confidence. Yet, it is unclear whether they understand the mental state of knowledge underlying these observable cues, and if so at what age they develop this understanding. To explore this, several studies will test whether children form expectations of knowledge or ignorance based on individuals' expressed knowledge cues.***This program of research will fill a gap in the current literature on children's early learning skills and will advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying important early critical thinking abilities. Findings from this work will help parents and education professionals develop ways of better scaffolding young children's early learning and development.**