Young children distinguish the impossible from the merely improbable
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Stahl, Aimee E.; Feigenson, Lisa
署名单位：
College of New Jersey; Johns Hopkins University
刊物名称：
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ISSN/ISSBN：
0027-9717
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.2411297121
发表日期：
2024-11-12
关键词：
摘要：
From infancy, children show heightened interest in events that are impossible or improbable, relative to likely events. Do young children represent impossible and improbable events as points on a continuum of possibility, or do they instead treat them as categorically distinct? Here, we compared 2- and 3- y- old children's learning (N = 335) following nearly identical events that were equi- probable, improbable, or impossible. We found that children learned significantly better following impossible than possible events, no matter how unlikely. We conclude that young children distinguish between the impossible and the merely improbable.