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TWO-YEAR-OLDS’ UNDERSTANDING OF ATTENTIONAL FOCUS AND SEElNG=KNOWING

Paula Bennett and Diane Poulin-Dubois

Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, H4B lR6

Young children’s understanding of another’s attentional focus has been found to occur around two and one-half years of age (Lempers, Flavell, & Flavell, 1977). Further, research findings suggest that young children understand “seeing as a knowledge acquisition device” around four years of age (Povinelli & Eddy, 1996, p. 117). However, recent findings suggest that when task demands are reduced even three-year-old children may show an understanding of seeing=knowing (Pratt & Bryant, 1990). The present study was designed to examine whether 24 month-old children would similarly show such an understanding in object request and hide and seek game-like tasks. Preliminary data from a sample of 10 subjects was collected (mean = 24: 17; range = 24:02 to 24:30).

The session was divided into two tasks. In the first task, children were trained to request a toy (e.g., ball) from each of the two strangers in the two warm-up trials. In the experimental trials, children had also to request a toy from the strangers but one of them was now blindfolded. The trial ended after 20 seconds. In the second task, three cups were laid out on the table in front of the two strangers. In the two warm-up trials, children were requested to watch one of the two strangers hide a toy. The hider then pushed the correct cup toward the child whereas the other stranger pushed an incorrect cup. The child was then asked to find the object under one of the cups. In the experimental trials, a screen was placed in front of the cups blocking the child’s vision so that he/she could not see a toy being hidden. The stranger who was not blindfolded saw where the toy was hidden whereas the one who was blindfolded did not. After the toy was hidden under the nonblindfolded person’s cup, the other stranger removed her blindfold. The screen was then removed. The stranger who was not blindfolded during the hiding then placed her hand on the correct cup whereas the other chose the incorrect cup. Children were then asked “Who has the toy? Show me”. After 20 seconds, the two cups were pushed directly in front of the child and he/she was asked to find the toy. The order of cups was counterbalanced across trials.

Mean looking times were computed, for each task, as a percentage of looking time to each of the strangers. In the first task, it was found that children looked longer (M=62%) to the stranger without a blindfold than to the one with a blindfold. In the second task, children were found to have a tendency to look longer (M=59%) at the stranger without a blindfold during the hiding than to the one with a blindfold. Also, when children were asked to find a toy under a cup, half of the sample chose the correct cup three out of four trials. The results remain to be confirmed with a larger sample size. However, these preliminary results suggest that 24 month- olds show understanding of another’s attentional focus as well as seeing=knowing.