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Psychological Science 2022

Two-Year-Olds’ Eye Movements Reflect Confidence in Their Understanding of Words

Isabelle Dautriche1,2,3; Louise Goupil4,5,6,7; Kenny Smith8; Hugh Rabagliati8

1 Aix-Marseille Université · 2 Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST) · 3 Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive · 4 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · 5 University of East London · 6 Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition · 7 Université Grenoble Alpes · 8 University of Edinburgh

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Abstract

We studied the fundamental issue of whether children evaluate the reliability of their language interpretation, that is, their confidence in understanding words. In two experiments, 2-year-olds (Experiment 1: N = 50; Experiment 2: N = 60) saw two objects and heard one of them being named; both objects were then hidden behind screens and children were asked to look toward the named object, which was eventually revealed. When children knew the label used, they showed increased postdecision persistence after a correct compared with an incorrect anticipatory look, a marker of confidence in word comprehension (Experiment 1). When interacting with an unreliable speaker, children showed accurate word comprehension but reduced confidence in the accuracy of their own choice, indicating that children’s confidence estimates are influenced by social information (Experiment 2). Thus, by the age of 2 years, children can estimate their confidence during language comprehension, long before they can talk about their linguistic skills.

DOI
10.1177/09567976221105208
Sources
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