Young children distinguish the impossible from the merely improbable.

ABSTRACT: 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.

SUBMITTER: Stahl AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11573604 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature