Children and adults can suspend core principles about objects and agents given a small amount of counterevidence on screen.

ABSTRACT: Human children and adults learn from statistical evidence and acquire new knowledge across many domains. Under some circumstances, human adults and nonhuman animals can suspend perceptual and cognitive priors given counterevidence. Can human learners also suspend core principles that guide our reasoning about objects and agents starting in infancy (e.g., objects are solid and cannot pass through each other; agents take the most efficient path to accomplish their goal)? In 12 experiments, we found that adults (N = 209 for physical principles; N = 189 for psychological principles) and 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 96 for physical principles; N = 96 for psychological principles) suspended these core principles on a screen when provided with as few as 3 to 6 pieces of counterevidence of each

SUBMITTER: Liu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12804722 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature