Chair: Victor Tamburini
Résumé
Children become able to process verbal identity statements as they learn to attribute false beliefs. The mental files explanation points to the need for linked indexed files for solving both tasks, which children achieve around 3 to 5 years. Clearly, an indexed file is needed for attributing belief; but an identity statement could just result in merging two regular files. I argue that indexed files are necessary for understanding the statement. This opens the possibility that children might cope with non-verbal, perceptual identity information well before they pass false belief tests. In our study, children had to figure out which jar is identical with a jar that had vanished. The results dampen any expectations of earlier competence. Without the help of an identity statement children operate exclusively with regular files, which are subject to Strawson’s Constraint (only one file per object). Consequently, children displayed strong mutual exclusivity. They could not get themselves to identify the vanished jar with the (for us) obvious candidate, which was already tracked by another file. In sum, deployment of indexed files is associated with language use. This is also reflected in the strong dependence of passing false belief tests on language development.
