Action anticipation based on an agent's epistemic state in toddlers and adults

Do toddlers and adults engage in spontaneous Theory of Mind? This multi-lab collaboration examined whether 18- to 27-month-olds’ and adults’ anticipatory looks distinguish between two basic forms of epistemic states: knowledge and ignorance. In adults (n = 703, 68% female), we found clear evidence that they do: they showed simple goal-based action anticipation in pilot studies and differentiated between knowledge and ignorance conditions in the main study. In toddlers (n = 521, 49% female), results were less conclusive. While demonstrating goal-based action anticipation in pilot studies, they did not differentiate between knowledge and ignorance as predicted. Future research can explore adults’ sensitivity to more complex epistemic states like true/false beliefs and clarify whether toddlers’ results reflect competence or performance limitations.

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Published
2025-09-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/x4jbm_v2
Primary Topic
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Action anticipation based on an agent's epistemic state in toddlers and adults

Yiyu Liu, Karola Schlegelmilch, Ulf Liszkowski, Krisztina V. Jakobsen et al.
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
article

Action anticipation based on an agent's epistemic state in toddlers and adults

Yiyu Liu, Karola Schlegelmilch, Ulf Liszkowski, Krisztina V. Jakobsen, Daniel B. M. Haun, Emma Axelsson, Zhen Zeng, Alyssa Quinn, Louisa Kulke, Shannon P Kong, Magda Matetovici, Katrin Rothmaler, Amanda L. Woodward, Diane Poulin‐Dubois, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Laura Franchin, Anna Krämer, Samuel H. Forbes, Dana Schneider, Krista Byers‐Heinlein, Beate Priewasser, Josef Perner, Martin Zettersten, Gal Raz, Y. Wang, Olivier Mascaro, Elisabeth E.F. Bradford, Marlene Meyer, Natalia Arias‐Trejo, Yixun Li, Gert Westermann, Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann, Natalia Kartushina, Lidia Scifo, Manuel Bohn, Angeline Tsui, Francis Yuen, Tobias Schuwerk, Ágnes Melinda Kovács, Liquan Liu, Sabine Hunnius, Tashauna L. Blankenship, Naomi Havron, Anna‐Lena Tebbe, Alessandra Geraci, Nayeli Gonzalez‐Gomez, Josephine Roß, Kyle Mahowald, Luca Surian, Audun Rosslund, Milena Marx, Victoria Southgate, Hannes Rakoczy, Marina Proft, Michael Huemer, Michał Misiak, Trine Sonne, Marek Meristo, Anna-Elisabeth Baumann, Andreea A. Nistor, Annie E. Wertz, Piotr Sorokowski, Isa Blomberg, Renée Baillargeon, Lindsey J. Powell, Peter Krøjgaard, P Grohmann, Dóra Kampis, Tiffany S. Leung, Emily M. Chen, Tess Fulcher, Julia Christin Prein, Xiaoyun Chen, Lucie E. Zimmer, Sagi Jaffe‐Dax, Wiktoria Jędryczka, Rebecca Saxe, Julien Mayor, J. Kiley Hamlin, Que Anh Pham, Adrian Steffan, Alvin Wei Ming Tan, Edward W. Legg, Stefanie Peykarjou, Amanda Rose Yuile, Casey Lew‐Williams, David Moreau, John Corbit, Melanie S. Schreiner, Sebastian Dörrenberg, Osman S. Kingo, Robert Hepach, Szilvia Bı́ró, Peter J. Reschke, Cynthia L. Fisher, Ingmar Visser, Marlena Larissa Mayer, Mikołaj Hernik, Nicolás Alessandroni, Tone Kristine Hermansen, Nicole Altvater‐Mackensen, Heather L. Kosakowski, Irene Canudas-Grabolosa, Hay Mar Myat Kyaw, Yanjie Su, Yang Wu, Lauren Smith, Daniel C. Hyde, Crystal Lee, Michael C. Frank, Yukun Yu, C. Bernard, Larry J. Shapiro, Grzegorz Jankiewicz, Ada Koleini, coral kfir, Manar Khalaila, Mona M. Klau, Abhinav Kona, Judith L. Krief, Alex Mackiel, Petra Šarić, Verena Schuhmann
article en

Abstract

Do toddlers and adults engage in spontaneous Theory of Mind? This multi-lab collaboration examined whether 18- to 27-month-olds’ and adults’ anticipatory looks distinguish between two basic forms of epistemic states: knowledge and ignorance. In adults (n = 703, 68% female), we found clear evidence that they do: they showed simple goal-based action anticipation in pilot studies and differentiated between knowledge and ignorance conditions in the main study. In toddlers (n = 521, 49% female), results were less conclusive. While demonstrating goal-based action anticipation in pilot studies, they did not differentiate between knowledge and ignorance as predicted. Future research can explore adults’ sensitivity to more complex epistemic states like true/false beliefs and clarify whether toddlers’ results reflect competence or performance limitations.

University of British Columbia (CA), Princeton University (US), Purdue University West Lafayette (US), Harvard University Press (US), University of Oxford (GB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
National Science Foundation, Harvard University, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Austrian Science Fund, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Economic and Social Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 73%
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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