Understanding of Mental Processes: A Developmental Study of "Remember" and "Forget"

Abstract

WELLMAN, HENRY M., and JOHNSON, CARL N. Understanding of Mental Processes: A Developmental Study of Remember and Forget. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 79-88. Children's comprehension of the mental verbs remember and was assessed. 3-, 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds were tested by having the child judge of toy characters in different situations: did he (she) forget and did he (she) remember? The first differentiated understanding of the verbs was evident in 4-year-olds. The data indicated a general progression from understanding remember and in terms of overt features of behavior to a later understanding in terms of internal mental states. Results were discussed as representative of the development of children's conceptions of their own and others' cognitive states.