Toddlers understand concept of possibility

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itemtype="https://schema.org/EducationalOrganization"> <span itemprop="logo" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://hub.jhu.edu/assets/themes/wphub/src/assets/images/logos/university-logo-small-horizontal-blue-no-clear-space.png" /> </span> <meta itemprop="name" content="Johns Hopkins University" /> </span> <span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/hub_thumbnail/public/2024-10/_JHZ7568.JPG" /> <meta itemprop="about" content="A toddler gets ready to select a toy from the machine, during the experiment." /> </span> <meta itemprop="abstract" content="Children too young to know words like "impossible" and "improbable" nonetheless understand how possibility works, finds new work with 2- and 3-year-olds" /> <div class="hero-container row"> <div class="center force"> <div class="hero column force"> <div class="image column force image-landscape"><div class="image-container"><img src="https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG" alt="A toddler reacts to selecting a toy from the machine, during the experiment." class="column" sizes="(min-width: 1680px) 1440px, (min-width: 1280px) 1194px, (min-width: 1024px) 1062px, (min-width: 863px) 850px, (min-width: 768px) 863px, (min-width: 640px) 768px, (min-width: 412px) 640px, (min-width: 375px) 412px, 375px" srcset="https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/hub_medium/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 420w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_630/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 630w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 825w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_1030/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1030w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/hub_large/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1194w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_1300/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1300w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/hub_xlarge/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1440w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_1600/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1600w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_1800/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 1800w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_2000/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 2000w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_2400/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 2400w, https://api.hub.jhu.edu/factory/sites/default/files/styles/soft_crop_2880/public/2024-10/_JHZ8268.JPG 2880w"/></div><div class="caption column has-credit"><p class="credit"><span class="visuallyhidden">Credit: </span>Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins University</p></div></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="page-title-container row"> <div class="center force"> <div class="kicker-position-reference"> <div class="kicker"><span class="highlight">Child development</span></div> </div> <h1 class="headline"><span class="highlight"><span itemprop="headline"> Toddlers understand concept of possibility </span></span></h1> <h2 class="subheadline">Children too young to know words like "impossible" and "improbable" nonetheless understand how possibility works, finds new work with 2- and 3-year-olds</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="center force"> <div itemprop="articleBody" class="body-copy column force"> <div class="byline"> <p> <span class="visuallyhidden">By</span> <span class="author" itemprop="author">Jill Rosen</span> </p> <span class="sep" aria-hidden="true">/</span> <span class="visuallyhidden">Published</span> <meta itemprop="datePublished dateCreated" content="2024-11-04" /> <span class="publish-date convert-pubdate" data-timestamp="1730751300"> Nov 4, 2024 </span> </div> <div class="media-inquiries-container closed"> <button class="button x-small gtm-media-inquiries"> <i class="fa fa-angle-down" aria-hidden="true"></i> Media Inquiries </button> <div class="media-inquiries force"> <dl aria-label="Primary contact" class="column"> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Name</dt><dd class="name">Jill Rosen</dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Email</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-envelope-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><a href="mailto:jrosen@jhu.edu">jrosen@jhu.edu</a></dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Office phone</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-phone" aria-hidden="true"></i>443-997-9906</dd> <dt class="visuallyhidden">Cell phone</dt><dd><i class="fa fa-fw fa-mobile" aria-hidden="true"></i>443-547-8805</dd> </dl> </div> </div> <p>Children too young to know words like "impossible" and "improbable" nonetheless understand how possibility works, finds new work with 2- and 3-year-olds.</p> <p>The findings, the first to demonstrate that young children distinguish between improbable and impossible events, and learn significantly better after impossible occurrences, are newly published in <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>.</p> <div class="video align-center size-xlarge inline column force" role="region" aria-label="YouTube video"><div class="set-video-width column"><div class="set-video-height"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z3yM5SL9PQU?rel=0&autohide=1&modestbranding=1&wmode=transparent" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div><div class="caption column "><p class="credit">Video <span class="visuallyhidden">credit</span>: Aubrey Morse / Johns Hopkins University</p></div></div> <p>"Even young toddlers already think about the world in terms of possibilities," said co-author <a href="https://pbs.jhu.edu/directory/lisa-feigenson/">Lisa Feigenson</a>, co-director of the <a href="https://labforchilddevelopment.com/">Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development</a>. "Adults do this all the time and here we wanted to know whether even toddlers think about possible states of the world before they've had years of experience and before they have the language to describe these mental states."</p> <p>Adults consider possibilities daily. Rain likely? Best bring an umbrella. If I buy a lottery ticket will I win? Probably not. But it wasn't known if toddlers also practice that mental judgement or if it emerges with age and experience.</p> <p>Two- and 3-year-old children were shown a gumball-type machine filled with toys. Some kids saw a mix of pink and purple toys. Others saw the machine was filled with only purple toys. Children then got a coin to drop into the machine to draw one toy.</p> <div class="pullquote inline align-left light-blue"> "Scientifically, these findings are exciting because they suggest that humans are equipped from the get-go to think about whether things are possible or unlikely or just can't happen." <div class="cite">Lisa Feigenson</div><div class="role">Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development</div></div> <p>The kids who saw that a mix of pink and purple toys was available and drew a pink one shouldn't have been surprised since even if there weren't that many pink ones—and even if there was only one pink one—there was some chance they'd get a pink toy. But some kids who saw the machine filled with only purple toys got a pink—which shouldn't have been possible.</p> <p>After they got their toys, all of the children were told the name of the toy—a made-up word—and then asked the name a short while later. Kids who experienced the impossible scenario and drew a pink toy when the machine contained no pink toys, learned significantly better than everyone else. But as long as getting a pink toy was possible, no matter how unlikely, kids experienced no boost to their learning.</p> <p>"One possibility was that they would learn well from the improbable events, but even better from the impossible events," said co-author Aimee Stahl, a former doctoral student in Feigenson's lab who is now an associate professor of Psychology at The College of New Jersey. "But what we found was that they actually don't learn from the unlikely, improbable events. They only learn if they experienced the impossible event."</p> <div class="external-links inline align-left"><h6>Also see</h6><div class="article teaser force"><div class="text"><h5><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/04/nx-s1-5173590/impossible-improbable-try-asking-a-toddler">Impossible, you say? Try asking a toddler</a></h5><div class="summary"><span class="source">/ NPR</span></div></div></div></div> <p>Feigenson and Stahl believe toddlers learn so much better after impossible events because the unexpected drives them to search for explanations. Improbable events might be surprising, but they don't necessarily need any explanation. Impossible events require kids to reevaluate what they thought they knew.</p> <p>"These results are so interesting because they show that when children see events in the world that they can't explain, it instills in them a drive for information that they can use to reconcile their prior model of the world with what they've just seen," Feigenson said. "Scientifically, these findings are exciting because they suggest that humans are equipped from the get-go to think about whether things are possible or unlikely or just can't happen."</p> <p>Next the researchers plan to study how this drive for explanations can be harnessed in the classroom. The findings suggest parents and teachers can create these heightened learning moments for kids.</p> <p>"Parents and educators can create opportunities for children to really puzzle over something they find mysterious to offer a really powerful moment for learning to occur," Feigenson said.</p> <div class="taxonomy"> <p>Posted in <a href='/science-technology/'>Science+Technology</a></p> <p>Tagged <a href='/tags/child-development/articles/'>child development</a></p> </div> </div> <div role="complementary" aria-label="Sidebar" class="minimal sidebar fixable column"> <div class="social section force" data-view="social"> <div class="share-icon twitter"> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhub.jhu.edu%2F2024%2F11%2F04%2Ftoddlers-understand-possibility%2F&text=Toddlers%20understand%20concept%20of%20possibility&via=HubJHU&related=JohnsHopkins" target="_blank" class="gtm-social-share" data-type="Twitter"> <i class="fa-brands fa-fw fa-x-twitter"></i> <span 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