Developmental Differences in Preferences for Using Color,Size, and Location Information to Disambiguate Hiding Places

We conducted four experiments to examine developmental differences in preferences for using color, size, and location information to disambiguate hiding places. Three- and 4-year-olds and adults described how to find a miniature mouse that was hidden in one of two highly similar small objects in a dollhouse. In Experiment 1, the hiding places could be disambiguated by either color or location. Three-year-olds preferred color to location whereas adults preferred location to color information. Four-year-olds showed no preferences. In Experiment 2, the hiding places could be disambiguated by either size or location. Four-year-olds preferred size to location information whereas adults preferred location to size information. Three-year-olds showed no preferences. In Experiment 3, the hiding places could be disambiguated by either color or size information. Adults preferred size to color information, but 3- and 4-year-olds showed no preference for either type of information. Experiment 4 revealed that when only location information was available for disambiguating the hiding places, 4-year-olds referred to disambiguating location information on a significantly greater percentage of trials than did 3-year-olds. Discussion focuses on the role of relational complexity and pragmatic knowledge in producing preferences for disambiguating information in spatial communication tasks.