The Development of Listener Abilities in Communication: How Children Deal with Ambiguous Information.

IRONSMITH, MARSHA, and WHITEHURST, GROVER J. The Development of Listener Abilities in Communication: How Children Deal with Ambiguous Information. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 348-352. Kindergartners and second, fourth, and sixth graders participated as listeners in a referential communication task with an adult speaker. Children were asked to choose 1 of a set of 4 pictures on the basis of the speaker's message. Messages were either informative, providing enough information to choose the correct referent, or ambiguous, describing 2 of the 4 referents. Children were instructed to ask questions if they needed more information. Kindergartners responded indentically to informative and ambiguous messages, choosing 1 of the 4 pictures. General requests for more information were prevalent among second graders, while specific requests for information about the attributes distinguishing between the potential referents were often made by fourth and sixth graders. Significant sex differences revealed that girls were more likely than boys to provide feedback on ambiguous trials. The results are discussed in relation to parallel processes observed in the development of speaker skills.