Abstract

The present study examined how knowledge of attentional focus and the understanding that seeing=knowing develop between 24- and 30-months of age. Twenty-seven 24-month-old children and twenty-three 30-month-old children participated in two tasks. In each task, children were asked to retrieve a toy with the help of one of two strangers--one who was blindfolded and one who was not. In the first task, children were asked to request a visible toy from a stranger. The 24-month-old children looked significantly longer to the stranger who was not blindfolded than to the one who was blindfolded whereas the 30-month-olds did not. In addition, both age groups touched the hand of the non-blindfolded stranger to retrieve the toy significantly more often than the hand of the blindfolded stranger. In the second task, a screen blocked the child's vision from seeing a toy being hidden under one of three cups. The children were asked to find the hidden toy with the help of one of the strangers; one of whom was blindfolded during the hiding phase. There were no significant differences in looking times at the two strangers in the two age groups. In addition, there were no significant differences in the number of times children chose to find the hidden toy under either of the two strangers cups in the two age groups. These results suggest that 2-year-olds have an understanding of attentional focus. Further, consistent with previous literature, the results of this study indicate that an understanding that seeing=knowing is beyond the grasp of children under three years of age.