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Infants Assume Questions Serve an Information‐Seeking Function, Link Them to Interrogative Sentences and Differentiate Them From Assertions.

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Title: Infants Assume Questions Serve an Information‐Seeking Function, Link Them to Interrogative Sentences and Differentiate Them From Assertions.
Authors: Bernard, Cyann1 (AUTHOR) cyannbernard@gmail.com, Depierreux, Adeline1 (AUTHOR), Huet, Viviane1 (AUTHOR), Mascaro, Olivier1 (AUTHOR) olivier.mascaro@gmail.com
Source: Child Development. Sep/Oct2025, Vol. 96 Issue 5, p1605-1618. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Language acquisition, *Questioning, *Theory of mind, Infant development, Curiosity in children, Speech acts (Linguistics)
Abstract: Eye‐tracking studies tested the understanding of two types of speech acts (questions and assertions) in 14‐, 18‐, and 30‐month‐olds (N = 280; 149 females; ethnicity data collection forbidden, testing in 2021–2024). Experiments involved objects either hidden or visible for a speaker. By 14 months, when the speaker asked questions, infants focused on hidden objects (rs > 0.31). Infants linked novel labels in interrogative sentences to hidden objects by 18 months and novel labels in declarative sentences to visible objects by 14 months (ds > 0.52). Thus, infants assume questions seek information one is lacking, while assertions share information one has access to. Furthermore, infants connect interrogative sentences to questions and declarative sentences to assertions, showing an understanding of communicative form–function relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Child Development is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Infants Assume Questions Serve an Information‐Seeking Function, Link Them to Interrogative Sentences and Differentiate Them From Assertions.
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  Data: Eye‐tracking studies tested the understanding of two types of speech acts (questions and assertions) in 14‐, 18‐, and 30‐month‐olds (N = 280; 149 females; ethnicity data collection forbidden, testing in 2021–2024). Experiments involved objects either hidden or visible for a speaker. By 14 months, when the speaker asked questions, infants focused on hidden objects (rs > 0.31). Infants linked novel labels in interrogative sentences to hidden objects by 18 months and novel labels in declarative sentences to visible objects by 14 months (ds > 0.52). Thus, infants assume questions seek information one is lacking, while assertions share information one has access to. Furthermore, infants connect interrogative sentences to questions and declarative sentences to assertions, showing an understanding of communicative form–function relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Child Development is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – TitleFull: Infants Assume Questions Serve an Information‐Seeking Function, Link Them to Interrogative Sentences and Differentiate Them From Assertions.
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              Text: Sep/Oct2025
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