Manipulating stimulus physical properties and base rates of candidate causes changes preschoolers' exploratory play¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Manipulating the physical properties of stimuli affected the degree to which candidate variables could be isolated, and manipulating the base rate of candidate causes affected the potential for information gain. → Cook 2011

Evidence¶

Cook 2011¶

Cook, Claire, Noah D. Goodman, and Laura E. Schulz. (2011). Where Science Starts: Spontaneous Experiments in Preschoolers' Exploratory Play. Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.03.003

q3 · i? · causal · r?

The article describes its experimental design: "By manipulating the physical properties of the stimuli, we were able to affect the degree to which candidate variables could be isolated" and base-rate manipulations affected information-gain potential. No effect size is printed in the available text.

"By manipulating the physical properties of the stimuli, we were able to affect the degree to which candidate variables could be isolated; by manipulating the base rate of candidate causes, we were able to affect the potential for information gain"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Given ambiguous evidence, preschoolers select informative interventions in their exploratory play (Experiment 1)
• Given ambiguous evidence, preschoolers design informative interventions in their exploratory play (Experiment 2)
• Given unambiguous evidence, preschoolers play indiscriminately and rarely try to isolate candidate causes
• Preschoolers recognize action possibilities (affordances) that allow them to isolate variables when there is information to be gained
• Learners design poor experiments: confirmation bias, inconclusive designs, and ineffective variable manipulation are common — related
• Children structure their play to reduce uncertainty and deconfound causal variables — related