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Author

Robert Z. Sparks

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Open access Oct 2026

Young children can infer what speakers know based on their causal influence over listeners.

A causal, mentalistic understanding of communication-a process by which a speaker's mind causes a change in a listener's mind-can support powerful inferences that go beyond observable data. If A struggles to activate a toy but succeeds after B whispers to A, you can infer that B knew how to activate it even without hea...

Aaron Chuey, Robert Z. Sparks, H. Gweon · 0 citations
Open access Sep 2026

Preschoolers Can Coordinate With Each Other to Communicate About Novel Referents

Learning language requires learning not only the content of language, but also how to use language to communicate. Iterated reference games provide a window into such skills, requiring sustained interactive communication as participants converge on mutually understandable names for initially novel referents. Some ear...

Veronica Boyce, Robert Z. Sparks, Michael C. Frank · 0 citations

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