The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Infants ask for help when they know they don’t know
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Although many animals have been shown to monitor their own uncertainty, only humans seem to have the ability to explicitly communicate their uncertainty to others. It remains unknown whether this ability is present early in development, or whether it only emerges later alongside language development. Here, using a nonverbal memory-monitoring paradigm, we show that infants are able to strategically ask for help to avoid making mistakes. These findings reveal that infants are capable of monitoring and communicating their own uncertainty. We propose that explicit metacognition develops earlier than previously thought, enabling infants to communicate their own uncertainty nonverbally to gain knowledge from others.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Citations
Cites
Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry
Flavell, J. H. (1979) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.34.10.906 · Cited by 11,282 · cited 2×
“Moreover, the proportion of AFH responses did not increase across time [effect of trial rank on the proportion of AFH responses: F(1,20) = 0.”
BackgroundMetacognition and learning: conceptual and methodological considerations
Veenman, M. V. J., Van Hout-Wolters, B. H. A. M., & Afflerbach, P. (2006) · Metacognition and Learning · doi:10.1007/s11409-006-6893-0 · Cited by 2,023
Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.005 · Cited by 1,648
Morton, A., & Publishing, C. (1993) · Cogito · doi:10.5840/cogito19937236 · Cited by 1,369
Talking About Internal States: The Acquisition of an Explicit Theory of Mind
Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M. (1982) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.18.6.906 · Cited by 985
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Children's Knowledge About the Mind
Flavell, J. H. (1999) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.21 · Cited by 959
Kuhn, D. (2000) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00088 · Cited by 718
Dunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (2012) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.08.003 · Cited by 713
Observing the unexpected enhances infants’ learning and exploration
Stahl, A. E., & Feigenson, L. (2015) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaa3799 · Cited by 617 · cited 3×
“Intriguingly, however, previous research in young children has consistently found strong capacities for learning (8, 9) but poor metacognitive abilities (10–13).”
BackgroundRhesus monkeys know when they remember
Hampton, R. R. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.071600998 · Cited by 493
Schneider, W. (2008) · Mind Brain and Education · doi:10.1111/j.1751-228x.2008.00041.x · Cited by 438
(1991) · Cited by 434
Do apes and children know what they have seen?
Call, J., & Carpenter, M. (2001) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s100710100078 · Cited by 414
Supra-personal cognitive control and metacognition
Shea, N., Boldt, A., Bang, D., Yeung, N., Heyes, C., & Frith, C. D. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.01.006 · Cited by 368
Transfer of metacognitive skills and hint seeking in monkeys
Kornell, N., Son, L. K., & Terrace, H. S. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01850.x · Cited by 341
Foote, A. L., & Crystal, J. D. (2007) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.061 · Cited by 272
Infant pointing serves an interrogative function
Begus, K., & Southgate, V. (2012) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01160.x · Cited by 263
Multiple demonstrations of metacognition in nonhumans: Converging evidence or multiple mechanisms?
Hampton, R. R. (2009) · Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews · doi:10.3819/ccbr.2009.40002 · Cited by 224
Infants Learn What They Want to Learn: Responding to Infant Pointing Leads to Superior Learning
Begus, K., Gliga, T., & Southgate, V. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108817 · Cited by 185
Honey bees selectively avoid difficult choices
Perry, C. J., & Barron, A. B. (2013) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1314571110 · Cited by 172
The Sense of Confidence during Probabilistic Learning: A Normative Account
Meyniel, F., Schlunegger, D., & Dehaene, S. (2015) · PLOS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004305 · Cited by 163 · cited 2×
“Frith C (2010) What is consciousness for? Pragmat Cogn 18(3):497–551.”
BackgroundPointing as Epistemic Request: 12‐month‐olds Point to Receive New Information
Kovács, Á. M., Tauzin, T. M., Téglás, E., Gergely, G., & Csibra, G. (2014) · Infancy · doi:10.1111/infa.12060 · Cited by 161
Hembacher, E., & Ghetti, S. (2014) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614542273 · Cited by 161
Pelley, M. E. L. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0026478 · Cited by 131
Lexicon development in French-speaking infants
Kern, S. (2007) · First Language · doi:10.1177/0142723706075789 · Cited by 126
Metacognition in animals: how do we know that they know?
Jozefowiez, J., Staddon, J. E. R., & Cerutti, D. T. (2009) · Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews · doi:10.3819/ccbr.2009.40003 · Cited by 125
Infants are rational constructivist learners
Xu, F., & Kushnir, T. (2013) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721412469396 · Cited by 119
Neural dynamics of prediction and surprise in infants
Kouider, S., Long, B., Stanc, L. L., Charron, S., Fiévet, A., Barbosa, L. S., & Gelskov, S. V. (2015) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms9537 · Cited by 116
Self-citationEscape From Metaignorance: How Children Develop an Understanding of Their Own Lack of Knowledge
Rohwer, M., Kloo, D., & Perner, J. (2012) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01830.x · Cited by 100
Feeling Uncertain and Acting on It During the Preschool Years: A Metacognitive Approach
Ghetti, S., Hembacher, E., & Coughlin, C. A. (2013) · Child Development Perspectives · doi:10.1111/cdep.12035 · Cited by 92
The highs and lows of theoretical interpretation in animal-metacognition research
Smith, J. D., Couchman, J. J., & Beran, M. J. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0366 · Cited by 90
Preschoolers can make highly accurate judgments of learning.
Lipowski, S. L., Merriman, W. E., & Dunlosky, J. T. (2012) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0030614 · Cited by 58
Metacognition in infants and young children
Sodian, B., Thoermer, C., Kristen, S., & Perst, H. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646739.003.0008 · Cited by 42
Sodian, B., & Uta Frith, A. (2008) · Mind Brain and Education · doi:10.1111/j.1751-228x.2008.00040.x · Cited by 38
Frith, C. (2010) · Pragmatics & Cognition · doi:10.1075/pc.18.3.03fri · Cited by 31
Primate polemic: Commentary on Smith, Couchman, and Beran (2014).
Pelley, M. E. L. (2014) · Journal of comparative psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034227 · Cited by 24
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- J Dunlosky, J Metcalfe Metacognition (Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2009).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
What is consciousness, and could machines have it?
Dehaene, S., Lau, H., & Kouider, S. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aan8871 · Cited by 855
Self-citationExecutive function and metacognition: Towards a unifying framework of cognitive self-regulation
Roebers, C. M. (2017) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2017.04.001 · Cited by 592
HMeta-d: hierarchical Bayesian estimation of metacognitive efficiency from confidence ratings
Fleming, S. M. (2017) · Neuroscience of Consciousness · doi:10.1093/nc/nix007 · Cited by 337
Knowing Ourselves Together: The Cultural Origins of Metacognition
Heyes, C., Bang, D., Shea, N., Frith, C. D., & Fleming, S. M. (2020) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.02.007 · Cited by 232
Intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, and worry in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis
Osmanağaoğlu, N., Creswell, C., & Dodd, H. F. (2018) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2017.07.035 · Cited by 177
Metadata
- Authors
- Goupil, L., Romand-Monnier, M., & Kouider, S.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2016-03-07
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 3492-3496
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4822620
- OpenAlex
- W2294167968
- Cited by
- 226
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 38.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- UEL Research Repository (University of East London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- EC | European Research Council (263623, 648480)
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-LABX-0087, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- metacognition, uncertainty monitoring, infant development, help-seeking, nonverbal communication, memory monitoring, error prevention, strategic decision-making, nonverbal memory
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Humans, Infant, Memory, Nonverbal Communication, Infant Behavior, Uncertainty
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
