Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

In the present study, we examine whether the design of thelearning environment can impact causal inference in veryyoung children. Specifically, we assess whether the physicalfeatures of a novel toy can facilitate children’s recognition ofan abstract, relational hypothesis (same-different) that theytypically fail to discover. Three-year-olds were presented withan identical pattern of evidence that was consistent with arelational hypothesis (i.e., pairs of same or different blockscause a toy to activate) using one of two causal toys. In thestandard condition, blocks were placed in pairs on top of thetoy, while in the relational condition, each block was placedinside one of two transparent openings on either side of thetoy. The physical design of the latter toy was intended tohighlight the relationship between pairs of blocks. Resultssuggest that even 3-year-olds’ causal inferences are sensitiveto design, with children in the relational condition more likelyto infer the abstract relation than those in the standard case.These results provide strong evidence that design serves as aconstraint on causal inference in early childhood. Findings arediscussed in terms of their implications for creating intuitivelearning environments for young children.