| Little research has investigated how the questions children ask assist cognitive development. This dissertation argues that the ability to ask questions to gather information is a mechanism that helps children to learn efficiently about the world. The dissertation explores this Information-Requesting Mechanism (IRM), and the potential benefit it has for children building an adult-like knowledge of the world.; Study 1 examined questions from 4 children's transcripts in the CHILDES database (age 1;2--5;1). Study 2 examined questions from a cross-sectional diary study, kept by 68 parents of their children's questions (aged 1;0--5;0). Study 3 examined the questions 112 children (2-, 3- and 4-year-olds) asked while walking through one of three zoos. Results of all three studies indicate that children ask many information-seeking questions, and get informative answers. When they get attention but not the information, they keep asking for the information. Results also indicate that the content of children's questions parallel their conceptual advances, and shift within an exchange and over the course of development to reflect the learning process.; Study 4 explores children's ability to generate questions that gather needed information and employ that information strategically to achieve a goal. Sixty-seven 4- and 5-year-olds tried to identify an object hidden in a box. Half of the children were allowed to ask questions, and half were not. Results indicate children are better at identifying the object when they can ask questions; results also indicate that children's strategies for generating questions changes as items become more similar and push the limits of their conceptual knowledge.; Studies 5A and 5B investigate the memory benefit associated with getting information by asking for it, as opposed getting the information unbidden. Children learned which of two 'medicines' animals needed to stay healthy. On half the trials, children were given the information without having to ask for it. On the other half, the experimenter 'forgot', and the children had to ask for the information. Results indicate that children only remember the information when they asked for it; they perform at chance when they are given the information unbidden.; Implications of these findings for the IRM are discussed. |
