ABSTRACT When reasoning about a representation (e.g., a toy lion), children often engage in “iconic realism,” whereby representations are reported to have properties of their real-life referents. The present studies examined an inverse difficulty that we dub “representational disregard”: overlooking (i.e., disregarding) a representation’s objective, non-symbolic features. In three experiments (N = 302), children (3–6 years) and adults saw a series of representations (pictures and toys) and were tested on how often they endorsed a property that was true of the real-world referent (e.g., reporting that a toy lion is dangerous; iconic realism) or rejected a property that was true of the representation (e.g., denying that a toy elephant can be lifted with one hand; representational disregard). We found that representational disregard and realism were separable tendencies. Children (and to a lesser extent, adults) displayed both, but at different rates for pictures than for toys. We conclude that children’s reasoning about representations includes a bias to overlook the features of the representation itself. Further, although pictures and toys are both representations, they provoke ontologically distinct interpretations. We discuss the implications of these results for a variety of important conceptual tasks, including learning to read, draw, or objectively evaluate scientific evidence.

中文翻译：

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标志性的现实主义还是代表性的无视？幼儿和成人如何推理图片和物体

摘要 在对表征（例如玩具狮子）进行推理时，儿童经常参与“标志性现实主义”，据报道，表征具有其现实生活中所指对象的属性。目前的研究检验了我们称之为“表征无视”的逆向困难：忽视（即无视）表征的客观、非符号特征。在三个实验 (N = 302) 中，儿童（3-6 岁）和成人看到一系列表征（图片和玩具），并测试他们认可真实世界所指对象的属性的频率（例如，报告玩具狮子是危险的；标志性的现实主义）或拒绝代表真实的属性（例如，否认一只手可以举起玩具大象；代表无视）。我们发现代表性无视和现实主义是可分离的趋势。儿童（以及在较小程度上，成人）两者都展示，但图片与玩具的比率不同。我们得出结论，儿童对表征的推理包括忽视表征本身特征的偏见。此外，虽然图片和玩具都是表征，但它们会引发本体论上不同的解释。我们讨论了这些结果对各种重要概念任务的影响，包括学习阅读、绘画或客观评估科学证据。我们得出结论，儿童对表征的推理包括忽视表征本身特征的偏见。此外，虽然图片和玩具都是表征，但它们会引发本体论上不同的解释。我们讨论了这些结果对各种重要概念任务的影响，包括学习阅读、绘画或客观评估科学证据。我们得出结论，儿童对表征的推理包括忽视表征本身特征的偏见。此外，虽然图片和玩具都是表征，但它们会引发本体论上不同的解释。我们讨论了这些结果对各种重要概念任务的影响，包括学习阅读、绘画或客观评估科学证据。