The world can be a confusing place, which leads to a significant challenge: how do we figure out what is true? To accomplish this, children possess two relevant skills: reasoning about the likelihood of their own accuracy (metacognitive confidence) and reasoning about the likelihood of others’ accuracy (mindreading). Guided by Signal Detection Theory and Simulation Theory, we examine whether these two self- and other-oriented skills are one in the same, relying on a single cognitive process. Specifically, Signal Detection Theory proposes that confidence in a decision is purely derived from the imprecision of that decision, predicting a tight correlation between decision accuracy and confidence. Simulation Theory further proposes that children attribute their own cognitive experience to others when reasoning socially. Together, these theories predict that children’s self and other reasoning should be highly correlated and dependent on decision accuracy. In four studies (N = 374), children aged 4–7 completed a confidence reasoning task and selective social learning task each designed to eliminate confounding language and response biases, enabling us to isolate the unique correlation between self and other reasoning. However, in three of the four studies, we did not find that individual differences on the two tasks correlated, nor that decision accuracy explained performance. These findings suggest self and other reasoning are either independent in childhood, or the result of a single process that operates differently for self and others.

世界可能是一个令人困惑的地方，这导致了一个重大挑战：我们如何确定什么是真实的？为了做到这一点，孩子们拥有两项相关技能：推理自己准确的可能性（元认知信心）和推理他人准确的可能性（读心术）。在信号检测理论和模拟理论的指导下，我们检验了这两种自我和他人导向的技能是否是一回事，依赖于一个单一的认知过程。具体来说，信号检测理论提出，对决策的置信度纯粹源于该决策的不精确性，预测了决策准确性和置信度之间的紧密相关性。模拟理论进一步提出，儿童在进行社交推理时将自己的认知体验归因于他人。一起，这些理论预测，儿童的自我推理和其他推理应该是高度相关的，并且依赖于决策的准确性。在四项研究中（N  = 374)，4-7 岁的儿童完成了一项自信推理任务和选择性社会学习任务，每个任务都旨在消除混淆语言和反应偏见，使我们能够隔离自我推理和其他推理之间的独特相关性。然而，在四项研究中的三项中，我们没有发现两项任务的个体差异相关，决策准确性也没有解释绩效。这些发现表明，自我和其他推理要么在童年时期是独立的，要么是对自我和他人以不同方式运作的单一过程的结果。