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Article In: Investigating Children’s Irony Comprehension: Current trends, challenges, and perspectives
Edited by Julia Fuchs-Kreiß
[Pragmatics & Cognition 33:1] 2026
► pp. 208–228

Children’s vigilance towards others’ gullibility

 | University of Neuchâtel
 | University College London
ORCiD logo with link | University of Neuchâtel
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Humans are endowed with a suite of cognitive mechanisms that enable them to mitigate the risk of misinformation and underlie their epistemic vigilance. When direct access to the initial source of information is unavailable, individuals often rely on the vigilance of others to acquire beliefs. Moreover, monitoring the critical alertness of one’s interlocutors is essential for interpreting their communicative intentions, particularly in cases of deliberately conveying false information, such as lies or verbal irony. However, little is known about the human capacity to track others’ epistemic vigilance and use this information to guide belief formation and pragmatic interpretation. This study investigates whether children aged from 4 to 8 selectively trust vigilant over gullible informants. Our findings suggest that selective trust based on informant vigilance towards inaccuracy begins to emerge around the age of 6.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
    • 2.3Procedure
      • 2.3.1Introduction Phase
      • 2.3.2Familiarization Phase
      • 2.3.3Induction Phase
      • 2.3.4Test Phase
    • 2.4Coding
    • 2.5Analyses
    • 2.6Results
  • 3.Discussion
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Author Note
  • Acknowledgements
  • CRediT Author statement
  • Notes
  • Note on correspondence
  • References
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