Developing Conflict Monitoring Abilities Predict Children's Revision of an Intuitive Theory

Abstract

We investigated the role of children's conflict monitoring skills in revising an intuitive scientific theory. Children aged 5 to 9 (N = 177; 53% girls, data collected in Germany from 2019-2023) completed computer-based tasks on water displacement, a concept prone to misconceptions. Children predicted which of two objects would displace more water before receiving feedback. With increasing age, children showed slower response times for incorrect predictions (β = −0.04) and greater pupil dilation to unexpected outcomes (β = −0.04), indicating better conflict monitoring. Better conflict monitoring, in turn, predicted faster belief revision (β = 0.07). These findings suggest that conflict monitoring is crucial for learning in discovery-based activities.