Is Uncertainty in the Eyes or in Parents' Talk? Linking an Eye-Tracking Measure of Toddlers' Core Metacognition to Parental Metacognitive Talk

Abstract

Recent studies have established that even preverbal infants can monitor and regulate their mental states, raising the question of the variables involved in this early metacognitive development. Here, the metacognition of fifty-five 18-month-old (27 females; mostly White; data collection: 2023) was assessed using an eye-tracking paradigm designed to capture children's ability to seek information (i.e., a cue) under uncertainty. Moreover, the relations between toddlers' metacognition and parental (52 mothers) metacognitive talk during a 10-min play session were also examined. Beyond replicating previous data showing metacognitive accuracy in toddlerhood, our results indicated that the frequency of parental utterances referring to metacognitive monitoring—but not metacognitive regulation—was related to toddlers' metacognition (OR = 1.3). Implications for sociocultural models of metacognitive development are discussed.