What is a good question asker better at? From unsystematic generalization to adult-like selectivity across childhood

Research suggests that children prefer to seek help from informants who demonstrate active-learning competence. What do children infer from the ability to ask informative questions? This project explores developmental changes in what 3- to 9-year-old children and adults (N = 240) infer from informants’ question-asking competence (Study 1a and b), and the extent to which they use such inferences to decide whom to learn from (Study 2). Results from Study 1a and b suggest that adult-like meaningful inferences based on question-asking competence emerge around age 7. Correspondingly, in Study 2 we found that only older children and adults sought help on novel problems from a competent question asker, whereas all participants sought help from a knowledgeable informant when the problem was related to her domain of expertise. This project is a first step in understanding how children recognize people who are effective learners as reliable models to learn from.