Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2007 - Volume 30, Issue 5-6  

Open Peer Commentary

Thinking developmentally about counterfactual possibilities

Kevin J. Riggsa1 and Sarah R. Becka2

a1 Psychology Department, London Metropolitan University, London E1 7NT, United Kingdom;

a2 School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom. k.riggs@londonmet.ac.uk s.r.beck@bham.ac.uk

Abstract

Byrne implies that working memory development underpins children's ability to represent counterfactuals as possibilities at 3 to 4 years of age. Recent findings suggest that (1) developments in the ability to consider alternatives to reality in children of this age are underpinned by improvements in inhibitory control, not working memory, and (2) children do not develop an understanding of counterfactuals as possibilities until mid-childhood.

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    Précis of The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality Ruth M. J. Byrne School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland rmbyrne@tcd.ie http://www.tcd.ie/Psychology/Ruth_Byrne/