Is secondhand information better read or said? Factors influencing children’s endorsements of text-based information

Research has extensively studied how children epistemically evaluate people as secondhand information sources, but less is known about they knowledge artifacts, (nonhuman sources; e.g., books). Recent studies indicate that many young prefer to learn from text presented by puppet informants, little why display this preference. Across three studies, we examine factors may influence the likelihood of text-trust preferences in U.S. aged 4–6 (n = 234), including epistemic authority assign puppets, humans, or text; reading ability; and informant preferences. Results children’s preference, not ability type, reliably predict Moreover, preference associated with inferences rather than informants regardless whether puppets humans. Implications for future research questions methodology examining learning artifacts are discussed.