Encoding of Instruments When 10- to 14-Year-Olds Process Isolated Instrument-Implicit Sentences: More Evidence of Improved Encoding During Childhood Resulting From Elaborative Instructions

This study examined whether 10- to 14-year-olds infer implied instruments when reading isolated instrument-implicit sentences (IIS; e.g., Her friend swept the floor) as certainly and completely as they do when instructed to generate instruments in response to IIS. On-line instrumental encoding was tested with a procedure that was based on recognition priming of instrument words given some of the letters from the words (i.e., a word fragment). When children read the IIS without instruction to infer the implied instruments, the instrument fragment completion rates were low and less than when inference generation was required or instruments were stated during reading. Children's spontaneous instrumental inferences are less certain than suggested in previous research.