Henny Klein (p.c.) suggested that the conflict between ERIC and AO responses in the hoeven+geen category might be an experimental ar- tefact, induced by the test sentence Van de juf hoef ik geen rood potlood te slijpen (Of the teacher need I no red pencil to sharpen). The phrase van de juf (of the teacher) in this sentence might offer the children an escape to follow the biased interpretation: the fact that a teacher says that something needs not be done does not necessarily mean that it really should not be done, especially when it is obvious that the teacher is wrong (the red pencil is blunt).

A comparison of the AO responses on this particular test item with those on the other hoeven+geen items showed, however, that the contrary is true: it is precisely in this item that the least conflicting ERIC and AO responses are given; these occur twice as often in the other two hoeven+geen items.

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