For the sake of completeness: three years was not only taken as the maximum age for our experiment, but also as the minimum. We piloted the test with one two year old child. She participated readily, and from her Acting Out responses and accompanying comments it became clear that she was able to understand most of the stories and test sentences, and that the game itself was not beyond her grasp. She was, however, not able to perform the ERIC task; rather than reproducing the test sentences, she commented on them. For instance:

test sentence


 Ik hoef alleen de blokken in de doos te doen.
(Props: a large box, some blocks, two toy cars, and a balloon.)
I need only the blocks in the box to do.
ERIC/AO


 Nodding. Puts the blocks in the box and comments:
Aut(o) hoef(t) niet he?
Car need not huh?
test sentence


 Ik hoef the blauwe ballon niet.
(Props: a new, blue balloon, and an old, yellow one.)
I need the yellow balloon not.
ERIC/AO


 Shaking head. Gives Bert the yellow balloon, but comments:
Die? Mag die die die nie(t). Bah!
That-one? May that-one that-one that-one not. Pah!
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