Actual Cognitive Science Incidents

CB (6): I know why you die when you get older

Dad: Why?

CB: You grow and get bigger and bigger and then you fall apart.

(Obviously, death is disintegration here -- like the sun)

Emma, age 2, is going down the stairs, counting them. She knows the numbers only up to four or five, but there are about ten stairs. As she walks, she counts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

She hesitates on the fifth stair, and then resumes walking: a, b, c, d, e...

Emma, 2 and a half, has just seen Pocahontas on a video: Daddy, we watch Pocahontas. You know what happened to the boat?

Daddy: no, what?

Emma (twisting hands and arms): Well, the boat did something then went like that. And then John Smith went and pulled a string and that's what happened. And John Smith killed Pocahontas.

Christopher, 6, eavesdroppoing: Noooo!! He didn't kill Pocahontas. He was going to kill her but they fell in love.

Mommy, also eavesdropping: Did John Smith kiss Pocahontas?

Christopher: Nooooo!! Pocahontas kissed John Smith.

Emma: Yeah, that's it.

Christopher (6): I had a dream last night.

Dady: About what?

Christopher: Kooks! Kooks were chasing me, and mommy threw them down the stairs.

Daddy: Wow! What did the kooks look like?

Christopher: They didn't look like anything. They're not real. They're in a dream. Dreams don't look like anything.