https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5121 Nonverbal Rationality? 2-Year-Old Children, Dogs, and Pigs Show Unselective Responses to Unreliability but to Different Degrees Blakey, Kirsten H Kirsten H Blakey 0000-0003-4347-6124 Rafetseder, Eva Eva Rafetseder 0000-0002-9816-8607 Melis, Giacomo Giacomo Melis 0009-0006-9084-884X Veit, Ariane Ariane Veit 0000-0002-4657-2296 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Amelung, Kea Kea Amelung Freudensprung, Franziska Franziska Freudensprung University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Kovacs, Kinga Kinga Kovacs Virányi, Zsófia Zsófia Virányi 0000-0003-3963-8426 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Oxford University Press journal article open access eng Some philosophers argue that reflection is key to rational thinking. By tying reflective thinking to language, they struggle to account for minimally verbal infants and exclude nonhuman animals. This study assessed processing of undermining defeaters—a basic form of reflective thinking—in 36 two-year-old British children (13 female; Mage = 30.4 months, 98% White), 39 dogs (18 female), and 21 pigs (9 female), tested between 2022 and 2023. Informants acted on two screens: one informant reliably indicated a rewarded location; the other informant did not. Informants switched actions twice, prompting subjects to infer their reliability. Willingness to follow informants' indications did not differ between reliable and unreliable informants. However, reduced following in later trials suggests a response to uncertainty or an undermining defeater. Belief Revision Rational Thinking Reflection http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:5121/download 10.1111/cdev.70020 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605 application/pdf Child Development issn:0009-3920 VoR Child Development 96 6 906.35 kB 2025