Publications and Presentations

Thesis

• Aboody, R. (2022). How do I know what you know? A novel theoretical account of epistemic inference. PhD dissertation. PDF

Journal Articles

*Students I supervised

†Authors with an equal contribution

Under review or in prep

• Aboody, R., Yousif, S., Joo., S., & Keil., F., (in prep). Why would you think that? When an agent’s testimony is questioned, preschoolers and adults infer they lack knowledge.
• Aboody, R., *Zhou, C., & Jara-Ettinger, J., (in prep). Children expect agents to rely on prior knowledge when deciding how to act in relevant new situations. Preprint
• Aboody, R., Lu, J., Denison, S., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (under review). An ability to integrate probability and epistemic reasoning is later-developing than either in isolation. Preprint
• †Aboody, R., †Davis, I., Dunham, Y., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (under review) People can infer the magnitude of other people's knowledge, even when they cannot infer its contents. Preprint



Published

• Aboody, R., Velez-Ginorio, J., Santos, L. R., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2023). When naïve pedagogy breaks down: Adults rationally decide how to teach, but misrepresent learners’ beliefs. Cognitive Science, 47, 3. PDF, Journal
• Aboody, R., Huey, H., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2022) Preschoolers decide who is knowledgeable, who to inform, and who to trust via a causal understanding of how knowledge relates to action. Cognition, 228, 105212. PDF, Journal
• Royka, A., Chen, A., Aboody, R., Huanca, T., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2022). People infer communicative action through an expectation for efficient communication. Nature Communications, 13, 4160. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31716-3. Journal (open access)
• Jacobs, C., Flowers, M., Aboody, R., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2022). Not just what you did, but how: Children see distributors that count as more fair than distributors who don’t. Cognition. PDF, Journal
• Aboody, R., Yousif, S. R., Sheskin, M., & Keil, F. C. (2022). Says who? Children consider informants’ sources when deciding whom to believe. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Preprint, PDF, Journal
• Aboody, R., *Zhou, C., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). In pursuit of knowledge: Preschoolers expect agents to weigh information gain and information’s cost when deciding whether to explore. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13557. Preprint, PDF, Journal
• Yousif, S. R., Aboody, R., & Keil, F. C. (2019). The Illusion of Consensus: A Failure to Distinguish Between True and False Consensus. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619856844. PDF
• Gopnik, A., O’Grady, S., Lucas, C. G., Griffiths, T. L., Wente, A., Bridgers, S., Aboody, R., Fung, H., Dahl, R. E. (2017). Changes in cognitive flexibility and hypothesis search across human life history from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30), 7892-7899. PDF

Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings

Papers in progress    Papers under review, revision, or published (expanding upon the proceeding)

*Students I supervised

• Aboody, R., Davis, I., Dunham, Y., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). I can tell you know a lot, although I’m not sure what: Modeling broad epistemic inference from minimal action. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Preprint, PDF
• Aboody, R., Denison, S., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). Children consider the probability of random success when evaluating knowledge. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Preprint, PDF
• Aboody, R., Flowers, M., *Zhou, C., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2019). Ignorance = doing what is reasonable: Children expect ignorant agents to act based on prior knowledge. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Aboody, R., Huey, H., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). Success does not imply knowledge: Preschoolers believe that accurate predictions reveal prior knowledge, but accurate observations do not. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Aboody, R., Velez-Ginorio, J., Santos, L., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). When teaching breaks down: Teachers rationally select what information to share, but misrepresent learners’ hypothesis spaces. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Yousif, S. R., Aboody, R., & Keil, F. C. (2018). Any consensus will do: The failure to distinguish between ‘true’ and ‘false’ consensus. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Royka, A., Aboody, R., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). Movement as a message: inferring communicative intent from actions. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Flowers, M., Aboody, R., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). Beyond Principles and Outcomes: Children Determine Fairness Based on Attention and Exactness. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Wente, A., Ting, T., Aboody, R., Kushnir, T., & Gopnik A. (2016). The Relationship Between Inhibitory Control and Free Will Beliefs in 4-to 6-Year-Old-Children. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF

Presentations

*Students I supervised

• Aboody, R., Yousif, S. R., Joo, S., Sheskin, M., & Keil, F. C. (2023). To evaluate testimony, children track where it originated, and what others believe about its source. Talk presented at the Society for Philosophy and Psychology’s 29th Annual Meeting 2023.
• Aboody, R., Yousif, S. R., Joo, S., Sheskin, M., & Keil, F. C. (2023). To evaluate testimony, children track where it originated, and what others believe about its source. Talk presented at the Society for Research on Child Development’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2023. (Symposium Chair)
• Aboody., R., *Lu, J., *Zhou, C., Flowers, M., Denison, S., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2023) Would you do that if you knew? Children understand how ignorance and partial knowledge give rise to behavior. Talk presented at the 13th Annual BCCCD Meeting.
• Aboody, R., Yousif, S. R., Joo, S., Sheskin, M., & Keil, F. C. (2023) Learning from and about others: when reasoning about testimony, children consider both where it came from, and what others believe about its source. Poster presented at the 13th annual BCCCD meeting. PDF.
• Aboody, R., Davis, I., Dunham, Y., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). I can tell you know a lot, although I’m not sure what: Modeling broad epistemic inference from minimal action. Talk presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Presentation
• Aboody, R., Denison, S., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). Children consider the probability of random success when evaluating knowledge. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF, Presentation
• Aboody, R., *Zhou, C., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2021). The price of knowledge: Children infer epistemic desires and states from exploratory behavior. Talk presented at the Society for Research on Child Development’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2021.
• Aboody, R. & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2020). From goal-directed actions and their costs, adults jointly infer what agents know, and what they think they can discover. Poster presented at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF, Presentation
• Aboody, R. & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2019). How do I know what you know? A theoretical framework for epistemic inferences. Talk presented at the Cognitive Development Society’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2019.
• Aboody, R., Yousif, S. R., Sheskin, M., & Keil, F. C. (2019). Says who? Children consider informants’ sources when deciding whom to believe. Poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2019. PDF
• Aboody, R., Flowers, M., *Zhou, C., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2019). Ignorance = doing what is reasonable: Children expect ignorant agents to act based on prior knowledge. Poster presented at the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. PDF
• Aboody, R. & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2019). The price of knowledge: Children infer epistemic desires and rewards from exploratory behavior. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Child Development’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2019. PDF
• Aboody, R., Huey, H., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). Success does not imply knowledge: Preschoolers believe that accurate predictions reveal prior knowledge, but accurate observations do not. Talk given at the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Aboody, R., Velez-Ginorio, J., Santos, L., & Jara-Ettinger, J. (2018). When teaching breaks down: Teachers rationally select what information to share, but misrepresent learners’ hypothesis spaces. Talk given at the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Aboody, R., Huey, H., Jara-Ettinger, J. (2017). Success does not imply knowledge: Preschoolers believe that accurate predictions reveal prior knowledge, but accurate observations do not. Poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society’s Bi-Annual Meeting 2017. PDF
• Aboody, R., Velez-Ginorio, J., Santos, L., Jara-Ettinger, J. (2017). Good teachers with poor assumptions: teachers rationally select what information to share, but misrepresent learners' hypothesis spaces. Poster presented at the Society for Philosophy and Psychology’s Annual Meeting 2017. PDF