On Negation. What do we need to “say no”?

By looking at first-language learning, we can see three broad categories in the acquisition of negation (see DIMROTH 2010 for a review):1) rejection/refusal; 2) disappearance/ non-existence/unfulfilled expectation; 3) denial. Denial is the most complex form of negation and the last to be acquired. I present the hypothesis that denial relies on false belief understanding. Evidence from normally developed and from Autistic subjects confirms this hypothesis. Competence in linguistic denial is usually acquired by the age of 2 years and a half and 3 years. According to this hypothesis, the attribution of false belief understanding could be lowered to the age of about 2 and a half years. Hence, psycholinguistic studies on linguistic negation add further evidence that shows that the false belief test is not a reliable proof of a complex mindreading ability.