Can children resist making interpretations when uncertain?

In two experiments, we examined young children’s ability to delay a response to ambiguous input. In Experiment 1, 5- and 6-year-olds performed as poorly when they needed to choose between basing an interpretation on ambiguous input and delaying an interpretation as when making explicit evaluations of knowledge, whereas 7- and 8-year-olds found the former task easy. In Experiment 2, 5- and 6-year-olds performed well on a task that required delaying a response but removed the need to decide between strategies. We discuss children’s difficulty with ambiguity in terms of the decision-making demands made by different procedures. These demands appear to cause particular problems for young children.