Children become able to pass the Alternative Naming task at around the age they pass standard
False Belief tasks. This does not mean that children should stop showing the disambiguation effect
at this age. As noted, in the standard version of the task, the novel object is the appropriate choice, so that even when children become capable of applying the novel word to the familiar object, they will not do so in this situation. What should occur is an increase in flexibility. Children should be able to apply a novel word to a familiar object if pragmatic factors indicate that it is appropriate. We tested this claim in the current study.