[colorincorrect]

>very small children spending a lot of their time learning basic concepts of cause and effect, properties of objects, materials and physics and so on.

i do not believe that young children explicitly/consciously simulate in their minds to learn cause and effect and other things, though this might be up for debate

[icebraining]

Who said anything about "consciously"? It doesn't need to be conscious to affect the conversation.

[colorincorrect]

as to whether it is conscious or not influences whether you would want to model it a-la 3d physics engine, or if not then perhaps there is a more elegant solution we do not know of yet