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Rule selection versus rule execution in preschoolers: an error-detection approach.
S Jacques1, P D Zelazo, N Z Kirkham
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. sophie@psych.utoronto.ca
Developmental Psychology
|June 25, 1999
Summary
Three-year-olds struggle with the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) due to representational inflexibility, not poor response control. Older children can identify errors, indicating developing cognitive flexibility.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Child Psychology
Background:
- Perseverative errors in young children are often studied using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS).
- It remains debated whether these errors stem from response inhibition deficits or representational inflexibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the underlying cause of perseverative errors in 3-year-olds on the DCCS.
- To differentiate between response control and representational inflexibility as explanations for DCCS performance.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments employed an error-detection paradigm.
- Children observed a puppet sorting cards and evaluated its performance on the DCCS and a simpler task.
Main Results:
- Most 4- and 5-year-olds detected perseverative errors, unlike most 3-year-olds.
- 3-year-olds who failed to detect errors also performed poorly on their own DCCS task.
Conclusions:
- Perseveration on the DCCS in 3-year-olds is not due to motor response inhibition difficulties.
- Performance changes indicate the development of representational flexibility between ages 3 and 5.