Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
03:56
A View of Their Own: Capturing the Egocentric View of Infants and Toddlers with Head-Mounted Cameras
Published on: October 5, 2018
Age-related changes in children's use of external representations
P D Zelazo1, J A Sommerville, S Nichols
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. zelazo@psych.utoronto.ca
Developmental Psychology
|August 12, 1999
Summary
Children aged 4 years demonstrate better self-recognition than 3-year-olds, especially with photographs. This ability to use external representations, including conflicting information, improves with age.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Childhood Perception
Background:
- Children's understanding of self and others develops over time.
- External representations, such as images and videos, play a crucial role in cognitive development.
- Assessing children's ability to interpret and utilize these representations is key to understanding their cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children aged 3 and 4 years use external representations for self-recognition and understanding others.
- To examine the impact of age, media type (photographs vs. drawings, video), and information conflict on children's use of external representations.
- To determine if children's ability to reason about conflicting information influences their performance on tasks involving self and other understanding.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed self-recognition using a mark test with varying ages, delays, and media (photographs, drawings).
- Experiment 2: Evaluated children's use of delayed video images for self and other tasks, controlling for vocabulary.
- Experiment 3: Employed a search task to test children's responses to conflicting external representations (verbal vs. video information).
Main Results:
- Four-year-olds showed superior self-recognition compared to 3-year-olds.
- Children performed better with photographic representations than drawings, with no significant effect of delay.
- Performance on self and other tasks correlated positively with age, even after accounting for vocabulary.
- Three-year-olds struggled more than 4-year-olds with conflicting information in the search task.
Conclusions:
- Age is a significant factor in children's ability to utilize external representations effectively.
- The type of media used for representation impacts children's performance, with photographs being more advantageous than drawings.
- Children's capacity to manage and reason about conflicting external information is closely linked to their developing self and other understanding.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood
Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
Schemata...
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
Schemata...
01:14Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development
The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone, blending...
01:17Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
During Piaget's concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 11, children exhibit a marked increase in logical thinking skills, specifically in relation to tangible, real-world events. This stage is characterized by the development of several essential cognitive concepts, including conservation, reversibility, and classification, all of which support the child's evolving capacity for structured thought.
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the concrete...
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the concrete...
01:30Information Processing Approach
The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is also...
01:24Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
A revisionist approach to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development has brought new insights that challenge and reinterpret his established ideas. Piaget proposed that the formal operational stage, emerging in adolescence, represents the culmination of cognitive maturity. During this stage, individuals are said to develop abstract thinking, engage in systematic problem-solving, and show a form of egocentrism, believing others are as preoccupied with their behavior as they are themselves.
01:20Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
According to George Herbert Mead, as children progress beyond the game stage, they develop a more comprehensive understanding of societal rules and norms. This cognitive and social development enables them to internalize the expectations of the broader community, refining their ability to regulate behavior.Consistent participation in organized activities is crucial in helping children recognize that their actions are not isolated but contribute to a more significant, interconnected group effort.