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Choosing between two objects reduces 3-year-olds' errors on a reverse-contingency test of executive function.

Daniel J Carroll1, Ian A Apperly, Kevin J Riggs

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK. d.carroll@sheffield.ac.uk

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|September 21, 2007
PubMed
Summary
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Three-year-old children demonstrated improved strategic reasoning when presented with two objects versus one object and an empty location. This finding suggests object choices aid strategy formulation in young children.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Strategic reasoning is crucial for cognitive development in early childhood.
  • Understanding how task parameters influence strategic thinking is key to developmental research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of task array variations on 3-year-old children's strategic reasoning.
  • To determine if presenting two objects versus one object affects strategy formulation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the reversed-contingency paradigm (windows task).
  • Assessed 3-year-old children's performance with two task variations: desirable/undesirable object choice and desirable object/empty location choice.
  • Analyzed performance differences across trials.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Children performed significantly better when offered a choice between two objects.
  • This performance advantage persisted even after the second object was removed and an empty location reintroduced.
  • Suggests the presence of two objects facilitates strategy development.

Conclusions:

  • Presenting children with a choice between two objects enhances their ability to formulate strategies.
  • Task design, specifically the number of objects, plays a significant role in early strategic reasoning development.