The development of representation in young children

The research summarized here shows that young children undergo an abrupt transition in their ability to understand the relation between a scale model and a larger space. Virtually none of our 2.5-year-old subjects seemed to understand the relationship between the model and the room; almost all of the 3-year-olds did understand it. The difference seems to be that the 2.5-year-olds do not respond to the model both as a real thing and as a representation of something else. Its status as a complex, meaningful real object prevents their apprehension of its abstract relation to the room. The resistance to instruction, abrupt developmental shift, and negligible individual differences in the model task suggest the possibility of a strong maturational underpinning (Espenschade & Eckert, 1967). Further research, including a longitudinal study and cross-cultural comparisons, will be addressed to the issue of the role of experience in the development of mastery of the model task. The primary contribution of this research lies in the revelation of a hitherto undocumented abrupt developmental shift in very young children's representational flexibility--in their ability to form and coordinate multiple representations. The ability to think of one thing in two ways is an important aspect of early symbolic development. In Western cultures, where so much of a child's learning occurs via various representational media, this is a crucial step. More generally, the cognitive advance that occurs between 2.5 and 3 years of age provides a foundation for further developments in the understanding of multiple representations.