The development of sensitivity to causally relevant dynamic information

The present study examined whether younger observers (kindergartners, second graders, and fourth graders) could extract relative weight information from collisions and also lifting events, and if they could judge whether collisions were natural (i.e., momentum conserving) or anomalous (non-momentum conserving). 20 children at each age and 20 adults viewed videotapes of 8 collisions (4 natural, 4 anomalous) and 6 sequences of lifting events. Observers also viewed sequences of static images taken from these events. Observers at all grade levels were able to reliably judge relative weight in both collisions and lifting events, and could differentiate between natural and anomalous collisions. Performance was much poorer when static sequences of the events were viewed, especially for the young children. A consistent age trend was noted across tasks: adults performed better than second and fourth graders who, in turn, performed better than kindergartners. In addition, there was evidence that younger children were differentially aided when the kinematics of the event made the kinetics more pronounced.