Conceptual behavior in young children: Learning to shift dimensional attention

Abstract

Four- and 5-year-old preschool children were trained (a) to identify the relevant unidimensional concept in a card sorting task and (b) to shift quickly from concept to concept when the relevant dimension changed. The stimuli varied on three dimensions (shape, color, and quantity). Experimental conditions included Initial Test-Training, Shift Testing, and Special Training to establish unidimensional control and/or quick shifts in unidimensional control. Special Training included verbal and nonverbal prompts. Trained children reached criterion significantly faster than did control children on Final Testing, regardless of which dimension was relevant. This and other results support the conclusion that the experimental conditions contained critical components of experience leading to a behavior which otherwise would not be observed in 4- and 5-year-old children. The critical components of experience appear to be (a) that the children learn to attend to one dimension at a time when the stimuli vary on several dimensions and (b) that they learn to shift quickly when required from dimension to dimension of a single set of multidimensional stimuli.