title: Perceptual versus mediational learning in a total change concept-shift paradigm.
abstract: The experiment investigated the effects of language acquisition by children in Grades 1 to 4 on performance in a concept-shift task in which the relevant stimulus attributes were either the colour of ink in which a word was written or the meaning of the word. Both English stream and French Immersion children served as subjects. The results indicated a developmental sequence from perceptual learning to verbal mediation. This process was demonstrated at an earlier stage in the French Immersion students who formed a more highly selected group, and intellectual or socio-economic explanations for these differences may be feasible. The relative speed of acquisition of intradimensional and extradimensional shifts interacts with the perceptual/mediational process.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011578:Psycholinguistics