Left-right sequencing in unschooled children: a function of learning or maturation.
The relative influence of experience and maturation on the development of left-right directionality was investigated. The subjects were 15 3- and 9 4-yr.-old black and Puerto Rican children who had failed to use a left-right sequence in counting arrays of checkers. Within each age level approximately equal numbers of girls and boys were assigned to experimental and control groups (ns = 12). Experimental children were trained to count using the left entry and the rightwards directional movement. Trained girls and boys used significantly more left-right and alternative linear counting strategies on a posttest given three days following training than did untrained children. Trained girls, but not boys, retained the left-right strategy in the second posttest 2 wk. later. The findings suggest that both learning and maturation may influence directionality in perceptual exploration.
D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D011932:Reading; D012737:Sex Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis