Choosing between two objects reduces 3-year-olds' errors on a reverse-contingency test of executive function.
In the present experiment, we used a reversed-contingency paradigm (the windows task: [Russell, J., Mauthner, N., Sharpe, S., & Tidswell, T. (1991). The windows task as a measure of strategic deception in preschoolers and autistic subjects. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 331-349]) to explore the effect of alterations in the task array on 3-year-old children's strategic reasoning. Children were offered a choice between either a desirable object and an undesirable object, or between a desirable object and an empty location. There was significantly better performance on the two-object version of the task. This difference was evident even on subsequent trials when the second object was removed and the empty location reintroduced. This suggests that presenting children with a choice between two objects helps them to formulate a strategy, rather than to execute a previously determined response.
Carroll
Daniel J
DJ
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK. d.carroll@sheffield.ac.uk
Apperly
Ian A
IA
Riggs
Kevin J
KJ
D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests