Ability to reproduce and transpose matrices was studied in 23 adult SSN trainees. These subjects could transpose the matrices at a MA equivalent to the CA at which children normally do. The ability to reproduce the same matrices was not in evidence prior to the ability to transpose them, as it is in normal children. One possible interpretation of this finding is that cognitive development in SSNs is qualitatively different from that of normal children.
MACKAY, C. K.; FRASER, JOAN; and Ross, ISABEL. Matrices, Three by Three: Classification and Seriation. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1970, 41, 787-797. In Piagetian theory, transition to the stage of concrete operations is characterized by a cognitive structure wherein the 4 logical groupings associated with simple and multiple classification and simple and multiple seriation become operational at roughly the same time. The evidence for the emergence of the ability for classification and simple seriation in Western children at about age 7 is overwhelming. That for multiple seriation is unimpressive at least in quantity. This paper investigates the development of the ability for double seriation in children aged 5-8 years and finds that there is a developmental lag between the emergence of the ability for cross-classification and that for double seriation. This result is considered to have implications beyond that of revising age norms. An attempt is made to relate it to the differences existing between the Geneva and Harvard approaches to interpreting cognitive growth.
Recently some doubt has been cast on the generality of Hermelin & O'Connor's (1961) finding that imbecile children perform better on a tactual exploration—tactual recognition task than do normals of equivalent mental age. The present investigation is in part a replication of the original study, using normal children and SSN adults matched for mental age. The same subjects are used to investigate differences in stereognostic recognition of familiar material, where verbal coding may be assumed to be involved. Both groups obtained higher recognition scores on the familiar material. The normals were superior to the SSNs on recognition of common objects, but the SSNs were superior to the normals on recognition of unfamiliar material. An attempt is made to explain this interaction by postulating relatively intact stereognostic ability in the SSN group and by examining the role of verbal coding in the retention of information from stereognostic exploration. It is also suggested that apparently dissonant evidence on the tactual recognition of shapes by normal and retarded children is not incompatible with the present findings.
S ummary . Inhelder, et al. (1966), imply that the progress made by young children when taught to conserve amount by the Frank‐Bruner screening method is unstable. They suggest that a post‐test after a two‐week delay will show the specificity of the training procedure. In this study dealing with children from 4 1/2–7 years of age, Frank's original screening experiment was replicated and two further post‐tests were given two weeks later. The results of the screening experiment are similar to those of Frank. There is, however, no decrement in performance across the three post‐tests.
A modification of Bryant's (1965) study of the transfer of positive and negative learning in severely subnormal subjects was attempted. A third condition, where neither positive nor negative learning could be transferred, was added. Fifty‐two adult non‐institutionalized SSN trainees demonstrated transfer in all three conditions. Transfer was greatest in the positive learning condition, intermediate in the negative learning condition and least in the non‐specific learning condition. Two main interpretations are offered. First, a significant degree of transfer, which cannot be attributed to specific approach‐avoidance learning, occurs with naive subjects. Second, such general transfer effects are inevitably confounded with specific transfer effects in the traditional transfer experiment design.
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