REVERSAL AND EXTRADIMENSIONAL SHIFTS IN TWO SOCIOEGONOMIC GROUPS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

SUMMARY Low and middle socio economic status preschool children learned color and form discriminations, followed by either reversal (R) or extradimensional (ED) shifts. The low socioeconomic status children learned the original discrimination somewhat more slowly than did the middle class children. The middle class children learned the R shift significantly faster than the ED shift but the lower class children did not. However, the lower class children learned the extradimensional shift significantly faster than did the middle class children, whereas there was no difference between the two socioeconomic groups in speed of reversal learning.