Children Only 3 Years Can Succeed At Conditional "If, Then" Reasoning, Much Earlier Than Anyone Had Thought Possible

We report results showing success at 3 years on conditional discrimination (CD) -- 12-18 months younger than previously reported. Three-year-olds succeeded when color was a property of the stimulus, rather than a property of the background, as in all past CD testing. Previously, we and others found children succeed on the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) test at 3 years -- 12-24 months earlier than previously reported -- by making color a property of the background, instead of a property of the stimulus, as in standard DCCS testing. Neither the change to CD or DCCS affected the rule structure or reasoning requirements of the task. This double dissociation, with 3-year-olds performing better on CD when color and shape were integrated but better on DCCS when color and shape were separated, indicates that when superficial stimulus properties are modified 3-year-olds can do conditional reasoning and grasp a hierarchical rule structure - but they seem to need perceptual boot-strapping to do that. Children of 3 years evidently have difficulty mentally separating physical dimensions (e.g., color and shape) of the same object and difficulty mentally integrating physical dimensions not part of the same object. These results provide the strongest evidence to date against conceptual accounts of why children of 3 years fail conditional discrimination or card sorting.

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Children Only 3 Years Old Can Succeed at Conditional “If, Then” Reasoning, Much Earlier Than Anyone Had Thought Possible

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.571891 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Daphne S. Ling ◽

Cole D. Wong ◽

Adele Diamond

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Complexity ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Conditional Reasoning ◽

White Background ◽

Shape Information ◽

Card Sort ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Reasoning Abilities ◽

Conceptual Skills ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

That conditional, if-then reasoning does not emerge until 4–5 years has long been accepted. Here we show that children barely 3 years old can do conditional reasoning. All that was needed was a superficial change to the stimuli: When color was a property of the shapes (line drawings of a star and truck) rather than of the background (as in all past conditional discrimination [CD] testing), 3-year-olds could succeed. Three-year-olds do not seem to use color to inform them which shape is correct unless color is a property of the shapes themselves. While CD requires integrating color and shape information, the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) task requires keeping those dimension cognitively separate – inhibiting attention to one (e.g., shape) when sorting by the other (e.g., color). For DCCS, a superficial change to the stimuli that is the inverse of what helps on CD enables 3-year-olds to succeed when normally they do not until ∼4⁤12 years. As we and others have previously shown, 3-year-olds can succeed at DCCS when color is a property of the background (e.g., a white truck on a red background), instead of a property of the stimulus (e.g., a red truck on a white background, as in standard DCCS). Our findings on CD and DCCS suggest that scaffolding preschoolers’ emerging conceptual skills by changing the way stimuli look (perceptual bootstrapping) enables 3-year-olds to demonstrate reasoning abilities long thought beyond their grasp. Evidently, children of 3 years have difficulty mentally separating dimensions (e.g., color and shape) of the same object and difficulty mentally integrating dimensions not part of the same object. Our present CD findings plus our earlier DCCS findings provide strong evidence against prominent cognitive complexity, conditional reasoning, and graded memory theories for why 3-year-olds fail these two tasks. The ways we have traditionally queried children may have obscured the budding reasoning competencies present at 3 years of age.

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Improving Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance of Preschoolers With Developmental Language Disorder: Effects of Two Task Variations

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00382 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 64 (2) ◽

pp. 628-634

Author(s):

Leah L. Kapa

Keyword(s):

Language Disorder ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Research Note ◽

Developmental Language Disorder ◽

Card Sorting ◽

Card Sort ◽

Disorder Effects ◽

Effective Change ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort ◽

Task Administration

Purpose This research note addresses whether task administration variations can improve Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) performance in preschoolers with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Participants included preschoolers with DLD who failed the standard DCCS, which is characterized by inability to switch from one card sorting rule to a new rule. After an approximately 2.5-month delay, participants were retested on the DCCS in one of three conditions: repeating standard administration, participants labeling relevant card dimensions, or briefly removing target cards before the switch. Results Children in both the labeling and target removal conditions scored significantly higher on the second administration relative to the first. However, comparing across conditions, participants in the target removal condition scored higher on the second DCCS compared to participants in the standard and labeling conditions, which did not differ from each other. Conclusions DCCS performance of preschoolers with DLD can be improved by changing task administration. The most effective change is increasing the salience of the switch to the new sorting rule, as opposed to directing children's attention via their own labeling behavior.

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Dimensional Change Card Sorting of American Children: Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns of Age

Children and Teenagers ◽

10.22158/ct.v3n2p72 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. p72

Author(s):

Shervin Assari

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Development ◽

Cognitive Flexibility ◽

Social Stratification ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Card Sorting ◽

White Children ◽

Card Sort ◽

Age Related ◽

American Children ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

Background: While age is associated with an increase in cognitive flexibility and executive functioning as a result of normal development during childhood, less is known about the effect of racial variation in children’s age-related cognitive development. The Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs) phenomenon suggests that, under racism, social stratification, segregation, and discrimination, individual-level economic and non-economic resources and assets show weaker effects on children’s development for marginalized, racialized, and minoritized families. Aim: We conducted this study to compare racial groups of children for age-related changes in their card sorting abilities. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 10,414 9-10-year-old American children. Data came from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was age, a continuous variable measured in months. The dependent variable was Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) score, which reflected cognitive flexibility, and was measured by the NIH Dimensional Change Card Sort. Ethnicity, sex, parental education, and marital status were the covariates. Results: Older age was associated with higher DCCS score, reflecting a higher card-sorting ability and cognitive flexibility. However, age showed a weaker association with DCCS for Black than for White children. This was documented by a significantly negative interaction between race and age on children’s DCCS scores. Conclusion: Age shows a weaker correlation with the cognitive flexibility of Black than of White children. A similar pattern can be seen when comparing low-income with high-income children. Conceptualizing race as a social factor that alters normal childhood development is a finding that is in line with MDRs. Marginalization due to social stratification and racism interfere with the normal age-related cognitive development of American children.

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Not Quite as Grown-Up as We Like to Think

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01530.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 291-297 ◽

Cited By ~ 113

Author(s):

Adele Diamond ◽

Natasha Kirkham

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Dependent Measure ◽

The Other ◽

Card Sort ◽

Sensitive Measure ◽

Infancy And Early Childhood ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

Greater continuity in cognition between children and adults may exist than is usually appreciated. It was thought that after 3 to 4 years of age, the problem in switching on the dimensional-change card-sort task disappears. We show here, however, that if speed is used as the dependent measure, the effect of the first dimension is evident even in adults. Adults, like preschoolers, show difficulty in switching from a block of sorting by color or shape to a block of sorting by the other dimension. Notably, performance throughout the session was affected by the first dimension by which stimuli were sorted. We hypothesize that perhaps adults never fully outgrow any of the cognitive and perceptual biases of infancy and early childhood. Other examples of such biases that appear to still be present in adults are discussed. Conversely, the assumption that the optimal dependent measure for adults is the most sensitive measure for children is questioned.

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SUMMARY OF VERSIONS OF THE DIMENSIONAL CHANGE CARD SORT USED

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development ◽

10.1111/j.1540-5834.2003.06803008.x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 68 (3) ◽

pp. 120-123

Keyword(s):

Dimensional Change ◽

Card Sort ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

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Appendix: Summary of Versions of the Dimensional Change Card Sort Used

Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development ◽

10.1111/j.0037-976x.2003.00267.x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 68 (3) ◽

pp. 120-123

Author(s):

Philip David Zelazo ◽

Ulrich Muller ◽

Douglas Frye ◽

Stuart Marcovitch

Keyword(s):

Dimensional Change ◽

Card Sort ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

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Emotion understanding in preschool children

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025414556096 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Eva Costa Martins ◽

Ana Osório ◽

Manuela Veríssimo ◽

Carla Martins

Keyword(s):

Inhibitory Control ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Emotion Understanding ◽

Language Ability ◽

Future Research ◽

Set Shifting ◽

Peabody Picture Vocabulary ◽

Card Sort ◽

R Language ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

This investigation was aimed at studying the relations between executive functions (EFs) and categorical emotion understanding while controlling for preschoolers’ IQ, language ability and theory of mind (ToM). Specifically, we wanted to analyse the association between emotion understanding and set shifting, due to the lack of studies with this EF. Data of 75 children aged 4½ years (52% boys) was collected in two laboratory visits. Emotion understanding was assessed using the Emotion Recognition Questionnaire, inhibitory control using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and set shifting using a version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. IQ was evaluated using the WPPSI-R, language using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised; and ToM using six standardized tasks. Set shifting, but not inhibitory control, predicted emotion understanding, over and above mothers’ age, and children’s IQ, language ability, and ToM. Mothers’ age and children’s language ability were also significant predictors in the final regression model. Results suggest that the capacity to shift mental sets is linked with inter-individual differences in children’s understanding of situational causes of emotion. Therefore studying EFs as correlates of emotion understanding is an important focus of future research.

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Tablet Use Affects Preschoolers’ Executive Function: fNIRS Evidence from the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

10.20944/preprints202104.0188.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hui Li ◽

Dandan Wu ◽

Jinfeng Yang ◽

Jiutong Luo ◽

Sha Xie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Executive Function ◽

Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Dimensional Change ◽

Heavy User ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Card Sort ◽

The Impact ◽

Dimensional Change Card Sort

This study aims to examine the impact of tablet use on preschoolers’ executive function during the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS) task using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Altogether 38 Chinese preschoolers (Mage = 5.0 years, SD = 0.69 years, 17 girls) completed the tasks before the COVID-19 lockdown. Eight children never used tablets, while 16 children were diagnosed as the ‘heavy-user'. The results indicated that: (1) the 'Non-user' outperformed the 'Heavy-user' with a significantly higher correct rate in the DCCS task; (2) the two groups differed significantly in the activation of the prefrontal cortex (BA 9): the 'Non-user' pattern is normal and healthy, whereas the 'Heavy-user' pattern is not normal and needs further exploration.

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