Two differing interpretations of maturation in children's conceptual behavior—continuity and discontinuity—were compared for their relative efficiency in predicting, among the same children, developmental changes in two sets of cognitive measures expected to demonstrate either continuity- or discontinuity-like growth patterns. Five groups of Ss ( N = 100), 7- to 11-yr.-old, were selected from an age range during which major cognitive shifts were hypothesized by theorists of the discontinuity persuasion. Growth patterns of 48 conceptual style measures were analyzed by trend analyses. Neither the discontinuity nor the continuity mode of interpretation alone accounted for the many types of growth patterns empirically established. A rationally derived system for classifying types of developmental trends was proposed and devised, based on multicriterial analyses of three basic components determining curve forms (i.e., predominance, directionality, and rate of change).
Visual and olfactory oddity learning in rats: What evidence is necessary to show conceptual behavior?
