Use and understanding of dimensional language facilitated conservation. (ST)

This study examined the resistance to conservation of quantity extinction in 180 subjects across the life span. The results indicated that both resistance judgments and explanations were found to develop in a curvilinear fashion, increasing with age until young adulthood and declining thereafter. (JMB)

This study used a rating scale, a betting game, and a feedback phase to examine the certainty with which 60 second graders and 36 fifth graders made judgments on tasks involving various forms of conservation and transitivity. (Author/JMB)

Purpose of study was to investigate the applicability of Piaget's theory and methods to the study of conservation in nonhumans. Two out of four subject monkeys achieved stringent and statistically significant performance criteria in sameness-difference judgment tests and showed significant generalization in the fewest possible trials. (Author/SB)

This study demonstrates that, given the assumption that the child does have some understanding of both height and amount, many nonconservers do give correct reversal judgments for both. Also, reversibility data from this study do not support the theory that a new stage appears when water conservation judgments appear. (Author/ED)

The effects of modeling and corrective feedback on the conservation of equalities and inequalities were studied. Both training methods were successful in teaching children to conserve. Trained children were also capable of generalizing their learning to new conservation tasks. (CS)

The results of four studies involving three to seven year olds revealed that, by age three, some children (1) appreciated conservation of matter despite visual disappearance and the existence of invisible particles; and (2) made use of the particle concept to explain how a particle can continue to exist and maintain its properties despite visual…

Preschoolers made judgments about solutions in which substances were dissolved. Preschoolers (1) distinguished visual appearance from underlying reality; (2) recognized the conservation of taste, smell, and dangerous properties; and (3) by age five recognized that matter can be decomposed into pieces too tiny to be seen by the naked eye. (BC)

This study was designed to determine the age relationships for each type of perceptual strategy used by nonconserving children during tests of conservation of quantity. The results indicate that the type of perceptual strategy reflected in children's answers varied with their age. (JMB)

The influence of perceptual factors and language comprehension on quantity judgments (number conservation) was assessed in children, aged 2-5. (ST)

Twenty first-graders observed an adult model perform a quantity conservation task. The children were then tested on a series of generalization tasks immediately, after one week, and after three months. The results suggested that the social experience of observation appeared to activate a cognitive restructuring of the children's mental operations.…

Explores the hypothesis that there is a decline in operational thought ability in the elderly. Two samples of elderly males, with mean ages of 71.80 and 74.29 years respectively, were tested for their ability to conserve mass, surface areas and volume. (BD)

Examined the relationship of ability to conserve and comprehend of logical riddles in 33 first-, third- and fifth-grade boys of average intelligence. Although both riddle comprehension and cognitive maturity as assessed by Piagetian tasks increased with grade, the relation between them was not clearly demonstrated. (Author/JMB)

The relationships between perception and conservation of length were investigated in a developmental comparison of judgments of length made by 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds and adults. (GO)