Children sometimes make "scale errors," attempting to interact with tiny object replicas as though they were full size. Here, we demonstrate that instrumental tools provide special insight into the origins of scale errors and, moreover, into the broader nature of children's purpose-guided reasoning and behavior with objects. In Study 1, 1.5- to…

Investigated the relative effects of developmental level and domain-specific knowledge on 4- to 9-year-olds' ability to identify and make similarity decisions about objects based on haptic or tactile information. Found that older children explored models more exhaustively, found more differentiating features, and made fewer errors than younger…

A sample of 107 subjects including kindergarteners, fifth graders, high school sophomores, parents of kindergarteners, and master artists were presented with a 108-item color perception test to investigate surface color perception at these age levels. A set of surface color perception rules was generated. (GO)

A developmental reversal in accuracy was obtained for third and sixth graders and adults who judged class membership of patterns presented in a same-different task. Reversal accuracy appeared to result from an increase with age in orientation-free judgments. This hypothesis was confirmed in the subsequent two experiments. (GO)

Preschool children's association of the correct name with a clearly identified graphic form during an alphabet naming process is examined in this study. Subjects were 139 children (ages 2, 3, 4, and 5 years) who were asked individually to identify 52 cards, each with a single upper or lower case letter printed on it. Analysis of data was based on…