Experiment 1 examined the relationship between dimensional preference and proportion of optional reversal shifts among adults. Experiment 2 examined dimensional preference and shift behaviors using an intradimensional-extradimensional shift paradigm. The results indicate that adults show the same type of behavior previously throught to…

In three experiments, nine-month-old infants were trained to fixate on a particular feature in a pair of stimuli that varied along three dimensions. In a fourth experiment, infants were trained to fixate on a stimulus compound until reaching a learning criterion. Infants' discrimination learning under these conditions implied an ability to attend…

A total of 128 first- and second-graders participated in two sets of shift problems: (1) four extra-dimensional shifts; and (2) shift problems with two types of cue-reinforcement conditions (same and reversal). (ED)

Investigated effects of dimensional dominance of stimuli and subject's ages in initial and shift learning of discrimination tasks. (DP)

Presolution reversal prevented or significantly retarded learning in kindergarten and first-grade children but did not hinder learning in fifth-grade children. (Authors)

A single administration of the reversal learning paradigm is not a sufficient basis for determining either a given subject's choice of option or his behavior on its constituent learning measures. This conclusion raises many questions about past research relating to mediation theory, since this paradigm has been the basic one employed. (Authors)

In order to examine the nature of dimensional processing in children, 20 kindergarten and 20 third grade Chinese-American children were asked to make similarity judgments for unidimensional sets of stimuli differing in color (hue), size, and shape, respectively. Age differences were generally confined to the color set. The judgments of the older…