THE EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL DIFFERENTIATION AND CONCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION UPON CHILDREN'S HYPOTHESIS-TESTING BEHAVIOR IDENTIFICATION, PROBLEM-SOLVING, RAVEN'S CPM)

The present study investigated the contributions of perceptual eductive skills (measured by Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices Test) and mode of conceptual organization (measured by the Written Picture Pairing Test) to children's performance on concept identification tasks. In addition, it investigated the extent to which the type and structure of concepts used in such tasks would mediate the influence of these subject variables.;A sample of 77 middle class children in grades 2, 3, 5, and 6 was divided into eight groups on the basis of age (8.5 years vs. 11.5 years), perceptual eduction skills (low vs. high), and preferred mode of conceptual organization (schematic vs. categorical). Subjects were administered concept identification problems differing in concept type (perceptual, functional, or nominal) and structure (multiplicative vs. additive). Three areas of concept attainment performance were considered: (1) general task performance; (2) short-term information-processing efficiency; and (3) long-term planful hypothesis testing. Familiar stimulus materials were used and problems were cast in a game-and-story context ("Auntie Jane's Suitcase") in order to maximize children's understanding of the nature of the task.;Separate three-way analyses of covariance (with IQ as the covariate) revealed that (1) older children scored significantly higher than younger children on verbal attainment (p < .01) and long-term planful hypothesis-testing measures (p < .05) in the functional-additive concept condition; (2) children in the high perceptual eduction ability group scored significantly higher than those in the low group on verbal attainment (p < .01) and long-term planful hypothesis-testing measures (p < .05) in the perceptual-multiplicative concept condition; and (3) measures of verbal concept attainment were moderately related to academic achievement for all three test conditions.;Perseveration effects were found to be manifest as deficits in long-term planful hypothesis-testing rather than in short-term information utilization. Children were found to be very efficient in their ability to use available information on a trial-by-trial basis. Performance deficits involved an inability to integrate information across trials.;Results are discussed as they relate to current models of problem solving and hypothesis testing among young school children; methodological issues surrounding the use of the concept identification paradigm as a means of studying children's cognitive skills are also considered.