Berthier N E, DeBlois S, Poirier C R, Novak M A, Clifton R K
Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 01003, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2000 May;36(3):394-401. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.36.3.394.
Children 2, 2 1/2, and 3 years of age engaged in a search task in which they opened 1 of 4 doors in an occluder to retrieve a ball that had been rolled behind the occluder. The correct door was determined by a partially visible wall placed behind the occluder that stopped the motion of the unseen ball. Only the oldest group of children was able to reliably choose the correct door. All children were able to retrieve a toy that had been hidden in the same apparatus if the toy was hidden from the front by opening a door. Analysis of the younger children's errors indicated that they did not search randomly but instead used a variety of strategies. The results are consistent with the Piagetian view that the ability to use representations to guide action develops slowly over the first years of life.
2岁、2岁半和3岁的儿童参与了一项搜索任务，他们要在一个遮挡物中的4扇门中打开一扇，以找回滚到遮挡物后面的球。正确的门由放置在遮挡物后面的一堵部分可见的墙决定，这堵墙会阻止看不见的球继续滚动。只有年龄最大的那组儿童能够可靠地选择正确的门。如果一个玩具是通过打开一扇门从正面隐藏起来的，那么所有儿童都能够从同一个装置中找回这个藏起来的玩具。对年幼孩子错误的分析表明，他们并非随机搜索，而是使用了多种策略。这些结果与皮亚杰的观点一致，即运用表象来指导行动的能力在生命的最初几年中发展缓慢。
