Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Dev Sci. 2011 Sep;14(5):960-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01045.x. Epub 2011 Apr 28.
A widely used paradigm to study cognitive flexibility in preschoolers is the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task. The developmental dynamics of DCCS performance was studied in a cross-sectional design (N = 93, 3 to 5 years of age) using a computerized version of the standard DCCS task. A model-based analysis of the data showed that development on the DCCS task is best described as a discontinuous change in performance on the post-switch phase of the task. In addition to a perseveration group and a switch group, a transitional group that showed shifts between perseverating and switching during the post-switch trials could be distinguished. Computational models of performance and development on the DCCS task cannot, in their current forms, explain these results. We discuss how a catastrophe model of the developmental changes in task performance could be used to generate specific hypotheses about the variables that control development of DCCS performance.
一种广泛用于研究学龄前儿童认知灵活性的范式是维度变化卡片分类（DCCS）任务。本研究采用计算机化标准 DCCS 任务，在横断面设计中（N=93，年龄 3 至 5 岁）研究了 DCCS 表现的发展动态。对数据的基于模型的分析表明，DCCS 任务上的发展最好被描述为任务后转换阶段表现的不连续变化。除了坚持组和转换组外，还可以区分在转换后试验中表现出在坚持和转换之间转变的过渡组。目前形式的 DCCS 任务表现和发展的计算模型无法解释这些结果。我们讨论了任务表现发展变化的突变模型如何用于生成关于控制 DCCS 表现发展的变量的具体假设。
