Exploration and play in retarded and nonretarded preschool children: effects of object complexity and age.

Three-dimensional random polygon objects ranging in complexity between 4 and 40 turns were presented to 12, 30-month-old and 12, 42-month-old moderately retarded and nonretarded children. Time spent in exploration and in play was measured over three successive exposure-time blocks. Exploration time for the combined sample of retarded and nonretarded younger children did not vary with object complexity. The older retarded children explored objects of low complexity more than did either the combined sample of younger children or the older nonretarded children. Nonretarded older children explored complex objects more than did the combined sample of younger children. Exploration time decreased linearly with exposure-time blocks. Play time increased linearly with successive exposure-time blocks and decreased linearly with increasing complexity.