Information seeking vs information utilization in children's induction from incomplete pictures.

By removing small squares which completely covered simple silhouette pictures, 4-,6-,8-, and 10-yr.-old children gradually exposed information until they were able to induce, or identify, the whole picture. This method allowed differentiation between the development of information-seeking behavior (accuracy of removing only those squares which exposed the silhouette) and utilization of information (accuracy of identifying partially exposed silhouettes). Results indicated a monotonic development in information seeking but a plateau between ages 6 and 8 yr. in utilization of information.