THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN EARLY ...

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ules and by negative priming, so this version allowed further assessment of whether both processes depend on the active selection of one pair of rules against a competing alternative. If both activation and negative priming depend on selecting against a competing alternative, then performance on this version should be good. In an unpublished master's thesis, Jacques (1995) found that 3- to 4-yearolds perseverated on this version. Jacques's finding needs to be replicated, but poor performance on this version would seem to indicate that activation and/or negative priming can occur even in the absence of direct interference from a competing alternative. EXPERIMENT 8 According to CCC theory, 3- to 4-year-olds perform poorly on the postswitch phase of the DCCS because, in the absence of higher order rules, they have difficulty selecting the postswitch rules against competing rules that were activated during the preswitch phase. The circumstances in which difficulty occurs remain to be explored further. Moreover, another possible contribution to children's difficulty on the DCCS is negative priming: children may have difficulty attending to the postswitch rules because these same rules were ignored during the preswitch phase. Experiment 8 was designed to test these possibilities by comparing performance on the Negative Priming version, the Partial-Partial Change (test cards) version, the Partial-Partial Change (target cards), and the three versions used in Experiment 7. In contrast to Experiment 7, however, the standard, Partial Change, and Total Change versions, like the other versions used in Experiment 8, were administered without feedback during the preswitch phase (i.e., the procedure was modified to be more like the standard version used in most studies). Participants in Experiment 8 were, on average, somewhat younger than participants in other experiments. Children from a younger age range were selected in order to be able to detect possible differences between the Partial Change versions and the Negative Priming version. Because these versions were expected to be easier than the standard version, it seemed likely any differences would be best detected using a younger sample. For the same reason, a larger number of pre- and postswitch trials were administered than in Experiment 7. Use of a younger sample increased the likelihood that performance on the standard version would be poorer than in Experiment 7. Method Participants. One hundred and five children (M = 38.34 months; range: 36 to 43 months; 46 girls and 59 boys) were recruited in the same fashion as in Experiment 1. Ten additional children were excluded from the final sample either because of experimenter error (n = 5), because they refused to complete the experiment (n = 4), or because they did not appear to understand English (n = 1). Design. Children at each age were randomly assigned to receive one of six versions of the DCCS: the standard (target cards refreshed) version, the Total Change (no preswitch feedback) version, the Partial Change (no preswitch feedback) version, the Negative Priming version, the Partial-Partial Change (test cards) version, and the Partial-Partial Change (target cards) version. For all versions, the dimension (color or shape) that was relevant during the preswitch phase was counterbalanced. Card sets were the same as in Experiment 7, and they were counterbalanced in the same fashion as in Experiment 7. Procedure. The procedure for all versions was identical; only the cards to be sorted differed. The general procedure was the same as that used in Experiment 7, except for two changes: (a) there were 8 preswitch and 8 postswitch trials, and (b) children were not given feedback on the preswitch trials. Other than these changes, the Total Change (no pre-switch feedback) and Partial Change (no preswitch feedback) versions were the same as in Experiment 7. The Negative Priming version was essentially the reverse of the Partial Change (no preswitch feedback) version: the values of the dimension that was relevant during the preswitch phase (and irrelevant during the postswitch phase) were changed between the pre- and postswitch phases. In the Partial-Partial Change (test cards) version, the values of the dimension that was relevant during the postswitch phase were missing from the test cards during the preswitch phase. If children were required to sort by color during the preswitch phase, then the test cards during the preswitch phase consisted of color squares (see Figure 16). On the other hand, if the preswitch dimension was shape, then the test cards consisted of colorless outlines (e.g.,
outlines of rabbits and boats). During the postswitch phase, however, the standard test cards were used. Moreover, in this version, the same target cards were used in the pre- and postswitch phases. In the Partial-Partial Change (test cards) version, the values of the dimension that was relevant during the postswitch phase were missing from the target cards during the preswitch phase. For example, for children who were asked to sort red and blue rabbits and boats (standard test cards) by shape during the preswitch phase, the target cards during the preswitch phase were outlines of a rabbit and a boat. For children who were asked to sort red and blue rabbits and boats by color during the preswitch phase, the target cards during the preswitch phase were a red square and a blue square. During the postswitch phase, standard target cards were used and the test cards remained the same. The total procedure took approximately 10 minutes to administer. Results Group analyses. A preliminary two-way (Version x Dimension Order) ANOVA on number of correct postswitch trials indicated that there was no effect of dimension order and no Version x Dimension Order interaction. Consequently, dimension order was dropped from subsequent analyses. A two-way (Sex x Version) ANOVA on number of correct postswitch responses revealed significant effects of sex, F(1, 93) = 5.32,p < .05 (effect size f = .24), and version, F(5, 93) = 3.19,p 3.19,p
Page 1 and 2: THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTI
Page 3 and 4: In contemporary research, inflexibi
Page 5 and 6: cards by the first dimension. Moreo
Page 7 and 8: Thus, increases in reflection on lo
Page 9 and 10: specialized for the processing and
Page 11 and 12: REDESCRIPTION AND THE RELATION BETW
Page 13 and 14: acquired rapidly at the end of the
Page 15 and 16: did not answer in terms of the post
Page 17 and 18: Negative Priming version of the DCC
Page 19 and 20: This version required children to r
Page 21 and 22: Procedure. Testing took place in a
Page 23 and 24: A three-way mixed ANOVA with sex as
Page 25 and 26: in which they were told four relati
Page 27 and 28: were similar in that children were
Page 29 and 30: Discussion Experiment 3 explored fu
Page 31 and 32: In contrast, CCC theory predicts th
Page 33 and 34: (single test card), was included to
Page 35 and 36: year-olds have difficulty whenever
Page 37 and 38: Figure 3. This experiment also asse
Page 39 and 40: An overall repeated measures ANOVA
Page 41 and 42: for the construction of the concept
Page 43 and 44: EXPERIMENT 7 Method Participants. N
Page 45 and 46: Taken together, the results of Stud
Page 47 and 48: Negative priming in children has al
Page 49: the competing rules are inhibited d
Page 53 and 54: The main new finding from Experimen
Page 55 and 56: Results Group analyses. A prelimina
Page 57 and 58: observed in this experiment provide
Page 59 and 60: 3. When the rules did not span majo
Page 61 and 62: Do 3- to 4-year-olds understand eve
Page 63 and 64: perspectives. Therefore, this accou
Page 65 and 66: esponses were hypothesized to be ve
Page 67 and 68: the DCCS because of too little inhi
Page 69 and 70: (2000) pointed out, even in the DCC
Page 71 and 72: (e.g., the rules that are selected,
Page 73 and 74: difficult, however, because global
Page 79 and 80: REFERENCES Adams, F (1986). Intenti
Page 81 and 82: Desimone, R., & Duncan, J. (1995).
Page 83 and 84: Harnishfeger, K. K., & Bjorklund, D
Page 85 and 86: Markman, E. M. (19 89). Categorizat
Page 87 and 88: Rapport, M. D., Chung, K.-M., Shore
Page 89: Wise, S. P., Murray, E. A., & Gerfe

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