Task materials were devised which allowed two different explanations of the Piagetian water-level task to be distinguished. Two experiments are reported with 5–6 and 7–8 year olds in which both a predictive and a perceptual task were used. The results support Ibbotson and Bryant's explanation that the performance of young children is affected by a perpendicular bias. This effect was weaker, particularly among 7–8 year olds, in the perceptual task.
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