Children's Construction of Three-Dimensional Patterns

Abstract

Four groups of children, with chronological ages ranging from 6.6 to 12.5 and mental ages ranging from 7.9 to 14.7, were tested for ability to reproduce five-element twoand three-dimensional patterns. Testing was carried out either in the presence or in the absence of the original pattern. The main effects of age, pattern complexity and model present-model absent were all significant, as were a number of interactions. In general there was a linear increase in performance on three-dimensional patterns with age, but all age-groups showed high levels of performance on two-dimensional patterns. Results are discussed in relation to information processing accounts of cognitive development.