Effects of Preference and Dominance on Young Children's Optional Shift Performance

Abstract

The relative influence of preference and dominance (cue similarity) on mediated learning and transfer in kindergarten children was investigated in an optional intradimensional-extradimensional shift paradigm. Children were initially trained with a relevant dimension which was preferred-dominant, preferred-nondominant, nonpreferred-dominant, or nonpreferred-nondominant. In stationarity analyses, all groups appeared to learn the initial problem in a mediational fashion; preference and dominance did not differentially influence type of learning. Relevance of a preferred and/or dominant dimension resulted in mediated transfer, as reflected by the preponderance of intradimensional shifts. No mediated transfer in the nonpreferred-nondominant group despite mediated learning was explained in terms of differential response strengths of the observing responses specific to relevant and irrelevant dimensions.