| Abstract: | The experiment examined the relationship among several variables affecting extra-dimensional (ED) shift performance. Children and adults were trained to one of three criteria and given one of two ED shifts. All tasks required S to choose one of two colored geometric forms projected on a screen. The results are: (a) older Ss made fewer errors in training and transfer than younger Ss; (b) overtraining did not facilitate the ED shift wherein stimuli remained the same from training to transfer for the adults, but it did for the 7- and 8-year-old children; (c) overtraining inhibited the performance of the 5- and 6-year-old Ss given this ED shift; (d) overtraining neither facilitated nor inhibited the ED shift wherein stimuli changed from training to transfer. An interpretation was given in terms of verbal labeling, discrimination of change, perservative errors, and task difficulty. |
