A Developmental Study of Conceptual Tempo, Concept Learning, and Abstraction

Summary

Conceptual tempo, concept learning, and abstraction were investigated with 80 boys, aged 8 through 11. Conceptual tempo was measured with the Matching Familiar Figures Test. The concept learning task involved classification of various distorted arrangements of visual patterns without seeing the original patterns or prototypes. Upon reaching criterion on this task the Ss were administered a transfer or abstraction task. An age or tempo relationship was not found on the learning task. However, on the transfer task there was a developmental trend with an age decrement in classifying stimuli of the same difficulty as well as greater difficulty than original training. Impulsive responders performed more poorly than groups of slow-inaccurate, fast-accurate, and reflective responders on the transfer task.