Content area
Abstract
The research explored how various methods of learning a task can affect the degree of flexibility found if the task is changed following acquisition. Two experiments examined flexibility in children (aged 3 1/2-5 1/2) with a cooperative puzzle-making task. Study 1 employed two forms of acquisition, instruction plus feedback and feedback only, to increase time spent on the target activity (cooperative play). Once an increase in time on the target was obtained, positive feedback was made contingent on a different target activity (individual play). The results suggested that an initial history of instructional learning produces responding that is slower to adapt when contingencies are changed, but all children were eventually able to adapt their responding to the changed goals of the task. Study 2 employed the same two forms of acquisition, instruction plus feedback and feedback only, to increase cooperative play. Once an increase occurred the feedback was removed and instructions were changed or added to increase the amount of time spent on the target activity (individual play). Results of Study 2 generally paralleled those of Study 1, in that regardless of acquisition or age all children spent large percentages of the experimental sessions on the target activity during acquisition and all subjects adapted to later changed task goals. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on rule-governed behavior and children's cognitive strategy use.
