Reversal and nonreversal shifts in nursery school children.

Training, Transfer, and the Development of Complex Behavior

“…In effect, they suggested that a developmental transition occurs around the age of 5 where the child shifts from a strictly associative or 'single-unit' mode of responding to a mode 228 Goulet best described as mediational or symbolic. Evidence for such a transition is available from studies concerned with reversal and nonreversal/partial-reversal shifts where children below the age of 5 learn nonreversal shifts faster than reversal shifts [Kendler, Kendler and Wells, 1960], with the opposite being true for chil dren above the age of 5 [e.g., Kendler, Kendler and Marken, 1969]. Kendler, Kendler and Marken [1969] have further elab orated on this theory, suggesting that developmental changes in mediated symbolic behavior continue at least through young adult hood and that observed mediation on a reversal-shift task is depend ent, in part, on using stimulus materials which are 'conceptually linked' (e.g., words grouped according to natural language con ceptual categories or materials varying in some aspect of physical dimensionality such as size, brightness, etc.).…”

Size and Reversal Learning in the Beagle Dog as a Measure of Executive Function and Inhibitory Control in Aging

“…Kendler and Kendler (1959) and Kendler et al (1960) found that young children were impaired on reversal shifts relative to nonreversal shifts. Among older adults however, reversal deficits generally correlate with severity of dementia (Oscar-Berman and ZolaMorgan 1980;Freedman and Oscar-Berman 1989;Lawrence et al 1999).…”

“…Discrimination reversals require subjects to inhibit prepotent responses to previously correct stimuli and to shift responses to a new stimulus-reward contingency within the same perceptual dimension. Although discrimination reversal tasks are used primarily to study animal models of aging (Tighe 1964;Freidman and Marshall 1965;Beck et al 1966;Coutant and Warren 1966;Buchmann and Grecian 1974;Davis 1978;Bartus et al 1979;Levine et al 1987;Rapp 1990;Means and Holsten 1992;Milgram et al 1994;Lai et al 1995;Rahner-Welsch et al 1995;Head et al 1998;Voytko 1999;Itoh et al 2001;Bonney and Wynne 2002), they are easily adapted for tests of inhibitory control in humans (Kendler and Kendler 1959;Kendler et al 1960;Oscar-Berman and Zola-Morgan 1980;Freedman and OscarBerman 1989;Daum et al 1991;Lawrence et al 1999).…”

Concept Formation and the Psychopathic Personality

“…The developmental factor involved in the human ability to form concepts and utilize mediating (inner cognitiveverbal) cues has been noted by Kendler, Kendler and Wells (1960), whose studies suggest that children under 5 basically respond in a non-mediating fashion like subhuman species. The 5-year mark appears generally to be regarded by the researchers as a transition point from non-mediating to mediating or conceptual responses.…”

“…Respecting the psychopath, the following possibilities may be advanced: The psychopath's modes of responding do not tend to facilitate (a) abstraction, (b) pulling together temporally separated experiences, or (c) maintaining a balance between discrimination and identification of stimulus or environmental levels. Considering the research of Piaget (1952), Luria (1957), Erikson (1963), Adler (1927), and Kendler, Kendler, and Wells (1960), the ages of 5 to 7, when a transition occurs from the non-mediating to verbal mediating or conceptual responses, may be particularly crucial for such development. It is suggested that because of constitutional or environmental factors, the psychopath does not make this transition and accordingly does not develop the mediating responses for the types of conceptual thinking that determine appropriate adjustment to society.…”