The influence of object conceptions on the mechanical intuitions of children and adults

• Published in: Cognitive development 1995-10, Vol.10 (4), p.599-620
• Main Authors: Rosser, Rosemary A., Chandler, Kacey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Age Differences; Cognitive Development; Depth Perception; Intuition; Perceptual Development; Prediction; Spatial Ability; Young Children
• ISSN: 0885-2014; 1879-226X
• DOI: 10.1016/0885-2014(95)90028-4

This research examines how initial conceptualizations of objects and space exert an influence on predictions about the physical world but simultaneously lead the naïve to misconstrue a dynamic event. In four investigations, children (kindergartners, third graders, and sixth graders) and adults predicted where an oscillating screen would contact an object occluded by the screen's motion, a task adapted from the infant literature which is used to assess early knowledge of the solidity constraint on object motion. Participants demonstrated remarkable proficiency in anticipating the point of contact despite the formal geometric complexity of the event. However, although predictions were close approximations of the parameters objectively determinable for the event, responses were universally biased; participants systematically underestimated the distance the screen would travel to contact the object. Participants' responses were never in violation of the principle: One object cannot pass into the space occupied by another. Children and adults used different strategies to achieve their predictions, so the pattern of misconstruals across task parameters were developmentally related; however, the direction of the misconstrual was developmentally invariant. The findings are evaluated in terms of how initial knowledge of objects constrains intuition about physical events.