How specific are perceptual skills? A cross‐cultural study of pattern reproduction*

Abstract

Pattern reproduction tasks were presented in four different media to samples of urban Zambian and urban British schoolchildren. When the patterns were reproduced as wire models, the Zambian children excelled the British. When the patterns were reproduced by drawing, the British children excelled the Zambian. No reliable cross-cultural differences were found when the patterns were reproduced as plasticine models or as configurations of hand positions. Both cultural groups were equally adversely affected when required to perform the modelling tasks or the hand positions task blind-folded. The results are interpreted as suggesting that cross-cultural differences in performance of pattern reproduction tasks reflect different sets of highly specific perceptual skills rather than differences on broader cognitive variables such as practical intelligence, field-dependency or sensotypes.

Cultural Change, Human Activity, and Cognitive Development

“…In their research, economic change was the driving force behind the cognitive and cultural changes they observed. In making a similar point, other research has pointed to schooling as a large-scale social change that is pivotal in shaping cognitive development [e.g., Gay & Cole, 1967;Serpell, 1979;Stevenson, Parker, Wilkinson, Bonnevaux, & Gonzalez, 1978;Wagner, 1978]. We do not dispute that economic changes and the introduction of formal school in a community can be huge forces of cultural and cognitive change.…”

Socialization for Competence: Cultural Models of Infancy

“…The cognitive apparatus of humans develops on the basis of experiences that are processed within the ecocultural context [cf. also Dasen, 1975;Serpell, 1979;Jahoda, 1982]. Competence as stressing primarily social skills grows in contexts where cooperation among the members of the family is crucial for surviving.…”

A systematic literature review of the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans

“…Generally, the DAM appears to be unsuitable for African children without schooling (cf. Serpell, 1979). The most obvious reasons for this are inexperience with pencils and pencil drawing, and the unfamiliarity with two-dimensional pictures, which is often encountered among these children.…”

“…We chose not to employ this correction, because we want to compare our results to Lynn's (who did not employ the correction). It is noteworthy that several authors (Badri, 1965a;Minde & Kantor, 1976;Munroe & Munroe, 1983;Serpell, 1979), including the test developers themselves (Goodenough & Harris, 1950), have argued that the comparison of DAM scores across cultures is problematic because of cultural differences in experience with pencil drawing on paper, and because several aspects of the scoring scheme are clearly culturally loaded. These problems signal a strong need for more insight into differential item functioning of the DAM test.…”