The development of free and constrained conceptualization and subsequent verbal memory

The Effects of Chronological Age, Trials, and List Characteristics upon Children's Category Clustering

“…Based on this procedure, and their results, Steinmetz and Battig suggest that the crucial factor in the relationship of category clustering to age is the availability of the category to the child. Mandler and Stevens (1967). This pattern of results suggests that the parallel growth hypothesis would be inapplicable to cases in which categories were made very obvious, as in the Steinmetz and Battig study, or to cases in which the availability of categories was limited.…”

“…Evidence exists showing that children as young as 5 years of age can show greater than chance clustering of words (Moely, Olson, Halwes, & Flavell 1969;Rossi 1963Rossi , 1964, with some evidence that children as young as 2 years of age can also show greater than chance clustering (Rossi & Rossi 1965). There is a linear increase in clustering from age 5 through 12 (Rossi 1964;Vaughn 1968), although again significant rates of gain in clustering appear mainly when nonadjacent age groups are compared (Mandler & Stevens 1967;Moely et al 1969). Thus, at least up to age 12, the evidence suggests a parallel relationship between the growth of free recall learning efficiency and the usage of category clustering.…”

“…At present, the available evidence suggests that children as young as 5 years of age can demonstrate learning on a free recall task (Steinmetz & Battig 1969). Between 7 and 12 years of age there appears to be a generally linear increase in children's performance on free recall learning tasks (Vaughn 1968;Wachs 1969), although this rate of increase seems to reach statistical significance only when nonadjacent age groups are compared (Mandler & Stevens 1967). This rate of increase in words recalled becomes less as children get older (Mandler & Stevens 1967) to the point at which children at age 14 and children at age 18 show no significant differences in the number of words recalled (Wachs 1969).…”

“…Based on previous research (Mandler & Stevens 1967;Steinmetz & Battig 1969), it was suggested that children's rate of clustering should parallel developmental changes in free recall learning efficiency only insofar as the word lists contained categories which were neither too available nor too covert for the children's use. The study of Steinmetz and Battig (1969) which found no relationship between age and clustering was explained by these authors on the basis of their categories being too overt or too available for developmental changes to be revealed.…”

Developmental Changes in Conceptual and Color Clustering in Young Children

“…This phenomenon is referred to as clustering. Using such a procedure, investigators have generally found an increase in the amount of clustering with age (Mandler & Stephens, 1967;Rossi, 1964;Vaughan, 1968). Such results have led to the general conclusion that young children are deficient in their ability to organize stimulus input.…”