Visual primacy (IV). Transfer upon dimensional change

Abstract

Seventy-two subjects with different age-grades were compared through a zero-delay, second-order matching-to-sample procedure. The task consisted in matching the two-first sound of the words. The word presentation could be visual, auditory or both. Transfer sessions required semantic-matching of the words and involved test trials with different number of auditory stimuli. None of the 7 years old reached the criterion in training and transfer tests. The percentage of 10 and 14 years old children who reached the training criterion was bigger than the 17 years old subjects. However these were better on transfer tests. The results suggest the visual primacy and importance that stimulus modality had in this kind of tasks. The effect of the education on dimensional transfer under this type of task is also discussed.