Different Strategies in Spatial Decentering in Two Stages of Cognitive Development

Abstract

Subjects of two cognitive levels (60 subjects at concrete operational and 60 at formal operational levels) were given Piaget's three-mountains task under three conditions. The first group was encouraged to use images, the second group spatial locations, the third was a control group. As hypothesized, spatial decentering is a task which can be solved by different cognitive strategies. The choice of a strategy depends upon the subject's cognitive level, e.g., use of image strategy increases performance of subjects at the concrete operational stage and decreases performance of subjects at the formal operational stage.