Symbolic Representation across Domains in Preschool Children

The study examines children's understanding of notational representation. Children 3 to 5 years old were shown a card containing a notation and told what it said. The children were asked to say what was printed on the card 3 times: when it was under a display named by the notation, when it was under a different display, and finally when it had been returned to the original position. In Study 1, the card contained a word or a picture indicating object identity or a numeral or an analogue indicating quantity. All the children could solve the problems containing pictures, numerals, or analogues, but the word condition was difficult and children believed that the word changed when the card moved to the new display. In Study 2, the comparison between object names and quantities was made more equitable by introducing easy and difficult versions of each condition. This time, there was little difference between cards indicating names and those indicating quantities but large differences in children's ability to solve the problem as a function of their familiarity with the notation that was written. The results point to weaknesses in children's understanding of how representations refer to meanings.