Strategies in reversal and nonreversal shifts learning

In order to assess the influence of mediating response on reversal (RS) and nonreversal (NRS) shifts with verbal materials containing 2 dimensions simultaneously, second-grade children were trained on a two-dimensional discrimination task. After the shift problem was completed, the level of information-processing of Ss was inquired under some questions designed to see whether the common concept was identified. According to the assessed level of information-processing, the Ss were classified into the following 2 groups: Concept group (CG) and Nonconcept group (NCG). Besides, nonconcept group on RS was divided into the following 2 subgroups: ‘doing the opposite’ group (DOG) and association group (AG). RS was easier than NRS, and in NCG, RS was easier than NRS, too. Especially, on RS, CG learned faster than both DOG and AG in the original problem, but there was no significant difference between CG and DOG in the shift problem and both groups learned faster than AG in the shift problem. The superiority of RS to NRS was attributed to both the utilization of ‘common concept’ and the use of ‘doing the opposite’ strategy.