The operative basis of performance on Piagetian memory tasks: Evidence from normal and learning disabled children.

Investigated the role of operative schemes in explaining older children's superior memory on past Piagetian memory tasks. In Exp I, 60 1st–4th grade concrete operational children—half with deficits in visual memory (learning disabled, LD)—reconstructed 2 stimuli in which operative schemes were or were not relevant (a seriated array vs an arbitrary color sequence). As predicted, LD children performed significantly worse than normals on the arbitrary stimulus only. Exp II tested whether this difference resulted simply from differential task difficulty. 28 preschoolers who either could or could not seriate reconstructed both stimuli. Only seriaters performed significantly better on the operative stimulus than on the arbitrary stimulus, supporting the Piagetian position. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)