The Development of Verbal Control over Motor Behavior: A Replication and Extension of Luria's Findings

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TINSLEY, VIRGINIA S., and WATERS, HARRIET SALATAS. The Development of Verbal Control over Motor Behavior: A Replication and Extension of Luria's Findings. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 746-753. 2 experiments were designed to replicate and extend Luria's findings on the development of verbal self-regulation during early childhood. In experiment 1, 2-year-olds were asked to hit a peg in a pegboard once with a hammer. In the silent version of the task, no verbal accompaniment was provided. In the overt version, children were asked to verbalize according to 1 of 3 instructions. 1 group said one while simultaneously hitting the peg, a second group said toy while simultaneously hitting the peg, and a third group said one and then hit the peg. Children in the first 2 groups were more likely to successfully hit the peg once and only once with verbal accompaniment. Children in the third group found it difficult to verbalize first and hit the peg afterward. These results support Luria's hypothesis that overt verbalizations facilitate control of motor behavior in young children, provided the verbalization occurs simultaneously with the motor act. The lack of difference between the one group and the toy group indicates that the semantic content of the verbalization is not important, only the activity of speaking. In experiment 2, these findings were replicated with a wider age range (2-5 years) and with a simple (hit a peg once) and difficult (hit 3 pegs in succession) task.