Alternation Technique Research Articles

A developmental study of symbolic behavior.

The double alternation problem has long been recognized as a measure of symbolic behavior in the animal laboratory and has been used in tracing phylogenetic development (i, 4, 5, 7, 8). The value of the double alternation technique with human subjects has not been overlooked (2, 3, 6, 9); however, a search of the literature reveals no attempt to include a representative number of normal subjects from which an estimate of maturation of symbolic behavior in normal children might be obtained. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to trace the ontogenetic development of symbolic behavior in normal children, exerting necessary controls in order to obtain as pure a measure as possible of the effect of chronological age on double alternation behavior.