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Comprehension of before and after in logical and arbitrary sequences*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Lucia A. French  and
Ann L. Brown
Lucia A. French
Affiliation:
Institute for Child Behavior and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ann L. Brown
Affiliation:
Institute for Child Behavior and Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Abstract

Pre-school children were required to act out a series of two-event sequences conjoined by either before or after. The sentences to be acted out consisted of either a meaningfully or an arbitrarily ordered sequence of events. Performance was markedly superior for meaningfully ordered sequences. It is suggested that the meanings of before and after must be acquired in situations which provide contextual support, and only then can be applied in situations which do not provide such support.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 1977 , pp. 247 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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Footnotes

*

This paper is based upon a thesis submitted by the first author to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in psychology. The research was supported by Grants HD 06864, HD 05951, and HD 00244 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The authors would like to express thanks to Drs. J. McV. Hunt and Joseph C. Campione for their advice and criticism, and to Anne Hogan and Sallie Lawton for their help with the collection and analysis of the data. Special gratitude is extended to the parents, stagg, and children of the following Champaign-Urbana preschools: La Petite Academy; First United Methodist Church; Kiddie Kountry; and the Institute for Child Behavior and Development.

References

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