Analysing the adaptiveness of strategy choices using the choice/no-choice method: The case of numerosity judgement

The present study tested the usefulness of the choice/no-choice method (Siegler & Lemaire, 1997) in the domain of numerosity judgement. Young adults were asked to judge all possible numerosities of blocks that were presented in a 7 2 7 grid. In the choice condition, subjects were allowed to choose freely between two strategies: (1) the addition strategy by means of which the number of blocks in different subgroups are added or (2) the subtraction strategy in which the number of empty squares in the grid is subtracted from the total number of squares in the grid. In two no-choice conditions, subjects were successively required to judge all numerosities of blocks by using solely one of both aforementioned strategies on all trials. The exclusion of selection effects in the no-choice conditions yielded unbiased estimates of strategy performance, which enabled investigating participants' strategy adaptiveness in the choice condition. Different measures of adaptiveness indicated that participants were very adaptive in their strategy choices. In addition, a new measure of individual strategy adaptiveness was developed. The results of this study are discussed in terms of Lemaire and Siegler's (1995) theoretical framework regarding strategic competence.

[1]  E. Phelps,et al.  The development of problem-solving strategies. , 1982, Advances in child development and behavior.

[2]  Flexibility in strategy use: Adaptation of numerosity judgement strategies to task characteristics , 2003 .

[3]  Dan Zakay,et al.  Time and human cognition : a life-span perspective , 1989 .

[4]  P. Onghena,et al.  Children's strategies for numerosity judgement in square grids of different sizes , 2000 .

[5]  P. Onghena,et al.  Strategic aspects of numerosity judgment: the effect of task characteristics. , 2003, Experimental psychology.

[6]  Robert S. Siegler,et al.  The Development of Numerical Understandings , 1982 .

[7]  B. Rittle-Johnson,et al.  Learning to spell: variability, choice, and change in children's strategy use. , 1999, Child development.

[8]  P. Lemaire,et al.  Older and younger adults' strategy use and execution in currency conversion tasks: insights from French franc to euro and euro to French franc conversions. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[9]  Lieven Verschaffel,et al.  Number and Arithmetic , 1996 .

[10]  P. Lemaire,et al.  Applying the choice/no‐choice methodology: the case of children’s strategy use in spelling , 2002 .

[11]  R. H. Myers.  Classical and modern regression with applications , 1986 .

[12]  Lieven Verschaffel,et al.  The acquisition and use of an adaptive strategy for estimating numerosity , 1998 .

[13]  A. Leo Beem,et al.  A program for fitting two-phase segmented-curve models with an unknown change point, with an application to the analysis of strategy shifts in a cognitive task , 1995 .

[14]  V. Barnett,et al.  Applied Linear Statistical Models , 1975 .

[15]  Lieven Verschaffel,et al.  Using segmented linear regression models with unknown change points to analyze strategy shifts in cognitive tasks , 2001, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[16]  R. Siegler.  Emerging Minds: The Process of Change in Children's Thinking , 1996 .

[17]  R. Siegler,et al.  Variation, selection, and cognitive change. , 1995 .

[18]  The Influence of Encoding and Strategic Knowledge on Children's Choices among Serial Recall Strategies. , 1990 .

[19]  J. B.,et al.  The Power of Numerical Discrimination , 1871, Nature.

[20]  P. Onghena,et al.  Strategic aspects of children’s numerosity judgement , 2001 .

[21]  Robert S. Siegler,et al.  Chapter 5 Strategy Choices in Children's Time-Telling , 1989 .

[22]  R. Siegler,et al.  Strategy choice procedures and the development of multiplication skill. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[23]  R. Siegler,et al.  Older and younger adults' strategy choices in multiplication: testing predictions of ASCM using the choice/no-choice method. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[24]  R. Siegler,et al.  Four aspects of strategic change: contributions to children's learning of multiplication. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[25]  W. Wundt.  Grundriss der Psychologie , 1896 .