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Anim Cogn (2001) 4:315–324 DOI 10.1007/s10071-001-0117-4 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Julie Johnson-Pynn · Dorothy M. Fragaszy Do apes and monkeys rely upon conceptual reversibility? A review of studies using seriated nesting cups in children and nonhuman primates Received: 2 October 2000 / Accepted after revision: 10 September 2001 / Published online: 26 October 2001 © Springer-Verlag 2001 Abstract The ability to seriate nesting cups as a sensori- Keywords Seriation · Skill development · Nonhuman motor task has posed interesting questions for cognitive primates · Perceptual-motor learning scientists. Greenfield et al. [(1972) Cognit Psychol 3:291– 310] found parallels between children’s combinatorial ac- tivity with nesting cups and patterns of phonological and Introduction grammatical constructions. The parallels suggested the possibility of a neurally based developmental homology A sizeable body of literature documents both variety and between language and instrumental action [Greenfield complexity in children’s manipulation of objects in free (1991) Behav Brain Sci 14:531–595]. Children who pre- play and in goal-oriented tasks (e.g., Bruner 1973; McCall dominantly used subassembly, a hierarchical method of 1974; Fenson et al. 1976; Wood et al. 1976). In children, combining cups, succeeded at seriating nesting cups more the ability to seriate, or order a set of objects by size from often than those who did not. Greenfield and others [e.g., smallest to largest, has been interpreted as a form of logi- Piaget and Inhelder (1969) The psychology of the child. cal cognition that stems from actions such as putting ob- Basic Books, New York; DeLoache et al. (1985) Child jects in piles, aligning objects, and arranging objects in an Dev 56:928–939] argued that success in seriation reflects array (Inhelder and Piaget 1964; Woodward 1972; Langer the child’s growing recognition of a reversible relation- 1980). Although there is ample evidence supporting chil- ship: a particular element in a series is conceived of as be- dren’s facility in seriating objects in a set, the age at which ing smaller than the previous element and larger than the they become proficient seriators is debatable and appears subsequent element. But is a concept of reversibility or a to be contingent on the nature of the objects and research hierarchical form of object manipulation necessary to se- methodology employed (Inhelder and Piaget 1964; Green- riate cups? In this article, we review studies with very field et al. 1972; Sugarman 1983; DeLoache et al. 1985; young children and nonhuman primates to determine how Ciancio et al. 1999). Given that manipulative propensities individuals that do not evidence conceptual reversibility of many species of nonhuman primates rival that of chil- manage the seriation task. We argue that the development dren (e.g., Mignault 1985; Torigoe 1985; Takeshita and of skill in seriation is experientially, rather than conceptu- Walraven 1996), a matter of interest to comparative psy- ally, driven and that it may be unnecessary to link seri- chologists is whether seriation of objects is within apes’ ation with cognitive conceptions of reversibility or lin- and monkeys’ abilities, and if so, how their performance guistic capacities. Rather, in ordering a set of objects by compares with that of children. To address this issue, we size, perceptual-motor learning may enable contemplative reviewed findings from comparative and developmental refinement. studies that have been conducted with children, chim- panzees, bonobos, and capuchin monkeys using tasks that require seriating objects. We pay particular attention to studies presenting nesting cups. In the course of this re- ✉ J. Johnson-Pynn ( ) view, we discuss two issues of theoretical significance: Department of Psychology, Charter School of Education and Human Sciences, Berry College, (1) the interpretation of seriation as a skill that is concep- Mt. Berry, GA 30149, USA tually mediated (Inhelder and Piaget 1964; Piaget 1969), e-mail: [email protected], and (2) the link between combinatorial activity with ob- Tel.: +1-706-3685651, Fax: +1-706-2385827 jects and language capacities (Greenfield et al. 1972; Green- D.M. Fragaszy field 1991). Department of Psychology, Baldwin Street, Psychology Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30603, USA 316 role of perception in developing seriation skill, however, Is a concept of reversibility are vague and wrought with ambiguities. On the one hand, necessary for seriation ability? perception of an ordered variability in size among ele- ments contributes to the child’s growing ability to arrange Piaget (1969; see also Inhelder and Piaget 1964; Piaget elements in a series. On the other hand, sensorimotor and Inhelder 1969) proposed that seriating objects in a schema rather than perceptual schema are hypothesized to sensorimotor task was a basis of logicomathematical rea- be the basis of seriation abilities (Inhelder and Piaget soning in that seriation involved understanding the addi- 1964). When examining presuppositions and methodol- tive relationship (and the reverse relationship, subtractive) ogy of the Genevan group, there is an untenable dualism among elements in a set. By conducting experiments re- between perception and action in the development of op- quiring children to order sticks (using five to ten sticks) in erational thinking (see Gibson 1987 for a related discus- an array from smallest to largest, Piaget was able to iden- sion). To illustrate, in one variation of the seriation task, tify three developmental stages of seriation. In stage 1 tactile seriation, the child is asked to seriate ten sticks that (4 years old), the child has a binary concept of size when differ in length by 0.8 cm. An opaque screen blocked their attempting to order the sticks. In other words, the child vision while they manipulated the sticks. Inhelder and proceeds by selecting a stick, comparing it with another, Piaget (1964) report that 100% of 4-year-old children and making a binary decision: one stick is smaller than the failed to seriate the sticks, 29% of 6-year-olds were able other. At best, the child at this stage is able to seriate two to seriate the sticks by trial and error, and 33% of 8- to or three elements in a subseries but cannot incorporate all 9-year-olds used the operational method (as outlined members in a single series. In stage 2 (6 years old), the above in stage 3 seriation). It is not surprising that young child proceeds by trying many arrangements, incorporat- children had such a difficult time with this task. Without ing all of the sticks into the array, and is often successful. the aid of vision, other perceptual, motor, and memory de- Piaget (1969) termed seriation via trial and error at this mands increased substantially. Many factors related to stage non-operational seriation. He noted that if the child performance, such as attention, memory, motor skills, and was given a stick to insert in the series, the child typically comprehension of instructions must be considered in ex- disassembled the array and started arranging the sticks in plaining children’s performance on different variations of order from scratch. In operational seriation, or stage 3 the seriation task. (7–8 years old), the child systematically selects sticks and Piaget and Inhelder must have recognized that reduc- places them in a seriated array with minimal hesitation ing the number of perceptual modalities would impact and while making very few errors. Additionally, the child performance on the seriation task. Their argument that op- is able to insert new items in the series correctly without erational seriation can be dissociated from seriation that starting from scratch. Piaget (1969) argued that successful arises from “graphic factors” or perceptual schema alone seriation, and especially the ability to insert an element trivializes the importance of integrating components of a into a series, reflected the child’s growing recognition of a child’s instrumental action system. Integration of vision, reversible relationship, that one element in a series could touch, memory, and movement planning and execution be both larger than the previous element and smaller than are essential for effective instrumental manual action in the subsequent element. Thus, the role of a member re- young children (see Bernstein 1967 and Case 1985, 1991 verses depending on whether the additive or subtractive for related arguments). Although the premise of Piaget’s relation is being considered. Piaget interpreted consistent structuralist theory is that developing capacities in percep- seriation as a skill that is driven by the concept of re- tual and motor systems constrain and direct development, versibility, an abstract cognitive construct that reflects un- the contribution of these systems to developing cognitive derstanding of ordinal relations. constructs was inadequately articulated by Piaget and his We perceive serious flaws in Piaget’s treatment of the colleagues (Bruner 1973; Gibson 1987, 1988). development of seriation. First, Piaget’s reliance on the The role of perception, action, and planning in chil- concept of reversibility to account for operational seri- dren’s manipulative play with objects was addressed in a ation in stage 3 fails to explain why seriation could be ac- subsequent study by DeLoache and her colleagues (1985; complished consistently, even if errors occurred. We are see also Sugarman 1983). These authors chose a much unwilling to accept Inhelder and Piaget’s assertion that se- younger sample of children (age range of 18–42 months) riation in stage 2 is accomplished with a “primitive form compared with that of Piaget. Moreover, a set of seriated of reversibility” as compared to “operational reversibil- nesting cups was used instead of seriated sticks, thereby ity” in stage 3 (Inhelder and Piaget 1964, p. 287). Piaget providing children with functional feedback during ma- left the differences between primitive reversibility and op- nipulation. DeLoache et al. (1985) chose to analyze chil- erational reversibility unclear.

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