A Tale of Two Towers: The Impact of Problem Difficulty on Task Equivalence Among Preschool Children

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dc.contributor.authorSheehan, John Christopher
dc.contributor.supervisorKerns, Kimberly A.
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-24T21:19:29Z
dc.date.available2015-11-24T21:19:29Z
dc.date.copyright2015en_US
dc.date.issued2015-11-24
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Psychology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science M.Sc.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe Towers of Hanoi (ToH) and London (ToL), historically held as isomorphic measures of problem solving, have had their equivalence questioned in recent years. Adult studies that equalized administration and task structure have found increased correlation between Towers, but insufficient evidence exists regarding whether the same results would be found in young children. This study examined 29 typically developing preschoolers. Both Towers, along with four measures of executive function, were administered in two sessions. The Towers were strongly correlated, but the strength of this relationship was impacted by discontinuation type (i.e., quit vs. standardized), and analyses revealed differences in sustained attention and Tower correlations for those who quit. Complex Tower items showed stronger correlations, and Tower performance and visuospatial WM were also highly correlated. Overall, these results suggest that the Towers, when equated in administrative and structural features, are interchangeable measures of problem solving in preschoolers.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0621en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0620en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0622en_US
dc.description.proquestemailjsheehan@uvic.caen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/6828
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectProblem Solvingen_US
dc.subjectPlanningen_US
dc.subjectExecutive Functionen_US
dc.subjectPreschoolen_US
dc.subjectChildrenen_US
dc.subjectWorking Memoryen_US
dc.subjectInhibitionen_US
dc.subjectShiftingen_US
dc.subjectTower Tasken_US
dc.titleA Tale of Two Towers: The Impact of Problem Difficulty on Task Equivalence Among Preschool Childrenen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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