Abstract
Jigsaw puzzles are ubiquitous developmental toys in Western societies, used here to examine the development of metarepresentation. For jigsaw puzzles this entails understanding that individual pieces, when assembled, produce a picture. In Experiment 1, 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 117) completed jigsaw puzzles that were normal, had no picture, or comprised noninterlocking rectangular pieces. Pictorial puzzle completion was associated with mental and graphical metarepresentational task performance. Guide pictures of completed pictorial puzzles were not useful. In Experiment 2, 3- to 4-year-olds (N = 52) completed a simplified task, to choose the correct final piece. Guide-use associated with age and specifically graphical metarepresentation performance. We conclude that the pragmatically natural measure of jigsaw puzzle completion ability demonstrates general and pictorial metarepresentational development at 4 years.
DOI
10.1111/cdev.13391
Publication Date
2020-07-29
Publication Title
Child Development
Publisher
Wiley
ISSN
0009-3920
Embargo Period
2024-11-22
Recommended Citation
Doherty, M., Wimmer, M., Golleck, C., Robinson, E., & Stone, C. (2020) 'Piecing together the puzzle of pictorial representation: How jigsaw puzzles index metacognitive development', Child Development, . Wiley: Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13391
