Piecing together the puzzle of pictorial representation: How jigsaw puzzles index metacognitive development

Doherty, Martin J.; Wimmer, Marina C.; Gollek, Cornelia; Stone, Charlotte; Robinson, Elizabeth J.

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 non-interlocking 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.

Citation

Doherty, M. J., Wimmer, M. C., Gollek, C., Stone, C., & Robinson, E. J. (2021). Piecing together the puzzle of pictorial representation: How jigsaw puzzles index metacognitive development. Child Development, 92(1), 205-221. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13391

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 20, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 29, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Deposit Date: May 4, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 30, 2021
• Journal: Child Development
• Print ISSN: 0009-3920
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-8624
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 92
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 205-221
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13391
• Keywords: Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health; Education; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2657630