The dynamics of development on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task.

A widely used paradigm to study cognitive flexibility in preschoolers is the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task. The developmental dynamics of DCCS performance was studied in a cross-sectional design (N = 93, 3 to 5 years of age) using a computerized version of the standard DCCS task. A model-based analysis of the data showed that development on the DCCS task is best described as a discontinuous change in performance on the post-switch phase of the task. In addition to a perseveration group and a switch group, a transitional group that showed shifts between perseverating and switching during the post-switch trials could be distinguished. Computational models of performance and development on the DCCS task cannot, in their current forms, explain these results. We discuss how a catastrophe model of the developmental changes in task performance could be used to generate specific hypotheses about the variables that control development of DCCS performance.