Cognitive capacities of young children: a replication.

Children between the ages of 3 years and 4 years 7 months correctly respond to the addition of objects in an array, to the numerical equality of arrays, and to their relative numbers. However, they are not able to conceptualize equality or inequality when objects are misaligned or spatially transformed. The Mehler and Bever assertion that very young children conserve the concept of number, with a decline and rise in performance, is not confirmed.