Task-Specific Knowledge of the Law of Pendulum Motion in Children and Adults

Abstract

The present experiment investigated children and adults’ knowledge of the pendulum law under different task conditions. The question asked was whether adults and fourth-graders knew that the period of a pendulum is a function of pendulum length but is independent of its mass. The task was to judge the period on a rating scale (judgment task), to imagine the swinging pendulum and indicate the corresponding time interval (imagery task), or to adjust the period of a dynamically presented pendulum (perception task). Normative consideration of pendulum length as the only relevant factor was primarily found in the perception task and, for adults, in the imagery task, whereas in the judgment task, children and adults frequently considered the irrelevant dimension of mass. Most children showed poor imagery performance. Preceding adjustment (perception task) and rating (judgment task) had no differential influence on subsequent imagery performance.