A Test of Luria's Hypotheses Concerning the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation

MILLER, SCOTT A.; SHELTON, JEv; and FLAVELL, JoHN H. A Test of Luria's Hypotheses concerning the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1970, 41, 651-665. Children in 4 age groups (mean ages = 3-2, 3-7, 4-1, 4-11) received 1 of 4 self-instruction conditions in Luria's 2-choice task. 1 group at each age level performed the motor task only (silent responding). In the remaining 3 conditions, children overtly instructed themselves with either to the positive stimulus, Don't Squeeze to the negative stimulus, or self-instructions to both stimuli. Performance on the motor task improved with age. Contrary to Lurias hypotheses, however, the self-instruction conditions did not interact with age; in fact, at no age did verbal responding facilitate motor behavior. Specific comparisons derived from Luria's reports also were not supported. In addition, despite explicit instructions to the contrary, the motor response tended to precede speaking for all children at all ages. Rather than a useful mediator of motor performance, verbal responding in this experimental situation appears to be only an additional task for the child.