Cognitive Consequences of Sociodramatic Play and Exploration Training for Economically Disadvantaged Preschoolers

SUMMARY Cognitive consequences of play and exploration were examined by assigning 36 economically disadvantaged preschoolers to one of three treatment conditions: sociodramatic play training, exploration training, and free‐play control. Post‐treatment assessment revealed distinctly differential consequences of the three conditions. Play training enhanced: (a) sociodramatic activity; (b) imaginativeness; and (c) comprehension and production of sequentially organized information. Exploration trained subjects gave more accurate and detailed descriptions of concrete stimuli, both as they examined them and from memory. Free‐play opportunities did not enhance performance on any of the 21 dependent measures employed.