Summary Three experimente dealt with performances of preschool children in tasks where comparisons had to be mode between two drawings which differed only in the position of one or two elements. The respective influences of the degree of regularity of compared configurations, and of the status of the displaced elements within a configuration have been studied. It was shown that when the displacement is a simple permutation between two elements, the performance is better for younger children when elements are near than when they are distant ; for every group age, permutations which involve formation of mirror images lead by far to the worst performances. When the elements are disposed in irregular configuration, the more individualized the permuted elemente, the better the performance. If a displacement changes the shape of the configuration, it doesn't give more correct judgemente than a permutation. These results can be explained by the interaction of three factors : 1) The sensibility to spatial relations ; 2) The restricted visual exploration ; and 3) The evolution with age of the definition of sameness.
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Vurpillot et al. (1971) studied this question.