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UNGERER, JUDY A.; ZELAZO, PHILIP R.; KEARSLEY, RICHARD B.; and O'LEARY, KATHLEEN. Developmental Changes in the Representation of Objects in Symbolic Play from 18 to 34 Months of Age CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 186-195. This research investigated developmental differences in the way children represent objects in symbolic play. Observations of the spontaneous and elicited play of children 18-34 months of age indicated that children most frequently represent objects by performing actions functionally appropriate to the represented objects with objects physically similar to or commonly associated with the represented objects. However, with increasing age, children become able to represent objects without using functional actions and with objects bearing little physical similarity to the represented objects. The results confirm hypotheses derived from Piaget's theory of symbolic-play development and emphasize the importance of the object's perceptual properties in determining its representation by young children in symbolic play.
Ungerer et al. (Sun,) studied this question.