REACTIONS OF YOUNG-CHILDREN WITH DOWNS-SYNDROME TO AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK

The response to a shape-sorting task that included both 'possible' and 'impossible' shapes was investigated in three groups of 3-5-year-old children: children with Down's syndrome (DS), normally developing chil dren matched with the DS subjects for chronological age (CA), and norm ally developing children of matched mental ages (MA). DS subjects prov ed as capable as their MA and CA peers at matching the 'possible' shap es to their appropriate holes but behaved differently to both age- and stage-matched children in response to the two 'impossible' shapes: th ey persisted significantly longer, showed little evidence of learning when represented with either shape, and failed to recognize that the p erceptual information used in successfully matching the 'possible' sha pes could also help in determining that the 'impossible' tasks were in deed impossible. When faced with failure on the 'impossible' tasks, DS subjects frequently adopted 'switching out' strategies, misusing thei r social skills or producing 'party tricks' in order to divert attenti on to some less cognitively demanding activity. This appealing but tas k-inappropriate behaviour may explain the stereotypical view of DS chi ldren as very sociable and affectionate children but very poor learner s.