Two experiments tested predictions from a theory in which processing load depends on relational complexity (RC), the number of variables related in a single decision. Tasks from six domains (transitivity, hierarchical classification, class inclusion, cardinality, relative-clause sentence comprehension, and hypothesis testing) were administered to children aged 3-8 years. Complexity analyses indicated that the domains entailed ternary relations (three variables). Simpler binary-relation (two variables) items were included for each domain. Thus RC was manipulated with other factors tightly controlled. Results indicated that (i) ternary-relation items were more difficult than comparable binary-relation items, (ii) the RC manipulation was sensitive to age-related changes, (iii) ternary relations were processed at a median age of 5 years, (iv) cross-task correlations were positive, with all tasks loading on a single factor (RC), (v) RC factor scores accounted for 80% (88%) of age-related variance in fluid intelligence (compositionality of sets), (vi) binary- and ternary-relation items formed separate complexity classes, and (vii) the RC approach to defining cognitive complexity is applicable to different content domains.

中文翻译：

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应用于认知发展的认知复杂性度量

两个实验测试了一个理论的预测，其中处理负载取决于关系复杂性 (RC)，即单个决策中相关的变量数量。对 3-8 岁儿童进行了来自六个领域（传递性、层次分类、类包含、基数、关系从句句子理解和假设检验）的任务。复杂性分析表明这些域包含三元关系（三个变量）。每个域都包含更简单的二元关系（两个变量）项目。因此，RC 受到其他因素的严格控制。结果表明，（i）三元关系项目比可比较的二元关系项目更困难，（ii）RC 操作对年龄相关的变化很敏感，（iii）三元关系在中位年龄为 5 岁时处理，