Ontogenetic characteristics of sex, age and socioeconomic status in the Core Knowledge Systems in 3 to 6 years-old Children

Abstract

Core knowledge systems are the basis of our capacity to construct and learn new abilities and concepts. The objective of this study was to identify possible relationships and differences between Core knowledge systems, depending on variables of age, sex and parental socioeconomic status. This was done using an evaluation of socio-cognitive development in 328 participants (164 girls, 164 boys) with an age range between 37 and 71 months (M = 54 months, SD = 0.55) and the application of one task for each core knowledge system. A Kruskal-Wallis test revealed an effect of age on achievement in the general index of socio-cognitive development (p < 0.001), and this difference was also found in the tasks of functional object recognition (χ2 = 54.2, p < 0.001), numerical cognition (χ2 = 85.7, p < 0.001), and spatial location (χ2 = 8.26, p = 0.016). No differences were found in relation to sex or socioeconomic status.