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Four to five-year-old children were asked questions on length involving single or double comparatives in a transitive inference task. The number of comparatives varied within or across pairs. The pairs of sticks were color-coded. Initial pair-wise discrimination training on four adjacent pairs from a five stick array with only verbal feedback was followed by tests, without feedback, on all possible-pairs. When both comparatives were used, subjects learned adjacent pairs faster and more often reached criterion than when only one comparative term was used in training. In testing, subjects were successful on transitive inference tests only when the double-comparative relation was used within pairs during training. Retraining with visual feedback increased the number of subjects solving the inference test only in this condition. The findings are discussed in terms of how many children may use processes other than logical operations to make transitive inferences. (Author/DP) YS ocrAm TroictiT OF Hr ALTO,. EDUCATION A WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION TN'S DOCUMI-NT HAS nr.EN REPRO DuiED E XAC 1 LV AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN ATiN0 IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED 00 NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY Comparatives, Logical Structures and Encoding in a Transitive Inference Task 1 Christine A. Riley and Tom Trabasso 2 Princeton University Comparatives and Transitive Inference Send proofs to: Tom Trabasso Psychology Department Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08540