Rigidity in childrenÕs drawings and its relation with representational change Claire M. Barlow, * Richard P. Jolley, * David G. White, and David Galbraith Department of Psychology, School of Sciences, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke-on-Trent, England ST4 2DE, UK Received 1 May 2002; revised 27 June 2003 Abstract Four studies tested the application of Karmiloff-SmithÕs Representational Redescription (RR) model (1990, 1992, 1999) to the drawing domain. In particular, we tested her claim that young children are inhibited in their attempts at changing their graphic representations (repre- sentational change) due to being constrained by the order in which the elements of the represen- tation are drawn (procedural rigidity). The first study required 60 children (4- to 6-year-olds and an older comparison group of 8-year-olds) to make three drawings of a familiar and novel topic. From these drawings each child was measured for procedural rigidity. In a further drawing the child was asked to modify their usual representation of each topic. Regression analyses revealed procedural rigidity levels were not predictive of manipulation performance. A second study, test- ing 75 4- to 6-year-olds and a third study, testing 30 3- to 4-year-olds, revealed that when young children were specifically asked to manipulate rigid sub-procedures on a familiar topic they were indeed able to do so. Finally, a fourth study (testing 40 5-year-olds and 40 8-year-olds) removed the notational trace in drawing (a possible aid for procedural interruption) but this still produced no evidence of a relation between procedural rigidity and representational change. We suggest how the concept of procedural rigidity might be re-interpreted for the drawing domain so that the RR model can remain as a domain-general theory of cognitive development. We also suggest the development of information processing may be crucial for flexibility in drawing. Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Representational redescription; Rigidity; ChildrenÕs drawings; Information processing; Representational change * Corresponding authors. Fax: +44-1782-294986 (C.M. Barlow). E-mail address: c.m.barlow@staffs.ac.uk (C.M. Barlow). 0022-0965/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00109-7 J. Experimental Child Psychology 86 (2003) 124–152 www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp Journal of Experimental Child Psychology