The A-Not-B Error: Results from a Logistic Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis of the A-not-B error was conducted using logistic regression on studies conducted before September 1997 (107 data points). An earlier meta-analysis by Wellman, Cross, and Bartsch revealed that age, delay between hiding and retrieval, and number of hiding locations were significant predictors of both the proportion of infants who searched correctly on B trials and the proportion of infants who searched perseveratively. The current analysis replicated these findings with two exceptions: (1) The number of trials at the A location was a significant predictor, and (2) the number of locations was a significant predictor of the proportion of infants who searched perseveratively, but not the proportion of infants who searched correctly. Implications of these findings are discussed and a quantitative version of a hierarchical competing-systems model of infant search is proposed.