The visual paired comparison (VPC) task is a great task for studying memory. It takes advantage of our innate preference for looking at novel items. For example after a subject is given time to familarize with a clip art object on a screen, they are given a delay (between 10-120seconds), and then are presented the same clip art and a new clip art.  If your brain can remember that it's already seen the first clip art, then you'll naturally spend more time looking at a new clip art during the test phase.  You measure a percentage of looking time toward the familiar clip art and the new clip art, if a subject is scoring 50% or less then they are having trouble remembering the familiar clip art. 

At Emory University, both Drs Patrica J. Bauer and Jocelyne Bachevalier use the VPC task to examine learning and memory questions in children and monkeys, respectively. It really is a fabulous translational task of memory!  Dr. Bauer has a review publication discuss the VPC and two other tasks used in infants (Bauer PJ, San Souci P, Pathman T. Infant memory. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2010 Mar;1(2):267-77. doi: 10.1002/wcs.38. Epub 2010 Feb 24. PubMed PMID:

26271240.).

Good luck with your study. And if you have further questions reach out to Drs Bauer or Bachevalier about their methods.

http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/bauer/lab/index.html

http://psychology.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/Bachevalier-Jocelyne.html

Dear Jessica, thank you very much for your clear answer! I’ll check the VPC deeply, but at a first sight I think it will work perfectly to the objectives of the study. Thank you a lot!

That's a broad age range to assess cognition with the same task. The Mullen Scale of Early Learning provides subscale scores for Gross Motor, Visual Reception, Fine Motor, Expressive Language, and Receptive Language and can be used for ages 0-68 months. Also, the NIH toolbox provides reliable and valid cognitive assessments starting at age 3 (see link below).

 Estimada María, dentro de ese rango de edad puedes utilizar la Escala de Desarrollo Merrill-Palmer-Revisada, pues en cada nivel de desarrollo el número de items es reducido pero cumple con unos robustos criterios psicométricos en su construcción que la hacen ideal para una primera evaluación cognitiva en niños de 0 a 5 años de edad cronológica.

You can also work closely with the learners teachers so that u can use a standardized teacher made assessment test which you can apply to all the children at once. Standard tests are also good in measuring children's cognition. It's user friendly, tested from familiar items, thus applying known to unknown approach especially if the syllabus coverage is the same.

You can also use one of the many creative art activities for children (can liase with art teacher)  However this will involve you to come up with assessment score sheet and interpretation levels for different categories of results e. g interval scales). But you must measure the test reliability and validity before you administer the test to the actual participants. Best of luck in your study.

If you want to evaluate cognitive development reliably you need to test it (e.g., with the BSID-III), otherwise the Ages & Stages Questionnaires are quite okay. http://agesandstages.com/

Best,

Oskar Jenni