A schema is best understood as a statistically defined concept. Schematic concept formation consists of abstracting the common elements or properties of a defined class in a schema. Thereafter, both discrimination and retention are facilitated, since only deviations from the schema need be processed for any particular class exemplar. In the present study, 240 children ranging from 6 to 12 years of age were trained in an oddity task, either with or without knowledge of results to distinguish 67 percent redundant patterns representing different schemata. Schematic concept formation was found to occur prior to age 6 and increase in efficiency to ages 11 or 12. This ability did not depend on knowledge of results and was not related to traditional measures of intelligence. The schematic concept formation task appears to be a promising nonverbal and perhaps culture-independent measure of learning potential or ability. (Author)