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Cognitive control of sequential knowledge in 2-year-olds: evidence from an incidental sequence-learning and
Andrew J Bremner1, Denis Mareschal, Arnaud Destrebecqz
1Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom. a.bremner@gold.ac.uk
Psychological Science
|April 21, 2007
Summary
Two-year-olds demonstrated control over learned spatial sequences when instructed to suppress them, indicating active knowledge suppression. This contrasts with older children
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Preschoolers' ability to control learned information is crucial for cognitive flexibility.
- Previous research indicates challenges in executive function and rule-based knowledge control in young children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the capacity of two-year-olds to suppress previously learned spatial sequences.
- To examine the nature of knowledge control in early childhood.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-eight two-year-olds were incidentally trained on a six-element spatial sequence.
- Participants were subsequently instructed to either reproduce or suppress the learned sequence.
- Performance was analyzed based on the generation of trained versus untrained paths.
Main Results:
- Two-year-olds successfully modulated their production of the spatial sequence based on instructions.
- When asked to suppress, children increased the generation of non-trained paths, indicating active suppression.
- This contrasts with findings in three-year-olds on similar rule-control tasks.
Conclusions:
- Incidental learning may facilitate the acquisition of procedural knowledge, which two-year-olds can actively control.
- Early language development may influence the ability to control explicitly instructed knowledge.
- Two-year-olds exhibit a degree of cognitive control over incidentally learned information.
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