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Derived control by compound and single stimuli in a matching-to-sample task in children
Benigno Alonso-Álvarez1, Luis Antonio Pérez-González
1Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain. alonsobenigno@uniovi.es
Psicothema
|July 22, 2011
Summary
Nine-year-old children can learn complex conditional discriminations, demonstrating that advanced learning skills aren't exclusive to adults. This study shows children can derive compound-sample conditional discriminations and vice versa.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Child Development
- Learning Sciences
Background:
- Previous research indicated adults demonstrate derived conditional discriminations.
- The capacity for such complex learning in children remained largely uninvestigated.
- Understanding derived stimulus control in children informs developmental learning theories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if 9-year-old children can exhibit derived compound-sample conditional discriminations.
- To determine if children can derive single-sample conditional discriminations from compound-sample training.
- To identify training variables that facilitate these emergent learning abilities in children.
Main Methods:
- Employed a matching-to-sample procedure.
- Trained children in four interrelated single-sample conditional discriminations to test for compound-sample emergence.
- Trained children in a compound-sample conditional discrimination to test for single-sample emergence.
Main Results:
- All three children in Experiment 1 demonstrated emergent compound-sample conditional discrimination after single-sample training.
- In Experiment 2, two of three children acquired compound-sample discrimination and showed emergent single-sample discriminations.
- One child in Experiment 2 required remediation training to demonstrate emergent single-sample discriminations.
Conclusions:
- Nine-year-old children can demonstrate derived conditional discriminations in both directions (compound-to-single and single-to-compound).
- Complex learning, including derived stimulus control, is achievable without the sophisticated skills previously attributed only to adults.
- Findings suggest foundational learning mechanisms for derived relations are present in children, challenging assumptions about adult-specific cognitive abilities.
