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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2026

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Published on: February 15, 2015

SES affects infant cognitive flexibility.

Melissa W Clearfield¹, Laura C Niman

¹Whitman College, USA. clearfmw@whitman.edu

Infant Behavior & Development

|October 25, 2011

Summary

Socioeconomic status impacts infant cognitive flexibility development. Low-SES infants showed a delayed pattern in a perseverative reaching task compared to high-SES infants, suggesting potential long-term effects.

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

Cognitive flexibility is crucial for information processing and behavioral adaptation.
Poverty's effects on cognitive control are known in children but less understood in infants.

Purpose of the Study:

To longitudinally investigate the development of cognitive flexibility in low-income infants.
To compare cognitive flexibility development between low-socioeconomic status (SES) and high-SES infants.

Main Methods:

A longitudinal study involving 32 infants (15 low-SES, 17 high-SES) tested at 6, 9, and 12 months.
Cognitive flexibility assessed using a perseverative reaching task requiring location switching.

Main Results:

High-SES infants followed a typical trajectory: random at 6 months, perseverative at 9 months, correct at 12 months.

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Published on: April 19, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 28, 2026

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Published on: February 15, 2015

Assessment of Stress Effects on Cognitive Flexibility using an Operant Strategy Shifting Paradigm

Assessment of Stress Effects on Cognitive Flexibility using an Operant Strategy Shifting Paradigm

Published on: May 4, 2020

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Low-SES infants exhibited a delayed pattern: correct at 6 months, random at 9 months, perseverative at 12 months.

Conclusions:

Infant cognitive flexibility development is influenced by socioeconomic status.
Delayed cognitive flexibility in low-SES infants may be linked to frontal cortex development.