Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2025
08:09
Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
11.4K
Children's emerging ability to balance internal and external cognitive resources
Lily Dicken1, Thomas Suddendorf1, Adam Bulley2,3
1School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Child Development
|November 28, 2024
Summary
Children aged 8-9 years strategically used tokens to aid memory for difficult tasks, unlike younger children. This shows developing cognitive control during middle childhood for managing memory demands.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Cognitive development in middle childhood involves enhanced executive functions.
- Children learn to strategically manage cognitive load and optimize memory performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children aged 6-9 years allocate cognitive resources for memory tasks.
- To examine the development of prospective and retrospective resource allocation strategies.
Main Methods:
- 120 Australian children (6-9 years) participated in a memory task involving target localization under cups.
- Children allocated tokens to trials, with opportunities for prospective and retrospective adjustment.
- Token allocation was analyzed in relation to trial difficulty and age.
Main Results:
- Older children (8-9 years) prospectively allocated more tokens to more difficult trials.
- Younger children (6-7 years) allocated tokens retrospectively, adjusting after the search.
- This suggests a developmental shift in strategic resource allocation for memory.
Conclusions:
- Middle childhood is a critical period for developing metacognitive control over memory.
- Children become increasingly adept at offloading cognitive demand through strategic resource allocation.
- Understanding these developmental trajectories informs educational and cognitive interventions.
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