Incidental category learning and cognitive load in a multisensory environment across childhood

Multisensory information has been shown to facilitate learning (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000; Broadbent, White, Mareschal, & Kirkham, 2017; Jordan & Baker, 2011; Shams & Seitz, 2008). However, although research has examined the modulating effect of unisensory and multisensory distractors on multisensory processing, the extent to which a concurrent unisensory or multisensory cognitive load task would interfere with or support multisensory learning remains unclear. This study examined the role of concurrent task modality on incidental category learning in 6- to 10-year-olds. Participants were engaged in a multisensory learning task while also performing either a unisensory (visual or auditory only) or multisensory (audiovisual) concurrent task (CT). We found that engaging in an auditory CT led to poorer performance on incidental category learning compared with an audiovisual or visual CT, across groups. In 6-year-olds, category test performance was at chance in the auditory-only CT condition, suggesting auditory concurrent tasks may interfere with learning in younger children, but the addition of visual information may serve to focus attention. These findings provide novel insight into the use of multisensory concurrent information on incidental learning. Implications for the deployment of multisensory learning tasks within education across development and developmental changes in modality dominance and ability to switch flexibly across modalities are discussed.

Early developments in the ability to understand the relation between stimulus and reward

Delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) is used to test the recognition memory function dependent on the medial temporal lobe. Children cannot succeed on this task until about 21 months. Because robust recognition is present well before then, the late emergence of another ability must account for the late success on DNMS. Evidence is presented here that the critical late-maturing competence is the ability to grasp the relation between stimulus and reward--that is, to understand that the stimulus is a symbol or marker for the reward. Infants of 9 and 12 months were tested on 3 conditions of DNMS. A sample object was presented. After a delay, the sample and a novel object appeared; choice of the novel object was rewarded. In the standard task, the reward was in a well beneath the stimulus. In the verbal-reward condition the reward was not a separate object but was praise and applause. In the Velcro condition, the reward, although a separate and separable object, was attached to the base of the stimulus. Most infants at both ages succeeded in the verbal-reward and Velcro conditions but not in the standard condition.

Early developments in the ability to understand the relation between stimulus and reward

Delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) is used to test the recognition memory function dependent on the medial temporal lobe. Children cannot succeed on this task until about 21 months. Because robust recognition is present well before then, the late emergence of another ability must account for the late success on DNMS. Evidence is presented here that the critical late-maturing competence is the ability to grasp the relation between stimulus and reward--that is, to understand that the stimulus is a symbol or marker for the reward. Infants of 9 and 12 months were tested on 3 conditions of DNMS. A sample object was presented. After a delay, the sample and a novel object appeared; choice of the novel object was rewarded. In the standard task, the reward was in a well beneath the stimulus. In the verbal-reward condition the reward was not a separate object but was praise and applause. In the Velcro condition, the reward, although a separate and separable object, was attached to the base of the stimulus. Most infants at both ages succeeded in the verbal-reward and Velcro conditions but not in the standard condition.

Rule selection versus rule execution in preschoolers: an error-detection approach

In 2 experiments, an error-detection approach was used to determine whether 3-year-olds' perseverative errors on the postswitch phase of the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) are due to lack of response control or representational inflexibility. In Experiment 1, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds watched a puppet sort perseveratively on the postswitch phase and evaluated its responses. Most 4- and 5-year-olds detected the puppet's perseverative errors, whereas most 3-year-olds failed to do so despite detecting errors on a simpler card sort. Experiment 2 revealed that 3-year-olds who failed to correctly evaluate the puppet's behavior tended to fail their own DCCS. Results imply that perseveration on the DCCS cannot be attributed to difficulty inhibiting prepotent motor responses. Instead, changes in rule use between 3 and 5 years of age are interpreted in terms of the development of representational flexibility.