Latent Inhibition in Young Children: A Developmental Effect?
McLaren, RP; Civile, C; McLaren, IPL
Date: 31 January 2021
Article
Journal
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Abstract
Previous research by Kaniel & Lubow in 1986 found that young children (aged 4-5
years) exhibited poorer learning (latent inhibition) to pre-exposed stimuli than older children
(aged 7-10 years). The aim of our research was to develop a computer-based, child-friendly
study that would replicate and extend the work of Kaniel & Lubow ...
Previous research by Kaniel & Lubow in 1986 found that young children (aged 4-5
years) exhibited poorer learning (latent inhibition) to pre-exposed stimuli than older children
(aged 7-10 years). The aim of our research was to develop a computer-based, child-friendly
study that would replicate and extend the work of Kaniel & Lubow in a way that ruled out
other, attention-based explanations of their effect. One hundred and four children and 32
undergraduate students took part in our experiment. This consisted of a pre-exposure/study
phase in which participants were asked to press computer keys in response to clipart pictures
of animals and dinosaurs. Each animal or dinosaur picture was preceded by one of two
“warning signals” which acted as the pre-exposed stimuli (to which no response was
required). In the test phase that followed, the participants had to either press the spacebar or
withhold their response to each pre-exposed stimulus and two novel stimuli. They learnt
which response was correct by trial and error using the feedback provided. The accuracy and
reaction time of the responses during the test phase were analysed and indicated that the
youngest children showed significantly lower mean accuracy and longer mean response times
to the pre-exposed stimuli than to stimuli they had not been pre-exposed to. In contrast, the
older children showed no significant differences in their responses to pre-exposed and novel
stimuli. These results are consistent with those found by Kaniel & Lubow and as such
provide additional evidence for latent inhibition in young children. We discuss the
implications for theories of perceptual learning in humans
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