Blakey, E. and Carroll, D.J. (2018) Not all distractions are the same: Investigating why preschoolers make distraction errors when switching. Child Development, 89 (2). pp. 609-619. ISSN 0009-3920
Abstract
When switching between tasks, preschoolers frequently make distraction errors – as distinct from perseverative errors. This study examines for the first time why preschoolers make these errors. One hundred and sixty-four two- and three-year-olds completed one of four different conditions on a rule-switching task where children sorted stimuli according to one rule and then switched to a new rule. Conditions varied according to the type of information that children needed to ignore. Children made significantly more distraction errors when the to-be-ignored information was related to the previous rule. When it was not related to a previous rule, even young preschoolers could disregard this information. This demonstrates that distraction errors are caused by children’s initial goal-representations that continue to affect performance.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors / Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Child Development. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Jan 2017 16:19 |
Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2023 13:58 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/cdev.12721 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:110134 |