When and how do children solve the Weather Prediction Task?
- Bochud-Fragnière, Emilie ORCID University of Lausanne
- Lavenex, Pierre (Contributor) ORCID University of Lausanne
- Banta Lavenex, Pamela A. (Contributor) ORCID UniDistance Suisse, University of Lausanne
- 2023
Published in:
- Developmental Psychobiology. - 2023, vol. 65, no. e22407, p. 1-18
conditional learning
development
hippocampus
multiple memory systems
multiple-cue learning
probabilistic classification learning
striatum
English
The Weather Prediction Task (WPT) can be solved by adults using several strategies
dependent on different memory systems. One developmental study reported that 8–
12-year-old children can solveWPT-like tasks but, because of inadequate analyses, the
cognitive processes involved in solving the task have not been established. The present
study aimed to determine at what age children can first solve theWPT and identify the
strategies used by children of different ages.We tested 3–12-year-old typically developing
children and 20–30-year-old adults on a modified WPT.We performed detailed
analyses of performance for each pattern of cue–outcome associations to decipher
the strategies used by participants. None of the 3–5.5-year-old children solved the
task. About one third of 5.5–7.5-year-old children performed above chance, relying
only on the two most predictive cues. In contrast, about 80% of 7.5–12-year-old children
performed above chance, relying on a conditional hierarchical strategy. Similar
to 20–30-year-old adults, 7.5–12-year-old children considered the highly predictive
cues primarily and the less predictive cues secondarily. These findings indicate that
the learning strategies used to solve the WPT evolve from middle to late childhood
and reflect an increasing ability to use a conditional strategy concomitant with the
development of the hippocampus-dependent memory system.
dependent on different memory systems. One developmental study reported that 8–
12-year-old children can solveWPT-like tasks but, because of inadequate analyses, the
cognitive processes involved in solving the task have not been established. The present
study aimed to determine at what age children can first solve theWPT and identify the
strategies used by children of different ages.We tested 3–12-year-old typically developing
children and 20–30-year-old adults on a modified WPT.We performed detailed
analyses of performance for each pattern of cue–outcome associations to decipher
the strategies used by participants. None of the 3–5.5-year-old children solved the
task. About one third of 5.5–7.5-year-old children performed above chance, relying
only on the two most predictive cues. In contrast, about 80% of 7.5–12-year-old children
performed above chance, relying on a conditional hierarchical strategy. Similar
to 20–30-year-old adults, 7.5–12-year-old children considered the highly predictive
cues primarily and the less predictive cues secondarily. These findings indicate that
the learning strategies used to solve the WPT evolve from middle to late childhood
and reflect an increasing ability to use a conditional strategy concomitant with the
development of the hippocampus-dependent memory system.
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Psychology
- License
-
CC BY
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1002/dev.22407
- ARK ark:/51647/srd1325642
- Persistent URL
- https://n2t.net/ark:/51647/srd1325642
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