Attentional learning and flexible induction: how mundane mechanisms give rise to smart behaviors.

Full Abstract

Young children often exhibit flexible behaviors relying on different kinds of information in different situations. This flexibility has been traditionally attributed to conceptual knowledge. Reported research demonstrates that flexibility can be acquired implicitly and it does not require conceptual knowledge. In Experiment 1, 4- to 5-year-olds successfully learned different context-predictor contingencies and subsequently flexibly relied on different predictors in different contexts. Experiments 2A and 2B indicated that flexible generalization stems from implicit attentional learning rather than from rule discovery, and Experiment 3 pointed to very limited strategic control over generalization behaviors in 4- to 5-year-olds. These findings indicate that mundane mechanisms grounded in associative and attentional learning may give rise to smart flexible behaviors.

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Author information

Author/s: Sloutsky, Vladimir M (VM); Fisher, Anna V (AV);

Affiliation: Center for Cognitive Science, Ohio State University, 208C Ohio Stadium East, 1961 Tuttle Park Place, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. sloutsky.1(-atsign-)osu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Child development (Child Dev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2008 May-Jun; vol 79 (issue 3) : pp 639-51

Dates: Created 2008/05/20; Completed 2008/07/17;

PMID: 18489418, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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