TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of number of A trials on 2-year-olds' behavior in two A-not-B type search tasks
T2 - A test of the hierarchical competing systems model
AU - Marcovitch, Stuart
AU - Zelazo, Philip David
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this research was provided by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada to P. D. Zelazo.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Age-appropriate modifications of the A-not-B task were used to examine 2-year-olds' search behavior. Several theories predict that A-not-B errors will increase as a function of number of A trials. However, the hierarchical competing systems model (Marcovitch & Zelazo, 1999) predicts that although the ratio of perseverative to nonperseverative errors will increase, the likelihood of perseveration will be an inverted U-shaped function. In Experiment 1, children received 1, 6, or 11 A trials in a multistep multilocation search task. In Experiment 2, children received 3, 7, 11, or 15 A trials in a sandbox task. Results from Experiment I showed that the ratio of perseverative to nonperseverative errors increased with number of A trials, and results from both Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the likelihood of perseverative errors was highest following a moderate number of A trials. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that search behavior provides an index of the development of conscious control.
AB - Age-appropriate modifications of the A-not-B task were used to examine 2-year-olds' search behavior. Several theories predict that A-not-B errors will increase as a function of number of A trials. However, the hierarchical competing systems model (Marcovitch & Zelazo, 1999) predicts that although the ratio of perseverative to nonperseverative errors will increase, the likelihood of perseveration will be an inverted U-shaped function. In Experiment 1, children received 1, 6, or 11 A trials in a multistep multilocation search task. In Experiment 2, children received 3, 7, 11, or 15 A trials in a sandbox task. Results from Experiment I showed that the ratio of perseverative to nonperseverative errors increased with number of A trials, and results from both Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the likelihood of perseverative errors was highest following a moderate number of A trials. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that search behavior provides an index of the development of conscious control.
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U2 - 10.1207/s15327647jcd0704_3
DO - 10.1207/s15327647jcd0704_3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33750475623
SN - 1524-8372
VL - 7
SP - 477
EP - 501
JO - Journal of Cognition and Development
JF - Journal of Cognition and Development
IS - 4
ER -