Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning.
Psychol Sci
; : 9567976241258146, 2024 Aug 19.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39158984
ABSTRACT
Category learning is a crucial aspect of cognition that involves organizing entities into equivalence classes. Whereas adults tend to focus on category-relevant features, young children often distribute attention between relevant and irrelevant ones. The reasons for children's distributed attention are not fully understood. In two category-learning experiments with adults and with children aged 4, 5, and 6 (N = 201), we examined potential drivers of distributed attention, including (a) immature filtering of distractors and (b) the general tendency for exploration or broad information sampling. By eliminating distractor competition, we reduced filtering demands. Despite identifying the features critical for accurate categorization, children, regardless of their categorization performance, continued sampling more information than was necessary. These results indicate that the tendency to sample information extensively contributes to distributed attention in young children. We identify candidate drivers of this tendency that need to be examined in future research.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychol Sci
Asunto de la revista:
PSICOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos