Crone Eveline A, Bunge Silvia A, van der Molen Maurits W, Ridderinkhof K Richard
Department of Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Dev Sci. 2006 May;9(3):278-87. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00490.x.
Task switching requires the ability to flexibly switch between task rules and responses, and is sensitive to developmental change. We tested the hypothesis that developmental changes in task switch performance are associated with changes in the facilitating or interfering effect of the previously retrieved stimulus-response (S-R) association. Three age groups (7-8-year-olds, 10-12-year-olds and 20-25-year-olds) performed a two-choice reaction time (RT) task in which spatially compatible or incompatible responses were required. The RT costs associated with switching between tasks were larger when responses were repeated than when responses were alternated. Younger children showed a greater cost than adults when switching between tasks but repeating responses. This age difference decreased when the interval between the previous response and the upcoming stimulus increased. Switch costs were larger when switching to the compatible task than to the incompatible task, but this effect did not differ between age groups. These findings suggest that young children build up stronger transient associations between task sets and response sets, which interfere with their ability to switch to currently intended actions. A similar pattern has previously been observed for older adults (Mayr, 2001), suggesting a common contributor to task switching deficits across the life span.
任务切换需要能够在任务规则和反应之间灵活切换，并且对发育变化敏感。我们检验了这样一个假设，即任务切换表现的发育变化与先前检索到的刺激-反应（S-R）关联的促进或干扰效应的变化有关。三个年龄组（7-8岁、10-12岁和20-25岁）进行了一项二选一反应时（RT）任务，其中需要做出空间上兼容或不兼容的反应。当反应重复时，与任务切换相关的反应时代价大于反应交替时的代价。在任务切换但反应重复时，年幼儿童比成年人表现出更大的代价。当前一个反应与即将到来的刺激之间的间隔增加时，这种年龄差异会减小。切换到兼容任务时的切换代价大于切换到不兼容任务时的代价，但这种效应在不同年龄组之间没有差异。这些发现表明，年幼儿童在任务集和反应集之间建立了更强的瞬时关联，这会干扰他们切换到当前预期动作的能力。之前在老年人中也观察到了类似的模式（迈尔，2001年），这表明在整个生命周期中，任务切换缺陷存在一个共同的影响因素。
