Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2014 Feb;118:127-33. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.07.015. Epub 2013 Sep 14.
Prepotent actions are actions that are strongly triggered by the environment and so tend to be carried out unless intentionally avoided. Understanding what makes an action prepotent is central to an understanding of inhibitory control. The current study investigated actions made on artifacts because in artifact-dense cultures much everyday behavior is focused on them. A total of 80 3-year-olds were tested on a Go/No-go task that required children to make an action on go trials and to withhold it on no-go trials. These actions were made on artifacts with which the actions were either associated (e.g., drawing with a crayon) or unassociated (e.g., drawing with a hammer). Failure to avoid the go action on no-go trials was taken as evidence that the action was prepotent. Results suggested that an action did not need to be associated with an artifact in order for it to be prepotent (so drawing with a hammer could be prepotent). However, associated actions were sometimes produced even when children had been instructed to make an unassociated action. Children sometimes drew with a crayon when told to hammer with it, but they never hammered when told to draw.
优势反应是指那些受到环境强烈触发而倾向于被执行的反应，除非被有意回避。理解什么是优势反应，对于理解抑制控制至关重要。本研究考察了人们对人工制品的行为反应，因为在人工制品密集的文化中，许多日常行为都集中在这些物品上。共有 80 名 3 岁儿童接受了 Go/No-go 任务的测试，该任务要求儿童在 Go 试次中做出反应，在 No-go 试次中抑制反应。这些动作是在与动作相关（例如，用蜡笔绘画）或不相关（例如，用锤子绘画）的人工制品上做出的。如果儿童在 No-go 试次中未能避免 Go 反应，则可以认为该反应是优势反应。结果表明，一个动作不需要与一个人工制品相关联才能成为优势反应（因此，用锤子画画也可以是优势反应）。然而，即使儿童被指示做出不相关的动作，相关的动作有时也会被做出。当儿童被要求用蜡笔画画时，他们有时会用蜡笔画画，但当被要求用锤子画画时，他们从不会用锤子画画。
