Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2023 Jan;225:105535. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105535. Epub 2022 Aug 27.
During complex tasks, we use working memory to actively maintain goal sets and direct attention toward goal-relevant information in the environment. However, working memory is severely limited, and storing information in working memory is cognitively effortful. Previous work by Kibbe and Kowler [2011, Journal of Vision, 11(3), Article 14] showed that adults strategically modulate reliance on working memory during complex, goal-oriented tasks, varying the amount of information they store in working memory depending both on the cognitive demands of the task and on the ease with which task-relevant information can be accessed from the environment. We asked whether children, whose working memory and executive functions are undergoing significant developmental change, also use working memory strategically during complex tasks. Forty-six 8-10-year-old children searched through arrays of hidden objects to find three that belonged to a given category defined over the objects' features. We manipulated the cognitive demands of the task by increasing the complexity of the category. We manipulated the exploration costs of the task by varying the rate at which task-relevant information could be accessed. We measured children's search patterns to gain insights into how the children used working memory during the task. We found that as the cognitive demands of the task increased, children stored less information in working memory, relying more on exploration. When exploration was costlier, children explored less, storing more in working memory. These results suggest that developing children, like adults, make strategic decisions about when to explore versus when to store during a complex, goal-oriented task.
在复杂任务中，我们使用工作记忆主动维护目标集，并将注意力集中在环境中的目标相关信息上。然而，工作记忆的容量是有限的，在工作记忆中存储信息需要认知努力。Kibbe 和 Kowler 的先前研究[2011，《视觉杂志》，11（3），第 14 条]表明，成年人在复杂的、面向目标的任务中会策略性地调整对工作记忆的依赖程度，根据任务的认知要求以及从环境中获取任务相关信息的难易程度，调整他们在工作记忆中存储的信息量。我们想知道，儿童的工作记忆和执行功能正在经历重大的发展变化，他们在复杂任务中是否也会策略性地使用工作记忆。我们让 46 名 8-10 岁的儿童在隐藏物体的数组中搜索三个属于给定特征类别的物体。我们通过增加类别复杂性来操纵任务的认知需求。我们通过改变任务相关信息的获取速度来操纵任务的探索成本。我们测量了孩子们的搜索模式，以深入了解孩子们在任务中如何使用工作记忆。我们发现，随着任务认知需求的增加，孩子们在工作记忆中存储的信息量减少，更多地依赖于探索。当探索成本更高时，孩子们的探索就会减少，在工作记忆中存储的信息就会更多。这些结果表明，发展中的儿童与成年人一样，在复杂的、面向目标的任务中，会做出关于何时探索与何时存储的策略性决策。
