Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2024 Oct;246:105975. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105975. Epub 2024 Jun 8.
Both pre-error speeding and post-error slowing reflect monitoring and control strategies. Post-error slowing is relatively well-established in children, whereas pre-error speeding is much less studied. Here we investigated (a) whether kindergarten and first-grade children show pre-error speeding in a cognitive control task (Hearts and Flowers) and, if so, (b) whether post-error slowing is associated with pre-error speeding. We analyzed the data from 153 kindergartners and 468 first-graders. Both kindergartners and first-graders showed significant pre-error speeding and post-error slowing, with no differences between the two samples in the magnitude of each. The magnitude of pre-error speeding and post-error slowing was correlated within individuals in both samples and to a similar extent. That is, children who sped up more extremely toward an error also slowed down more extremely after an error. These findings provide evidence that pre-error speeding and post-error slowing are related in children as early as kindergarten age and may in concert reflect how optimal children's monitoring and control of their performance is in a cognitive control task.
无论是预错误加速还是后错误减速，都反映了监控和控制策略。后错误减速在儿童中已经得到了相对充分的研究，而预错误加速则研究得较少。在这里，我们研究了（a）幼儿园和一年级儿童在认知控制任务（红心与鲜花）中是否表现出预错误加速，如果是，（b）后错误减速是否与预错误加速相关。我们分析了来自 153 名幼儿园儿童和 468 名一年级儿童的数据。幼儿园儿童和一年级儿童都表现出显著的预错误加速和后错误减速，两个样本在每种效应的幅度上没有差异。在两个样本中，个体内部的预错误加速和后错误减速的幅度是相关的，而且程度相似。也就是说，在错误发生前加速更剧烈的孩子，在错误发生后也会更剧烈地减速。这些发现为预错误加速和后错误减速在儿童中是相关的提供了证据，早在幼儿园年龄阶段就已经存在，并且可能共同反映了儿童在认知控制任务中对其表现的监控和控制是如何达到最佳状态的。
