Korolczuk Inga, Burle Boris, Senderecka Magdalena, Coull Jennifer T
Department of Psychology, Medical University of Lublin 20-093 Lublin, Poland; Centre for Research in Psychology and Neuroscience (UMR 7077), Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, 13007 Marseille, France.
Centre for Research in Psychology and Neuroscience (UMR 7077), Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, 13007 Marseille, France.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2025 Jul;255:106224. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2025.106224. Epub 2025 Mar 19.
Understanding how individuals learn to synchronize actions with the temporal structure of their environment is crucial for understanding goal-directed behavior. This study investigated the effects of temporal predictability on cognitive control and action regulation in children aged 5 to 14 years. In our temporally cued version of the Simon task, children were explicitly informed that visual cues would either predict (temporal cues) or not predict (neutral cues) the onset of a target. They used this information to respond to lateralized targets when the target position was either compatible or incompatible with the response hand. Temporal cues speeded reaction times (RTs) to compatible targets in the older (11- to 14-year-old) children and induced a greater number of fast impulsive errors to incompatible targets across all age groups. This pattern replicates previous results in adults and demonstrates that knowing when an event is likely to occur induces a fast, although impulsive, response style. Surprisingly, in the youngest age group (5- and 6-year-olds), temporal cues speeded RTs to incompatible, as well as compatible, targets and helped children to inhibit fast impulsive errors to incompatible targets more efficiently. In summary, the youngest children appeared to effectively leverage the information conveyed by temporal cues to mitigate impulsive response tendencies. However, the benefits of temporal cues on impulse control started to diminish from 7 years of age, when children begin to show more mature inhibitory patterns. Nevertheless, by 11 years of age children achieve performance comparable to that of adults, with faster responses to compatible targets and impulsive responses to incompatible targets.
理解个体如何学会使行动与环境的时间结构同步，对于理解目标导向行为至关重要。本研究调查了时间可预测性对5至14岁儿童认知控制和行动调节的影响。在我们的时间线索版西蒙任务中，儿童被明确告知视觉线索要么会预测（时间线索）要么不会预测（中性线索）目标的出现。当目标位置与反应手兼容或不兼容时，他们利用这些信息对侧向目标做出反应。时间线索加快了年龄较大（11至14岁）儿童对兼容目标的反应时间（RTs），并在所有年龄组中导致对不兼容目标产生更多快速冲动性错误。这种模式重复了之前在成年人中的结果，并表明知道事件可能何时发生会引发一种快速的、尽管是冲动的反应方式。令人惊讶的是，在最年幼的年龄组（5岁和6岁）中，时间线索加快了对不兼容目标以及兼容目标的RTs，并帮助儿童更有效地抑制对不兼容目标的快速冲动性错误。总之，最年幼的儿童似乎有效地利用了时间线索传达的信息来减轻冲动反应倾向。然而，时间线索对冲动控制的益处从7岁开始减少，此时儿童开始表现出更成熟的抑制模式。尽管如此，到11岁时儿童的表现与成年人相当，对兼容目标反应更快，对不兼容目标有冲动反应。
