Rudy J W, Keith J R, Georgen K
Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80303.
Dev Psychobiol. 1993 Apr;26(3):171-84. doi: 10.1002/dev.420260304.
Elemental associations permit subjects to solve problems when the significance of the relevant stimulus elements are consistent from trial to trial but do not allow subjects to solve problems that require them to construct and use representations of stimulus conjunctions or configurations to guide their behavior. Recent research with brain-damaged and developing animals has led several theorists to propose that elemental and configural associations depend on different neural systems. Some evidence suggests that changes in children's learning that occur when they are about 4.5 years old may be partially due to developmental differences in access to the elemental and configural association systems. Two experiments are reported that support this hypothesis. Children at least 4.5 years old were able to solve the transverse patterning problem and a conditional discrimination, two problems that require configural association solutions. Younger children did not solve these problems but were able to solve problems constructed from the same stimulus materials that permitted an elemental association solution. These results suggest that children may not gain access to the configural association system until they are about 4.5 years old and support the hypothesis that the configural association system depends on different, later developing neural structures than does the elemental association system.
当相关刺激元素的意义在每次试验中保持一致时，基本联想能让受试者解决问题，但无法让受试者解决那些需要构建并运用刺激联结或构型的表征来指导其行为的问题。近期针对脑损伤动物和发育中动物的研究促使一些理论家提出，基本联想和构型联想依赖于不同的神经系统。一些证据表明，儿童在大约4.5岁时学习上发生的变化，可能部分归因于在使用基本联想系统和构型联想系统方面的发育差异。本文报告了两项支持这一假设的实验。至少4.5岁的儿童能够解决横向模式问题和条件辨别问题，这两个问题都需要构型联想解决方案。年幼一些的儿童无法解决这些问题，但能够解决由相同刺激材料构建的、允许基本联想解决方案的问题。这些结果表明，儿童可能直到大约4.5岁时才能使用构型联想系统，并支持了这一假设：构型联想系统依赖于与基本联想系统不同的、发育较晚的神经结构。
