Droit-Volet S
Blaise Pascal University, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
J Exp Child Psychol. 1998 Mar;68(3):236-49. doi: 10.1006/jecp.1997.2430.
Children aged 3 and 5 1/2 years were asked to carry out a response duration task in two sessions under "minimal", "temporal" and "force" instructions. In session 1, they were told to press "long enough" for the temporal instructions and "hard enough" for the force instructions. In session 2, they were asked to press "longer" or "harder" than in the previous session. Results showed that the force instructions, but not the temporal instructions, improved the 3-year-olds' timing accuracy. Furthermore, when instructed to press harder, 3-year-olds pressed longer. In contrast, 5 1/2-year-olds were more accurate with the temporal than with the force instructions; and when asked to press harder, they did not press longer. These findings suggest that 3-year-olds rely on a certain amount of force to produce correct response durations. The marked dissociation between force and duration only emerges between the ages of 3 and 5 1/2.
3岁和5岁半的儿童被要求在“最小”“时间”和“力度”指示下分两个阶段完成一项反应持续时间任务。在第一阶段，对于时间指示，他们被告知要按压“足够长的时间”，对于力度指示，要按压“足够用力”。在第二阶段，要求他们比上一阶段按压得“更长”或“更用力”。结果显示，力度指示而非时间指示提高了3岁儿童的计时准确性。此外，当被指示更用力按压时，3岁儿童按压的时间更长。相比之下，5岁半的儿童在时间指示下比在力度指示下更准确；当被要求更用力按压时，他们按压的时间并没有变长。这些发现表明，3岁儿童依靠一定的力度来产生正确的反应持续时间。力度和持续时间之间明显的分离仅出现在3岁至5岁半之间。
