Early success in using the relation between stimuli and rewards to deduce an abstract rule: perceived physical connection is key.
Are spatial proximity (0.10-12.5 cm), temporal proximity (0-, 2-, and 5-s gaps), and/or perceived connectedness of stimulus and reward key to infants' ability to deduce an abstract nonmatching rule from reward feedback? In this investigation, 3 conditions of the delayed nonmatching to sample task were administered to infants 9, 12, and 15 months old, and 5 more conditions were administered just to 12-month-olds. Results showed that connectedness is key. In its presence, neither close spatial or temporal proximity was needed. In the absence of the perception that stimulus and reward were components of a single thing, even close spatial and temporal proximity were insufficient for infants in the 1st year to grasp the rule-based association between stimuli and rewards.
Diamond
Adele
A
Center for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Waltham 02452, USA. adele.diamond@umassmed.edu
Lee
Eun Young
EY
Hayden
Michael
M
D000367:Age Factors; D001245:Association Learning; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013998:Time Perception