title: Temporal performance in 4-8 year old children. The effect of chronometric information in task execution.
abstract: The present study explores temporal performance in children between 4 and 11 years of age. In order to optimise the children's performance, verbal instructions and demonstrations were used to specify the temporal requirement of the task. Moreover, specific feedback was given, which indicated the success of a response, or, in case of a mistake, indicated the type of error made. The task was presented in two phases: training and experimental. In the first phase, the child practised until a learning criterion was reached. In the experimental phase, four conditions were defined according to the information provided to the children. In general, the results of the training phase showed an improvement in performance with advancing age. Significant differences were found in children between 7 and 8 years of age, which points to an important transition period. Results of the experimental phase showed a pronounced impact of instructions on the performance of the task and on the strategies used to control timing behaviour. Specifically, the instructions that contained chronometric information caused an impairment in task performance and a change in the strategy used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas, s/n, 23071 Jaén, Spain. lespino@ujaen.es
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Espinosa-Fernández
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de la Torre Vacas
authors.forename: Ma del Rosario
authors.initials: Mdel R
authors.lastname: García-Viedma
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Carlos Jesús
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Torres Colmenero
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D013998:Time Perception