title: Oculomotor and manual indexes of incidental and intentional spatial sequence learning during middle childhood and adolescence.
abstract: The goal of this study was to examine incidental and intentional spatial sequence learning during middle childhood and adolescence. We tested four age groups (8-10 years, 11-13 years, 14-17 years, and young adults [18+ years]) on a serial reaction time task and used manual and oculomotor measures to examine incidental sequence learning. Participants were also administered a trial block in which they were explicitly instructed to learn a sequence. Replicating our previous study with adults, oculomotor anticipations and response times showed learning effects similar to those in the manual modality. There were few age-related differences in the sequence learning indexes during incidental learning, but intentional learning yielded differences on all indexes. Results indicate that the search for regularities and the ability to learn a sequence rapidly under incidental conditions are mature by 8 to 10 years of age. In contrast, the ability to learn a sequence intentionally, which requires cognitive resources and strategies, continues to develop through adolescence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. karat004@umn.edu
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karatekin
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: Tonya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001767:Blinking; D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception