title: Action-effect learning in early childhood: does language matter?
abstract: Previous work showed that language has an important function for the development of action control. This study examined the role of verbal processes for action-effect learning in 4-year-old children. Participants performed an acquisition phase including a two-choice key-pressing task in which each key press (action) was followed by a particular sound (effect). Children were instructed to either (1) label their actions along with the corresponding effects, (2) verbalize task-irrelevant words, (3) or perform without verbalization. In a subsequent test phase, they responded to the same sound effects either under consistent or under inconsistent sound-key mappings. Evidence for action-effect learning was obtained only if action and effects were labeled or if no verbalization was performed, but not if children verbalized task-irrelevant labels. Importantly, action-effect learning was most pronounced when children verbalized the actions and the corresponding effects, suggesting that task-relevant verbal labeling supports the integration of event representations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. j.karbach@mx.uni-saarland.de
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karbach
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kray
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hommel
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology