Stroop-like interference in the real animal size test and the pictorial animal size test in 5- to 12-year-old children and young adults.
This study examined prepotent response inhibition among 653 5- to 12-year-old children and young adults divided into five age groups: forty-six 5- to 6-year-olds, one hundred fifty-eight 7- to 8-year-olds, one hundred ninety-six 9- to 10-year-olds, one hundred eighty-three 11- to 12-year-olds, and 70 young adults (19- to 22-year-olds). Two paper-and-pencil versions of Stroop-like tasks were administered: the Real Animal Size Test and the Pictorial Animal Size Test. In these tests, participants are presented with pictures of animals (large animals such as an elephant, a giraffe, and a whale vs. small animals such as a frog, a bird, and a squirrel) printed as either big or small images that are mismatched with the animal's real size. Participants are required to decide the size of the animals (big vs. small) based on either the size in real life or the size of the picture. The results indicated the following: (a) The Pictorial Animal Size Test elicited robust interference, whereas the Real Animal Size Test elicited no interference; (b) prepotent response inhibition develops markedly in childhood and between children and young adults; and (c) error correction increased rapidly after age 8. The mechanism of interference and the influence of metacognition on prepotent response inhibition are discussed.
a Department of Special Needs Education , Tokyo Gakugei University , Tokyo , Japan.
Yoshifumi
Y
Ikeda
Hideyuki
H
Okuzumi
Mitsuru
M
Kokubun
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012858:Size Perception; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult