title: Not All Distractions Are the Same: Investigating Why Preschoolers Make Distraction Errors When Switching.
abstract: When switching between tasks, preschoolers frequently make distraction errors-as distinct from perseverative errors. This study examines for the first time why preschoolers make these errors. One hundred and sixty-four 2- and 3-year-olds completed one of four different conditions on a rule-switching task requiring children to sort stimuli according to one rule and then switch to a new rule. Conditions varied according to the type of information that children needed to ignore. Children made significantly more distraction errors when the to-be-ignored information was related to the previous rule. When it was not related to a previous rule, even young preschoolers could disregard this information. This demonstrates that distraction errors are caused by children's initial goal representations that continue to affect performance.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff University.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blakey
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Carroll
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*