Summary: Kids generally collect more information than needed to complete a task, yet when they know the solution.
A new research suggests this “over-exploration” may stem from either natural attention or poor running storage. According to research, children continue to look up irrelevant details because they are uncertain about how long they will remember it, unlike people.
Important Information:
- Babies over-explore tasks actually when they know the right answer.
- This behavior may be a result of childish running memory or curiosity.
- These underlying factors will be further explored in upcoming study.
Origin: Ohio State University
Scientists have discovered that young children find it difficult to concentrate on a task and frequently absorb information that wo n’t help them finish it. But the question is, why?
In a new study, researchers found that this “distributed attention” was n’t because children’s brains were n’t mature enough to understand the task or pay attention, and it was n’t because they were easily distracted and lacked the control to focus.
It now seems that kids focus their attention in broad amounts, either out of pure curiosity or because their working memory is n’t developed enough to complete a task without “overexploring.”
” Children ca n’t seem to stop themselves from gathering more information than they need to complete a task, even when they know exactly what they need”, said , Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and professor of , psychology at The Ohio State University.
Sloutsky conducted the study, published late in the journal , Psychological Science, with head writer Qianqian Wan, a graduate student in psychology at Ohio State.
Sloutsky and his colleagues have previously conducted studies to examine how children’s attention is distributed broadly, and they do n’t appear to have the same ability as adults to effectively complete tasks by skipping anything that is unrelated to their mission.
In this new study, Sloutsky and Wan found that children still “overexplore” and do n’t just concentrate on what is required to finish their assignment, despite having learned how to concentrate their attention on a task to earn small rewards like stickers.
One goal of this study was to see if family’s distractibility could be the reason.
One research involved 4- to 6-year-old children and adults. The participants were instructed to detect either the Hibi or Gora, two different kinds of bird-like animals. Each form had a special combination of colors and shapes for their trumpet, head, head, body, wing, feet and neck.
The blend of color and shape accurately predicted whether the brain part was a Hibi or a Gora for six out of the body parts. However, one body part often corresponded perfectly to just one of the animals, which both young people and adults immediately discovered in the first part of the study.
The scientists covered up each body part to check whether children were easily distracted, which required the study participants to find it one by one to determine which thing it was. They received rewards for identifying the thing as quickly as they could.
For individuals, the task was simple. When they realized the neck was the body part that usually corresponded perfectly with one of the two different kinds of creatures, they would always find it and identify the creature in the correct place.
But the kids were unique. If they had discovered that the neck was the body part that always made a creature properly identifiable, they may have discovered that first, but they would still have to find other body parts before making their choice.
All was covered up, the kids were not distracted. They could mimic people and just click on the body part that gave the creature’s identity, but they did n’t, according to Sloutsky.
” They merely kept making their decision by revealing more body pieces.”
According to Sloutsky, it’s also possible that kids really enjoy pressing the buttons. In another investigation, they also gave adults and children the option of making one faucet on an “express” button to expose the entire creature and all of its parts, or to click on each body part separately to expose it.
Children typically chose to tap again to expose the creature to determine what kind it was. Thus, the boys were n’t really clicking for the fun of it.
According to Sloutsky, research will be done to determine whether this unnecessary investigation is simply a interest. However, he claimed that he believes the more plausible argument is that children’s working memory is not entirely developed. That implies that they do n’t store the information they need to finish a task for as long as adults do, at least not in their memory.
The children were taught that a body part would identify a creature, but they might not realize it properly. Their operating memory is still under advancement”, Sloutsky said.
They want to find a way to address this confusion by continuing to test and checking whether other body parts correspond to their expectations.
As family’s working memory mature, they feel more confident in their ability to retain information for a longer time, he said, and behave more like people do.
According to Sloutsky, the future studies should address the issue of whether the problem is working storage or interest.
About this information on exploration into neurodevelopment
Author: Jeff Grabmeier
Source: Ohio State University
Contact: Jeff Grabmeier – Ohio State University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed exposure.
” Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning” by Vladimir Sloutsky et cetera. Psychological Knowledge
Abstract
Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning
Organization of entities into equality classes is a critical component of consciousness. Younger children frequently divide their attention between important and irrelevant features, while adults typically focus on category-relevant features.
The causes for children’s distributed interest are not completely understood. In two category-learning experiments with adults and with children aged 4, 5, and 6 ( N , = 201 ), we examined potential drivers of distributed attention, including ( a ) immature filtering of distractors and ( b ) the general tendency for exploration or broad information sampling.
By eliminating distractor opposition, we reduced filtering requirements. Despite identifying the attributes critical for accurate classification, children, regardless of their classification achievement, continued sampling more knowledge than was needed.
These findings demonstrate that young children’s interest is effectively influenced by their desire to sample information in large numbers. We identify potential causes of this desire that need to be looked into in upcoming study.
