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Converging evidence of the development of efficient inhibition

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Date Issued:
1991
Summary:
Four experiments were conducted to examine developmental differences in inhibitory processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated increasing inhibitory efficiency with age in a Stroop-type task. First graders did not show a significant inhibition effect, which was shown by all older groups. With age, greater proportional decrements in response latency were found for Stroop tasks with an inhibition component than for a standard Stroop task. Experiment 2 contrasted cued-recall performance on an unrelated list with performance on a list of scrambled high-associate pairs. Kindergartners, second and fourth graders recalled less than adults, and more of their total output during recall was composed of inappropriate intrusions. Examination of interitem response latencies revealed that kindergartners' processing did not differentiate between inappropriate intrusions and correct responses, whereas older subjects distinguished between correct responses and all errors. In Experiment 3, subjects were read lists of words, were told to forget some of the words, and then were unexpectedly asked to recall the to-be-forgotten words. Adults and fifth graders who were told to forget were able to inhibit the pre-cue items, although the words were available in a recognition task. First graders were not able to inhibit activations of pre-cue items, and they did not show the standard directed-forgetting patterns of performance. Patterns of inhibition for third grade children fell between that of first and fifth graders. In Experiment 4, an intentional/incidental contrast was added to the directed-forgetting paradigm. This experiment replicated earlier work, finding directed-forgetting effects for both incidentally and intentionally learned words. Developmental changes in performance replicated those of Experiment 3. Latencies between consecutively recalled words were also examined. Subjects who were not told to forget words showed a processing advantage, in terms of faster latencies, for primacy items. When subjects were given the forget cue, their processing was slightly quicker for second list half items. In general, results were consistent with the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, suggesting that inhibitory processing becomes more efficient over the elementary school years. Implications for the limited mental resources model, and the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, were discussed.
Title: Converging evidence of the development of efficient inhibition.
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Name(s): Harnishfeger, Katherine Kipp
Florida Atlantic University, Degree Grantor
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1991
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 95 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Four experiments were conducted to examine developmental differences in inhibitory processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated increasing inhibitory efficiency with age in a Stroop-type task. First graders did not show a significant inhibition effect, which was shown by all older groups. With age, greater proportional decrements in response latency were found for Stroop tasks with an inhibition component than for a standard Stroop task. Experiment 2 contrasted cued-recall performance on an unrelated list with performance on a list of scrambled high-associate pairs. Kindergartners, second and fourth graders recalled less than adults, and more of their total output during recall was composed of inappropriate intrusions. Examination of interitem response latencies revealed that kindergartners' processing did not differentiate between inappropriate intrusions and correct responses, whereas older subjects distinguished between correct responses and all errors. In Experiment 3, subjects were read lists of words, were told to forget some of the words, and then were unexpectedly asked to recall the to-be-forgotten words. Adults and fifth graders who were told to forget were able to inhibit the pre-cue items, although the words were available in a recognition task. First graders were not able to inhibit activations of pre-cue items, and they did not show the standard directed-forgetting patterns of performance. Patterns of inhibition for third grade children fell between that of first and fifth graders. In Experiment 4, an intentional/incidental contrast was added to the directed-forgetting paradigm. This experiment replicated earlier work, finding directed-forgetting effects for both incidentally and intentionally learned words. Developmental changes in performance replicated those of Experiment 3. Latencies between consecutively recalled words were also examined. Subjects who were not told to forget words showed a processing advantage, in terms of faster latencies, for primacy items. When subjects were given the forget cue, their processing was slightly quicker for second list half items. In general, results were consistent with the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, suggesting that inhibitory processing becomes more efficient over the elementary school years. Implications for the limited mental resources model, and the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, were discussed.
Identifier: 12274 (digitool), FADT12274 (IID), fau:9178 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Adviser: David F. Bjorklund.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1991.
Subject(s): Psychology, Developmental
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12274
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.