Effect of novelty on stimulus selection in children

Abstract

Thirty-nine four and five year old children were instructed to choose between looking at the picture behind one of two windows on each of 20 trials. The picture behind one window was always the same whereas the picture behind the other window changed on each trial. The results indicated that the frequency with which "varying" or novel stimuli were selected for viewing increased as familiarity with the "recurring" stimulus increased. The importance of this finding for the study of stimulus selection and exploratory behavior was discussed.

Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968–1987.

“…Similarly, Jenrenaud and Linford (1969) found positive exposure effects for child subjects when toy preferences were assessed. Other researchers have obtained positive exposure effects with letters (Sluckin et al, 1973) and names (Busse & Seraydarian, 1978), whereas some studies (i.e., Hutt, 1975; Leckart et al, 1968; Linford & Linford, 1977) have obtained reverse exposure effects with children using these stimuli. Rabinowitz and Robe (1968), Eson et al (1977), and Lemond and Nunnally (1974) also obtained reverse exposure effects with child subjects, using light, toy, and drawing stimuli, respectively.…”

“…Although the majority of mere exposure experiments used college-age subjects, 16 studies (reporting a total of 25 separate effect sizes) used child subjects. Cantor and Kubose (1969), Eson, Cometa, Allen, and Henel (1977), and Jenrenaud and Linford (1969) used preschool children, and the remaining studies used first- through sixth-grade subjects (i.e., Ball & Cantor, 1974; Busse & Seraydarian, 1978; Cantor, 1968, 1972; Freeman, 1972; Heingartner & Hall, 1974; Hutt, 1975; Leckart, Briggs, & Kirk, 1968; Lemond & Nunnally, 1974; Linford & Linford, 1977; Rabinowitz & Robe, 1968; Siebold, 1972; Sluckin, Miller, & Franklin, 1973). It is possible to examine the role of subject age in the exposure–affect relationship by comparing the results obtained in these investigations with findings reported in studies of adults.…”