Statistical learning in typically developing children: the role of age and speed of stimulus presentation

Abstract

It is possible that statistical learning (SL) plays a role in almost every mental activity. Indeed, research on SL has grown rapidly over recent decades in an effort to better understand perception and cognition. Yet, there remain gaps in our understanding of how SL operates, in particular with regard to its (im)mutability. Here, we investigated whether participant-related variables (such as age) and task-related variables (such as speed of stimulus presentation) affect visual statistical learning (VSL) in typically developing children. We tested 183 participants ranging in age from 5 to 12 years and compared three speeds of presentation (using stimulus durations of 800, 400 and 200 msecs). A multiple regression analysis revealed significant effects of both age and speed of presentation - after attention during familiarization and gender had been taken into consideration. VSL followed a developmental trajectory whereby learning increased with age. The amount of learning increased with longer presentation times (as shown by Turk-Browne, Jungé & Scholl, 2005, in their study of adults). There was no significant interaction between the two variables. These findings assist in elucidating the nature of statistical learning itself. While statistical learning can be observed in very young children and at remarkably fast presentation times, participant- and task-related variables do impact upon this type of learning. The findings reported here may serve to enhance our understanding of individual differences in the cognitive and perceptual processes that are thought to rely, at least in part, on SL (e.g. language processing and object recognition).

The multi-component nature of statistical learning

“…Participants were exposed to a familiarization phase followed 24 h later by a surprise test phase comprised of a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. Arciuli & Simpson [65] reported another study of neurotypical adults (17-25 years) using different visual stimuli (the aforementioned aliens in the embedded triplet task first reported in [44]). In a between-participants design, a familiarization phase was undertaken 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h or 24 h before a surprise test phase comprised of 2AFC trials.…”

“…It has been pointed out that learning processes in these key brain regions may occur at different rates, thereby resulting in quite different types of behavioural effects depending on the learning task that is used [100]. Arciuli & Simpson [44] noted that some of the learning processes in different brain regions may be early-maturing while others are not. For example, see research on protracted neural development in fronto-parietal regions associated with WM [101].…”

“…In one of the earliest empirical studies of individual differences in SL, Arciuli & Simpson [44] stated 'It seems likely that a task in which participants implicitly compute the statistical regularities that are present in sequentially delivered stimuli will recruit, among other processes, some kind of implicit mode of WM.' ( p. 470).…”

“…In one of the largest studies conducted to date, Arciuli & Simpson examined the effect of age on visual SL in typically developing children aged 5-12 years (n ¼ 183) using one of the most common paradigms in SL research, the embedded triplet paradigm [44]. The familiarization stream was comprised of individually presented cartoon figures that could be loosely described as aliens (these figures were not recognizable or readily verbalizable).…”

Using Multi-Image Presentations to Enhance Continuing Engineering Education

“…Stimulus presentation methodology occurs when organisms are exposed to different types of stimuli to determine their reactions or performance. This methodology has been used in a wide range of fields such as psychology (e.g., [7]), medicine (e.g., [8]), and child development (e.g., [9]). It has also historically been used in multimedia research ( [10]).…”