Children's Attention Allocation, Understanding of Attention, and Performance on the Incidental Learning Task

1981 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia H. Miller ◽  
Michael G. Weiss
Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Hanako Yoshida ◽  
Aakash Patel ◽  
Joseph Burling

This study evaluated two explanations for how learning of novel adjectives is facilitated when all the objects are from the same category (e.g., exemplar and testing objects are all CUPS) and the object category is a known to the children. One explanation (the category knowledge account) focuses on early knowledge of syntax–meaning correspondence, and another (the attentional account) focuses on the role of repeated perceptual properties. The first account presumes implicit understanding that all the objects belong to the same category, and the second account presumes only that redundant perceptual experiences minimize distraction from irrelevant features and thus guide children’s attention directly to the correct item. The present study tests the two accounts by documenting moment-to-moment attention allocation (e.g., looking at experimenter’s face, exemplar object, target object) during a novel adjective learning task with 50 3-year-olds. The results suggest that children’s attention was guided directly to the correct item during the adjective mapping and that such direct attention allocation to the correct item predicted children’s adjective mapping performance. Results are discussed in relation to their implication for children’s active looking as the determinant of process for mapping new words to their meanings.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizaveta Solomonova ◽  
Simon Dubé ◽  
Arnaud Samson-Richer ◽  
Cloé Blanchette-Carrière ◽  
Tyna Paquette ◽  
...  

Vipassana meditation is characterized by observing bodily sensations, developing emotional and attentional stability and promoting pro-social qualities. Whether these qualities are also reflected in dream content is not currently known. Evidence relating dream content with sleep-depending learning is mixed: some studies suggest that dreaming of a task is beneficial for improvement, while others find no such effect. This study aimed at investigating whether meditators have qualitatively different dreams than controls; whether meditators incorporate a procedural learning task more often than controls; and whether dreaming about the task is related to better post-sleep performance on the task.20 meditators and 20 controls slept for a daytime nap at the laboratory. Prior to sleep and upon awakening they completed a procedural learning task. Dream reports were collected at sleep onset and upon awakening (REM/N2 sleep). Dreams were then scored for qualities associated with meditation practice and for incorporations of the procedural task and of the laboratory. Meditators had longer dreams, slightly more references to the body and friendlier and more compassionate interactions with dream characters. Dreams of meditation practitioners were not more lucid than those of controls. Meditators did not incorporate the learning task or laboratory into dream content more often than controls, and no relationship was found between dream content and performance on a procedural task. In control participants, in contrast, incorporating task or laboratory in REM/N2 dreams was associated with improvement on the task, but incorporations at sleep onset were associated with slightly worse performance on the task.


1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1315-1320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul N. Dixon ◽  
Audrey E. Cameron

Locus of control, other-direction, and academic achievement motivation were investigated as a function of acceptance of motivational cues in intentional-incidental learning. Correlations among the three personality constructs were also calculated. The subjects were 134 college students studied under high and low learning motivation for each personality construct. It was hypothesized that high academic achievement motivation would be associated with increased intentional learning and that internal subjects would have consistent intentional and incidental learning under both levels of motivation. The externals, accepting experimenter's instructions, would show a funneling effect toward greater intentional learning under high motivation with corresponding decreases in incidental learning. No significant differences on the learning task by locus of control or other-direction were found. Subjects high in achievement motivation performed significantly better on the intentional task than those low in achievement motivation. The highly motivated group performed significantly better than those who were low on the incidental task, suggesting that the motivation may focus the subject's attention toward embedded incidental cues. Significant intercorrelations were obtained among the three personality constructs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1020-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHELLE MACROY-HIGGINS ◽  
ELIZABETH A. MONTEMARANO

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine attention allocation in toddlers who were late talkers and toddlers with typical language development while they were engaged in a word-learning task in order to determine if differences exist. Two-year-olds who were late talkers (11) and typically developing toddlers (11) were taught twelve novel pseudo-words for unfamiliar objects over ten training sessions. The toddlers' attention allocation during the word-learning sessions was measured as well as their comprehension of the newly learned words. Late talkers showed reduced attention allocation to objects during word-training sessions, and also comprehended fewer of the novel words than toddlers with typical language development. Attention allocation was found to be a stronger predictor of word learning as compared to cognition and auditory comprehension. Reduced attention allocation may contribute to the early lexical delay characteristic in late talkers.


1979 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Eelen ◽  
Géry D'Ydewalle

The effects of two training procedures on learning and performance are compared. Performers select a response alternative for each stimulus on Trial 1 and receive feedback in terms of “Right” or “Wrong”. Observers receive the same information by listening to the experimenter. Experiment I tests the hypothesis that performers and observers are using a different learning strategy when there are only two response alternatives available for each stimulus on Trial 1. A recognition procedure was used on Trial 2; each stimulus was followed by four alternatives, two of them being the same as presented on Trial 1. Subjects have to recognize the two “old” alternatives. Performers are always better at recognizing the chosen alternative, whereas observers are better at recognizing the correct alternative. Experiment II extends the comparison between performers and observers to a task with four response alternatives on Trial 1. There are no longer differences in performance between the two training procedures.


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