Poster #9 - The Emergence of Cognitive Flexibility: How Do Children Develop Flexible Behaviour?

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Cognitive flexibility is a high-level skill that allows us to adjust our thoughts and behaviours in response to changes in the environment (Chevalier et al., 2012). Cognitive flexibility develops rapidly during the preschool years, and is typically assessed by children’s ability to switch from sorting objects by one rule (e.g., shape) to another rule (e.g., colour) (Carroll, Blakey, & FitzGibbon, 2016). While four-year-olds can switch from one rule to another, three-year-olds perseverate by continuing to sort by the first rule (Zelazo et al., 2003). Emerging research suggests that before age three, children may neither switch nor perseverate but instead show unsystematic performance (‘mixed responding’ - Blakey, Visser, & Carroll, 2016). This research suggests that mixed responding may be a distinct developmental stage prior to perseveration. Mixed responding is therefore likely to be a crucial aspect of the emergence of cognitive flexibility. However, little is known about this stage as most research to date has only studied children from age three years and upwards.

The aims of this study are to better understand the emergence of cognitive flexibility, by examining: i) whether mixed responding is indeed a distinct stage in development; and ii) whether mixed responding reflects wholly unsystematic performance, or whether it involves varying between switching and perseverating. To test this, two- to four-year-olds (prospective N = 160) completed a novel cognitive flexibility task where they must decide which of four colourful shapes matches a prompt image on the relevant rule (colour or shape).

Data collection is underway (completion October 2018). Preliminary results indicate that all children were able to sort successfully according to the first rule. However, when the rule changed, there were clear differences. Specifically, there was a significant age difference between mixed responders and switchers (R2 =.24, p = .006), as well as perseverators and switchers (R2 =.24, p = .037) such that 2-year-olds tended to be mixed responders, 3-year-olds tended to be perseverators, and 4-year-olds tended to be switchers. This suggests that mixed responding is indeed a distinct developmental stage. Furthermore, mixed responders comprised two distinctive subgroups: 71.4% of children performed at chance, meaning that they randomly selected all response options (including irrelevant distractors), whereas 28.6% percent of children selected the combination of correct answer and the answer which was correct according to previous rule.

These results shed new light on the development of cognitive flexibility by showing that perseveration is an intermediate developmental stage - one that follows a period of mixed responding. The next step is to investigate the cognitive factors that underpin this transition.

Authors

• Yesim Yavaslar, The University of Sheffield
  Presenting Author

• Daniel Carroll, The University of Sheffield
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma Blakey, The University of Sheffield
  Non-Presenting Author