Cargando…

Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands

In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kray, Jutta, Gaspard, Hanna, Karbach, Julia, Blaye, Agnès
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24381566
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00940
_version_ 1782296028820537344
author Kray, Jutta
Gaspard, Hanna
Karbach, Julia
Blaye, Agnès
author_facet Kray, Jutta
Gaspard, Hanna
Karbach, Julia
Blaye, Agnès
author_sort Kray, Jutta
collection PubMed
description In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8–10 years) and older children (11–13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3865368
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38653682013-12-31 Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands Kray, Jutta Gaspard, Hanna Karbach, Julia Blaye, Agnès Front Psychol Psychology In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8–10 years) and older children (11–13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first. Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3865368/ /pubmed/24381566 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00940 Text en Copyright © 2013 Kray, Gaspard, Karbach and Blaye. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Kray, Jutta
Gaspard, Hanna
Karbach, Julia
Blaye, Agnès
Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title_full Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title_fullStr Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title_full_unstemmed Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title_short Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
title_sort developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24381566
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00940
work_keys_str_mv AT krayjutta developmentalchangesinusingverbalselfcueingintaskswitchingsituationstheimpactoftaskpracticeandtasksequencingdemands
AT gaspardhanna developmentalchangesinusingverbalselfcueingintaskswitchingsituationstheimpactoftaskpracticeandtasksequencingdemands
AT karbachjulia developmentalchangesinusingverbalselfcueingintaskswitchingsituationstheimpactoftaskpracticeandtasksequencingdemands
AT blayeagnes developmentalchangesinusingverbalselfcueingintaskswitchingsituationstheimpactoftaskpracticeandtasksequencingdemands