Attention to novelty interferes with toddlers' emerging memory decision-making

Abstract

Memory decision-making in 26- to 32-month-olds was investigated using visual-paired comparison paradigms, requiring toddlers to select familiar stimuli (Active condition) or view familiar and novel stimuli (Passive condition). In Experiment 1 (N = 108, 54.6% female, 62% White; replication N = 98), toddlers with higher accuracy in the Active condition showed reduced novelty preference in that condition, but not in the Passive condition (d = -.11). In Experiment 2 (N = 78; 52.6% female; 70.5% White), a brief 5% increase in target size boosted gaze transitions across conditions (d = .50) and accuracy in the Active condition (d = .53). Overall, evidence suggests that better attentional distribution can support decision-making. Research was conducted between 2014 and 2020 in Northern California.

Fig 1.. Eye Tracker Task Design in Experiment 1.

(a). The encoding phase for both the Passive and Active conditions. Toddlers saw a video of a female experimenter introducing the pictures as her drawings and then toddles saw one image on the screen one after another, (b). Retrieval phase of the Passive condition. Experimenter conducting the session told them that they were going to see more drawings and then toddlers saw two images (1 old and 1 new image) on the screen preceded by a video of the female experimenter saying “Hey, look” and were given no instructions other than to look at the screen, (c). Retrieval phase of the Active condition. A video of the female experimenter introduced the condition by inviting toddlers to find her drawings. Toddlers then saw pairs of images (1 old and 1 new image) and were asked by the experimenter to point to the image that they had seen previously.

Fig 2.. Novelty Preference in the Active and Passive Conditions for Experiment 1.

(a). Average novelty preference in the Active and Passive conditions as a function of accuracy group (low accuracy, in gray vs high accuracy, in black). Points represent individual data points and data are jittered on the horizontal axis to avoid stacking, (b). Novelty preference across the trial as a function of time in the Active condition as a function of accuracy group (low accuracy, in gray vs high accuracy, in black). Gray boxes indicate time in the trial where novelty preference for low and high accuracy groups were significantly different from one another. Black dotted line indicates chance looking preference, (c). Novelty preference across the trial as a function of time in the Passive condition as a function of accuracy group (low accuracy, in gray vs high accuracy, in black). The groups did not differ at any point in time. Black dotted line indicates chance looking preference. Error bars are 95% confidence intervals.

Fig 3.. Attentional Manipulation Conditions for Active Condition in Experiment 2.

(a). Retrieval phase of the Control condition in the Active condition. This condition was identical to the retrieval phases of Experiment 1. Toddlers were invited by a video of the female experimenter to either look at the images (Passive condition; Not shown here) or to find her drawings and then asked to point to the picture they had seen before by the experimenter (Active condition; Shown above), (b). Retrieval phase of the Flicker condition in the Active Condition. Toddlers were invited by a video of the female experimenter to either look at the images (Passive condition; Not shown here) or to find her drawings and then asked to point to the picture they had seen before by the experimenter (Active condition; Shown above). For all trials, the old image flickered, once, 1 second into the trial. Red arrow indicates the image that was enlarged. Arrow is for demonstration purposes only. It was not included in the task.

Fig 4.. Novelty Preference in the Active and Passive Conditions for Experiment 2.

(a). Average novelty preference in the Active and Passive conditions as a function of attention condition (Control, in gray vs Flicker, in black). Points represent individual data points and data are jittered on the horizontal axis to avoid stacking, (b). Novelty preference across the trial as a function of time in the Active condition as a function of attention condition (Control, in gray vs Flicker, in black). Gray box indicates time in the trial where novelty preference for Control and Flicker conditions were significantly different from one another. Black dotted line indicates chance looking preference, (c). Novelty preference across the trial as a function of time in the Passive condition as a function of attention condition (Control, in gray vs Flicker, in black). Gray box indicates time in the trial where the novelty preference for Control and Flicker conditions were significantly differentfrom one another. Black dotted line indicates chance looking preference. Error bars are 95% confidence intervals.