DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGE IN SPEED OF PROCESSING

儿童，青少年， 和成年人执行的心理过程是无处不在的和大的。 这些年龄 差异与全球机制有关（即，一个不是 特定于特定任务或领域）， 年龄 本项目的长期目标是描述 这一机制，并了解其对认知发展的影响。 的 本研究的具体目标是： (1)拟议的工作将审查一个连接主义理论，其中 性能涉及多个处理步骤。 有些信息是 假设在网络中的每一步都丢失了，并且降级的信号 结果处理得更慢。 根据模型，儿童 处理信息的速度更慢，因为每 步骤，这意味着在每个步骤中等待 足够的信息来识别信号。 这个理论 在实验中，反馈被用来操纵 准确性和退化的刺激。 (2)大多数关于加工速度的发育变化的研究都集中在 7-到22岁，这意味着声称一个全球机制， 在加工速度的发展变化的基础必须限制， 这个年龄段。 在拟议的研究中包括的方法， 让年幼的孩子接受测试，从而提供更强的测试， 关于全球机制的主张。 这些方法包括检查 儿童和成人的平均反应时间之间的关系 不同的实验条件。 (3)年幼的孩子往往最初无法执行一些 但当信息呈现得更多时， 慢慢 在这些情况下，已经有足够的时间来执行流程， 在特定的基础上确定。 拟议工作的一个目的是使用 研究处理速度，以预测足够的呈现率， 儿童执行特定的认知过程。 该方法包括， 首先，确定不同时间下的呈现时间-性能函数， 年龄，第二，检查演示中的发展变化 这是一个人完成各种任务所需要的时间。

Age-related differences in the speed with which children, adolescents, and adults execute mental processes are ubiquitous and large. These age differences have been linked to a global mechanism (i.e., one that is not specific to particular tasks or domains) that changes exponentially with age. The long-term objective of the present project is to characterize this mechanism and understand its Impact on cognitive development. The specific aims of the present research are these: (1) The proposed work will examine a connectionist theory in which performance involves multiple processing steps. Some information is presumed to be lost at each step in the network, and the degraded signal that results is processed more slowly. According to the model, children process information more slowly because more information is lost per step, which means more time is consumed at each step waiting for sufficient information to accrue to identify the signal. The theory will be examined in experiments in which feedback is used to manipulate accuracy and degraded stimuli are presented. (2) Most work on developmental change in processing speed has focused on 7- to 22-year-olds, which means that claims that a global mechanism underlies developmental change in processing speed must be restricted to this age range. Included in the proposed research are methods that would allow younger children to be tested, thereby providing a stronger test of claims concerning the global mechanism. These methods involve examining the relation between children's and adults' mean response times across different experimental conditions. (3) Young children often are initially incapable of executing some cognitive process but can do so when information is presented more slowly. In these cases, sufficient time to execute processes has been determined on an ad hoc basis. An aim of the proposed work is to use research on processing speed to predict sufficient presentation rates for children to execute particular cognitive processes. The method involves, first, determining presentation time-performance functions at different ages, and, second, examining developmental change in the presentation time that is sufficient for individuals to perform various tasks.