Diamond, A. and Churchland, A. and Cruess, L.M. and Kirkham, Natasha Z. (1999) Early developments in the ability to understand the relation between stimulus and reward. Developmental Psychology 35 (6), pp. 1507-1517. ISSN 0012-1649.
Abstract
Delayed nonmatching to sample (DNMS) is used to test the recognition memory function dependent on the medial temporal lobe. Children cannot succeed on this task until about 21 months. Because robust recognition is present well before then, the late emergence of another ability must account for the late success on DNMS. Evidence is presented here that the critical late-maturing confidence is the ability to grasp the relation between stimulus and reward—that is, to understand that the stimulus is a symbol or marker for the reward. Infants of 9 and 12 months were tested on 3 conditions of DNMS. A sample object was presented. After a delay, the sample and a novel object appeared; choice of the novel object was rewarded. In the standard task, the reward was in a well beneath the stimulus. In the verbal-reward condition the reward was not a separate object but was praise and applause. In the Velcro condition, the reward, although a separate and separable object, was attached to the base of the stimulus. Most infants at both ages succeeded in the verbal-reward and Velcro conditions but not in the standard condition.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
Date Deposited: | 06 Jan 2020 16:56 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:56 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/30493 |
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