Negative Priming Effects in Children Engaged in Nonspatial Tasks

Evidence for Early Development of an Intact Inhibitory Mechanism

Bibliographic Data

ID9788905
AuthorsVerena E Pritchard (0000-0001-7748-0063, University of Canterbury, corresponding author), Ewald Neumann (0000-0001-6494-0294, University of Canterbury)
Year2004
Volume40
Issue2
Pages191-203
Publication date2004-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.191
PMID14979760
OpenAlexW2029283163
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited52

Three experiments are reported that examined conceptual negative priming effects in children 5 to 12 years of age. Experiment 1 used a negative priming variant of a flanker task requiring the naming of a central color blob flanked by irrelevant distractors. Experiment 2 used a negative priming variant of the Stroop color-word task. Experiment 3 used a same-different matching task with novel 3-D shapes. Results revealed significant and equivalent magnitudes of negative priming across the tested age groups for all 3 tasks. It is concluded that the inhibitory mechanism underlying conceptual (i.e., identity or semantic) negative priming in visual selective attention tasks is intact in young children. Because the findings and conclusions diverge from the developmental literature on negative priming, the authors attempt to reconcile the contradictions by pinning down the reasons for the discrepancies

Cognition · Cognitive inhibition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Lexical decision task · Mechanism (biology · Negative priming · Priming (agriculture · Response priming · Selective attention · Stroop effect · Task (project management · Child and Animal Learning Development · Memory Processes and Influences · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Neuroscience · Psychology