Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning.

ABSTRACT: Category learning is a crucial aspect of cognition that involves organizing entities into equivalence classes. Whereas adults tend to focus on category-relevant features, young children often distribute attention between relevant and irrelevant ones. The reasons for children's distributed attention are not fully understood. In two category-learning experiments with adults and with children aged 4, 5, and 6 (N = 201), we examined potential drivers of distributed attention, including (a) immature filtering of distractors and (b) the general tendency for exploration or broad information sampling. By eliminating distractor competition, we reduced filtering demands. Despite identifying the features critical for accurate categorization, children, regardless of their categorization perform

SUBMITTER: Wan Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12369964 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature