Do children struggle with memory demands or physical self-control?
Even when memory demands are kept low, children struggle to act against their natural physical impulses.
Source
An effect of inhibitory load in children while keeping working memory load constant
What they did
Researchers tested 96 children between 6 and 10 years old on a computer-based task using red hearts and flowers. Half the children completed the congruent block first, where they pressed a button on the same side as a heart, followed by the incongruent block, where they pressed on the opposite side of a flower. The other half performed these blocks in the reverse order to see if the drop in performance on the incongruent block was due to memory confusion from switching rules or the physical demand of resisting a natural response.
What they found
Regardless of which block was presented first, children were consistently slower and made more errors on the incongruent block compared to the congruent block. For example, in the congruent-first group, average reaction times rose from about 596.44 milliseconds on congruent trials to approximately 725.17 milliseconds on incongruent trials. The fact that this performance gap did not change when the hard block came first proves that children struggle with physical inhibition rather than rule-switching or memory overload.
The limits
What it doesn't show
While this study successfully separates working memory load from inhibitory control, it does not explain the exact neural mechanisms driving this developmental lag. Additionally, because the sample consisted of children aged 6 to 10 from public schools in a specific region of Canada, these findings may not apply to younger preschoolers or children from vastly different cultural and educational backgrounds. Finally, the task relies on a highly simplified physical setup, meaning it cannot speak to how children manage more complex, real-world distractions or competing mental rules.
Key terms
- Inhibitory control
- The cognitive ability to suppress a prepotent physical response in favor of a goal-directed alternative.
- Working memory
- The system responsible for temporarily holding and actively manipulating information in mind.
- Congruent trial
- A task condition where the required response aligns naturally with the physical location of the stimulus.
- Incongruent trial
- A task condition where the required response is opposite to or conflicts with the physical location of the stimulus.
- Prepotent tendency
- An automatic, deeply ingrained impulse to react in a certain way, such as reaching directly toward an object of interest.
- Task-switching
- The executive function process that allows an individual to shift attention and adapt to a new set of rules.
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Quiz yourself
What is the primary theoretical debate regarding working memory and inhibitory control discussed in this study?
Common questions
Why did the researchers change the order of the blocks?
Normally, children complete the easy task before the hard one, which makes it unclear if their poor performance on the hard task is due to rule confusion or pure self-control limits. Reversing the order separates these two possibilities.
How do adults perform on this task compared to children?
Unlike children, young adults perform equally fast and accurately on both congruent and incongruent blocks, showing difficulty only on mixed blocks where they must constantly switch between rules.
What does the 'hearts and flowers' task actually measure?
It measures executive functions, specifically working memory (translating rules into hands) and inhibitory control (resisting the urge to press on the same side as the stimulus).
Did the children's performance improve with age?
Yes, accuracy on both the congruent and incongruent blocks improved significantly over age from 6 to 10 years old.
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