Cognitive processing and motor execution in the lexical decision task: A developmental study.

We investigated lexical decision making in children and adults by analyzing spatiotemporal characteristics of responses involving a hand movement. Children’s and adults’ movement trajectories were assessed in three tasks: a lexical decision task (LDT), a pointing task that involved minimal cognitive processing, and a symbol task requiring a simple binary decision. Cognitive interference on motor performance was quantified by analyzing movement characteristics in the LDT and symbol task relative to the pointing task. Across age groups, movements in the LDT were less smooth, slower, and more strongly curved to the opposite response option, and these interference effects decreased steadily with age. Older children showed stronger interference effects than did adults, even though their reaction times were similar to adults’ performance. No comparable effects were found in the symbol task, indicating that task characteristics such as response mapping and decision selection alone are not able to explain the developmental differences observed in the LDT. Our results indicate substantial overlap between cognitive processing and motor execution in the LDT in children that is not captured by computational models of visual word recognition and cognitive development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

Accession Number: 2013-33068-001. PMID: 24030472 Other Journal Title: Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society. Partial author list: First Author & Affiliation: Schroeder, Sascha; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, MPRG Reading Education and Development (REaD), Berlin, Germany. Other Publishers: Psychonomic Society. Release Date: 20130916. Correction Date: 20180301. Publication Type: Journal (0100), Peer Reviewed Journal (0110). Format Covered: Electronic. Document Type: Journal Article. Language: English. Major Descriptor: Age Differences; Lexical Decision; Motor Performance. Minor Descriptor: Adult Development; Childhood Development; Cognitive Processes. Classification: Cognitive & Perceptual Development (2820). Population: Human (10); Male (30); Female (40). Location: Germany. Age Group: Childhood (birth-12 yrs) (100); School Age (6-12 yrs) (180); Adulthood (18 yrs & older) (300). Tests & Measures: SLRT-II. Methodology: Empirical Study; Quantitative Study. References Available: Y. Page Count: 9. Issue Publication Date: Apr, 2014. Publication History: First Posted Date: Sep 13, 2013. Copyright Statement: Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2013.