TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive processing and motor execution in the lexical decision task
T2 - A developmental study
AU - Schroeder, Sascha
AU - Verrel, Julius
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897465078&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13423-013-0509-x
DO - 10.3758/s13423-013-0509-x
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 24030472
AN - SCOPUS:84897465078
SN - 1069-9384
VL - 21
SP - 496
EP - 504
JO - Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
JF - Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
IS - 2
ER -