Table_1_Assessing Visual Statistical Learning in Early-School-Aged Children: The Usefulness of an Online Reaction Time Measure.docx

Visual statistical learning (VSL) was traditionally tested through offline two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) questions. More recently, online reaction time (RT) measures and alternative offline question types have been developed to further investigate learning during exposure and more adequately assess individual differences in adults (Siegelman et al., 2017b, 2018). We assessed the usefulness of these measures for investigating VSL in early-school-aged children. Secondarily, we examined the effect of introducing a cover task, potentially affecting attention, on children’s VSL performance. Fifty-three children (aged 5–8 years) performed a self-paced VSL task containing triplets, in which participants determine the presentation speed and RTs to each stimulus are recorded. Half of the participants performed a cover task, while the other half did not. Online sensitivity to the statistical structure was measured by contrasting RTs to unpredictable versus predictable elements. Subsequently, participants completed 2-AFC (choose correct triplet) and 3-AFC (fill blank to complete triplet) offline questions. RTs were significantly longer for unpredictable than predictable elements, so we conclude that early-school-aged children are sensitive to the statistical structure during exposure, and that the RT task can measure that. We found no evidence as to whether children can perform above chance on offline 2-AFC or 3-AFC questions, or whether the cover task affects children’s VSL performance. These results show the feasibility of using an online RT task when assessing VSL in early-school-aged children. This task therefore seems suitable for future studies that aim to investigate VSL across development or in clinical populations, perhaps together with behavioral tasks.

视觉统计学习（Visual Statistical Learning，VSL）传统上通过离线式二择一迫选（two-alternative forced choice，2-AFC）范式进行测试。近年来，研究者开发了在线反应时（reaction time，RT）测量范式与其他离线提问类型，以进一步探究刺激暴露阶段的学习过程，并更充分地评估成人群体的个体差异（Siegelman等人，2017b，2018）。本研究评估了上述测量范式用于探究学龄早期儿童视觉统计学习的有效性。次要研究目标为：考察引入可能影响注意力的掩蔽任务（cover task）对儿童视觉统计学习表现的影响。本研究共招募53名年龄介于5至8岁的学龄早期儿童，让其完成包含三元组（triplets）的自定步调视觉统计学习任务：由参与者自行控制刺激呈现速度，并记录每名刺激的反应时数据。其中一半儿童完成掩蔽任务，另一半则未执行该任务。对统计结构的在线敏感性，通过对比不可预测刺激与可预测刺激的反应时进行评估。后续参与者完成两类离线任务：二择一迫选（two-alternative forced choice，2-AFC）任务，要求参与者选择正确的三元组；以及三择一迫选（three-alternative forced choice，3-AFC）任务，要求参与者补全缺失项以完成三元组。结果显示，不可预测刺激的反应时显著长于可预测刺激，据此我们推断：学龄早期儿童在刺激暴露阶段已对统计结构具备敏感性，且反应时任务可有效测量该能力。本研究未发现证据表明儿童可在离线二择一或三择一迫选任务中表现优于随机水平，亦未发现掩蔽任务对儿童视觉统计学习表现存在影响的相关证据。本研究结果证实，采用在线反应时任务评估学龄早期儿童视觉统计学习的可行性。因此，该任务适用于后续旨在探究不同发育阶段或临床群体视觉统计学习的研究，亦可与其他行为任务结合使用。