Measuring Procedural Learning in Preschool-Aged Children: Evidence from a Shortened SRT-Task.

Abstract

Procedural learning is often linked to language acquisition. However, despite the important changes in language development that preschool-aged children undergo, little research with this group has been done using a manual Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task. This tool has been well-established in measuring procedural learning but may be too taxing to administer with children of such a young age. Therefore, the current study analyzed a shortened version of the classic design. Data from 53 3- to 6-year-old participants was used to evaluate whether procedural learning can be measured this way. Moreover, the effect of age on procedural learning within this age group was assessed, since linguistic abilities vary within these ages. The results suggest that procedural learning occurred and the adapted SRT-task, thus, reached its goal. Age was not found to influence procedural learning, which may indicate that procedural learning was robust across the age range. Furthermore, the adaptation of the task appeared to yield promising results for the youngest participants. The findings of the explorative analysis among 3-year-olds illustrated that, for some, the individual means portrayed a pattern possibly indicating procedural learning. These findings provide an important stepping stone for future research on the relationship between procedural learning and language development among children aged 3 to 6.