UNASSIGNED: Ninety-nine children (5-12 year-olds) and adults participated in two online discrimination tasks. These tasks involved color discrimination as lower-level processing and number magnitude discrimination as higher-level processing, as well as backward masking with stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) varying from 16.7 to 266.7 ms. We measured objective discrimination accuracy and used a 4-scale Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) to assess subjective awareness. We fit the data to a four-parameter nonlinear function to estimate the center of the slope (threshold) and the range of the slope (gradualness, the measure of emergent process of consciousness) of the model.
UNASSIGNED: The results showed the threshold of objective discrimination was significantly higher in 5-6 year-olds than in 7-12 year-olds, but not of subjective awareness. The emergent process of objective discrimination in the number task was more gradual than in the color task.
UNASSIGNED: The findings suggest that the thresholds of subjective awareness in 5-6 year-olds and objective discrimination in 7-9 year-olds are similar to those in adults. Moreover, the emergent processes of subjective awareness and objective discrimination in 5-6 year-olds are also similar to those in adults. Our results support the level of processing hypothesis but suggest that its effects may differ across developmental stages.
■九十九名儿童(5-12岁)和成年人参加了两项在线歧视任务。这些任务涉及作为低级处理的颜色辨别和作为高级处理的数量大小辨别,以及具有从16.7到266.7ms变化的刺激开始异步(SOA)的向后掩蔽。我们测量了客观辨别的准确性,并使用了4量表感知意识量表(PAS)来评估主观意识。我们将数据拟合为四参数非线性函数,以估计斜率的中心(阈值)和斜率的范围(渐进性,意识涌现过程的度量)。
■结果显示,5-6岁儿童的客观歧视阈值明显高于7-12岁儿童,但不是主观意识。数字任务中客观歧视的出现过程比颜色任务中的出现过程更为渐进。
■研究结果表明,5-6岁儿童的主观意识阈值和7-9岁儿童的客观歧视阈值与成年人相似。此外,5-6岁儿童的主观意识和客观歧视的新兴过程也与成年人相似。我们的结果支持加工假设的水平,但表明其影响可能在不同的发育阶段不同。