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IntroductionGoal choice is one of the first, and most important, steps in self-regulated learning (SRL). It is particularly challenging for young children (before 5–6 years), who tend to rely on available environmental cues, which makes their goals fragile because of the instability and variability of the environment. Therefore, it can be assumed that the conditions under which a task is performed may influence a child’s learning goal choice. Moreover, adapting to constraints involves control capacities provided by executive functions (EF) and metacognition.MethodsThe main purpose of this study was to determine factors that influence the way preschoolers choose a learning goal during the first step of SRL. We tested whether adding constraints to perform a task may influence the choice of the procedure that a child aims to learn to perform this task. We also examined the role of cognitive flexibility and metacognition in goal selection in the face of these changes, and tested the influence of change over time, comparing participants’ performance at two points in the school year. One hundred 4-year-olds were asked to perform a jigsaw puzzle task under two conditions: predictable vs. unpredictable environmental change. Individual levels of cognitive flexibility and metacognition were also measured.ResultsThe results show that only a predictable change, but not an unpredictable one, leaded children to change their learning goals. Furthermore, when participants were faced with an unpredictable change, metacognition and cognitive flexibility significantly predicted learning goal change. Results are discussed regarding the development of SRL, flexibility, and metacognition. Educational suggestions are proposed.Highlights– The choice of a learning goal by a preschooler is influenced by the conditions of task performance and environmental cues. Facing a predictable change is more disruptive to children before the age of 4.5, and more likely to cause them to change their goal.– A shift is observed, from age 4 and during the school year, from a perceptual to a conceptual level of processing.– Cognitive flexibility and metacognition also determine learning goal choice in preschoolers, but only in front of unpredictable changes.

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Une déficience d’utilisation stratégique est définie comme la production spontanée d’une stratégie cognitive adaptée mais moins efficace que prévu. Nous montrons que de jeunes enfants font état de déficiences d’utilisation dans des tâches de jugement comparatif avec stratégie d’appariement systématique. Un premier type de déficience d’utilisation a été observé dans des situations où il s’agit de comparer des séries différentes de jouets. Un second type de déficience d’utilisation a été relevé de manière spécifique dans une tâche de transfert, Ainsi, lorsque les enfants ont été rencontrés à 4 ans, leur score stratégique se maintenait à un niveau équivalent de la tâche principale à la tâche de transfert, mais le score de jugement comparatif diminuait significativement entre ces deux tâches. Cette déficience d’utilisation due au transfert avait disparu quand les enfants ont été revus à 4 ans et demi puis à 5 ans. Plusieurs causes possibles des déficiences d’utilisation sont envisagées en discussion, parmi lesquelles l’existence d’une surcharge cognitive propre à la situation de transfert. En accord avec l’explication classique des déficiences d’utilisation survenant pour cause de surcharge cognitive, la surcharge propre à la situation de transfert empêcherait les enfants de tirer pleinement parti de la stratégie transférée.