Adaptive decision making in probabilistic environments requires individuals to use probabilities as weights in predecisional information searches and/or when making subsequent choices. Within a child-friendly computerized environment (Mousekids), we tracked 205 children's (105 children 5-6 years of age and 100 children 9-10 years of age) and 103 adults' (age range: 21-22 years) search behaviors and decisions under different probability dispersions (.17; .33, .83 vs. .50, .67, .83) and constraint conditions (instructions to limit search: yes vs. no). All age groups limited their depth of search when instructed to do so and when probability dispersion was high (range: .17-.83). Unlike adults, children failed to use probabilities as weights for their searches, which were largely not systematic. When examining choices, however, elementary school children (unlike preschoolers) systematically used probabilities as weights in their decisions. This suggests that an intuitive understanding of probabilities and the capacity to use them as weights during integration is not a sufficient condition for applying simple selective search strategies that place one's focus on weight distributions.
Abstract.Two experiments were conducted to replicate the modality effect and to test two opposing theoretical explanations: From the visuo-spatial load hypothesis (as implied by the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning), we derived the prediction that the modality effect depends on the need to simultaneously store and process text and pictorial information in the same working memory subsystem, which implies that the modality effect is not influenced by text length. However, based on the concurrent auditory recency hypothesis, we expected the modality effect to occur with very short texts only, irrespective of whether a picture is present. Adopting a German translation of the learning materials used by Moreno and Mayer (1999) , we failed to detect a modality effect for sequential text-picture-presentation in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, a modality effect was expected for simultaneous presentation of the same texts and pictures, yet again remained absent. We conclude with the suggestion that the apparent robustness of the modality effect reported in the literature might be explained – at least in part – by publication bias.
Adaptive actors must be able to use probabilities as decision weights. In a computerized multi-attribute task, the authors examined the decisions of children (5–6 years, n = 44; 9–10 y., n = 39) and adults (21–22 y., n = 31) in an environment that fosters the application of a weighted-additive strategy that uses probabilities as weights (WADD: choose option with highest sum of probability-value products). Applying a Bayesian outcome-based strategy classification procedure from adult research, we identified the utilization of WADD and several other strategies (lexicographic, equal weight, naïve Bayes, guessing, and saturated model) on the individual level. As expected based on theory, the prevalence of WADD-users in adults was high. In contrast, no preschoolers could be classified as users of probability-sensitive strategies. Nearly one-third of third-graders used probability-sensitive strategies.
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