Cognitive flexibility and strategy training allow young children to overcome transfer-Utilization Deficiencies

Clerc, Jérôme; Leclercq, Marion; Paik, Jae H.; Miller, Patricia H.

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100997

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…These results also demonstrate the specificity of flexibility assessment tools, which allow distinguishing the processes underlying flexibility as suggested by previous studies ( Doebel and Zelazo, 2015 ; Clerc et al, 2021 ): the DCCS allows considering conceptual components of flexibility while the TRAIL-P would account for more perceptual aspects. Thus, it seems that flexibility abilities evolve in a few months, and that their implication changes according to the type of tool used to measure these abilities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Goal choice in preschoolers is influenced by context, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition

Leclercq

Gimenes²,

Maintenant³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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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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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Goal choice in preschoolers is influenced by context, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition

Leclercq

Gimenes²,

Maintenant³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

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“…In the main task, these children received explicit training in self-cueing strategies through either labeling or pointing. It has long been known that explicit training of cognitive strategies enables children to maintain strategies in a transfer task ( Whittaker, 1988 ; Gentner et al, 2003 ; Clerc et al, 2021 ). Explicit strategy training is likely to reduce the cognitive cost associated with strategy production, due to the strategy being more automatized ( Coyle and Bjorklund, 1997 ), which has been hypothesized to play a role in strategy transfer as well ( Clerc et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many researchers in the past argued that training may help children to make more efficient use of their cognitive strategies by reducing the cognitive cost associated to strategy use, in main tasks ( Bjorklund et al, 1997 ) as in transfer tasks ( Clerc et al, 2021 ). In this study, a self-cueing strategy produced with less effort, due to extensive training, may have required fewer cognitive resources, allowing children to dedicate more resources to properly identify the goal of the task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To be able to generalize skills and use knowledge more flexibly, one needs to be able to transfer one’s learning ( Brown, 1989 ). Transfer occurs when skills or knowledge acquired in a task are appropriately reused in a different, yet similar, task ( Clerc et al, 2021 ). Depending on the degree of correspondence of the contexts, and of the content to be transferred between the learning task and the transfer task, transfer is considered as being either near or far ( Barnett and Ceci, 2002 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Judgments of relevance in preschoolers: a study of training and transfer of self-cueing strategies

Leclercq,

Mombo,

Clerc

2024

Front. Psychol.

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IntroductionWhen facing a task, children must analyze it precisely to fully identify what its goal is. This is particularly difficult for young children, who mainly rely on environmental cues to get there. Research suggests that training children to look for the most relevant perceptual cues is promising. Furthermore, as transferring skills to a new task is difficult, the question of whether young children are able to transfer such training remains open. The aim of this study was to test the extent to which two strategies of goal self-cueing—labeling and pointing—can help 4-year-old children to identify the relevant cues to clearly identify the goal of the task. The effects of explicit strategy training were tested in a near transfer task.MethodNinety-nine typically developing 4 year olds took part in the study. They were divided into three groups: two were trained collectively in one of the two strategies and the third group as a control group with no strategy training. All children performed a cued card-sorting task four times: Pre-test, Collective training, Post-test, and Transfer with new cards.ResultsResults confirmed the beneficial effect of strategy training on goal identification, particularly after training (Post-test). In the transfer phase, all three groups performed equally well.DiscussionThis study contributes to our understanding of how young children seek information when they look for the most relevant cues for identifying the goal of a task, and the benefits they may derive in a transfer task. It seems that the use of visual cues and self-cueing strategies helps preschoolers to clearly identify the goal of a task. Results are discussed in the light of the self-regulated learning framework. Some possible classroom applications are suggested.

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“…Children were required to sort 12 cards during each stage. Because the third stage asked children to consider two embedded rules in order to be flexible, and to avoid ceiling effects, the rate of children's correct responses for the third stage was marked as their cognitive flexibility performance (Clerc et al, 2021; Howard et al, 2015). Cronbach's alpha was 0.85 in this study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to numerical equivalence in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children

Chen

et al. 2022

British J of Dev Psycho

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To investigate the contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to children's numerical equivalence, one hundred and one 3-to 5-year-olds were administered the dimensional change card sorting task, the day-night task and the give-a-number task. The numerical equivalence was assessed with the numerical matching task in three surface similarity conditions. Results showed that, in the high surface similarity condition, cognitive flexibility and label knowledge, rather than inhibition, were significant predictors of children's performance in numerical equivalence. In the low surface similarity and the cross-mapping conditions, only cognitive flexibility, rather than number label knowledge and inhibition, significantly explained the unique variance in numerical equivalence. Besides, cognitive flexibility explained more variation in numerical equivalence in the cross-mapping condition compared with the low surface similarity condition. These findings highlight different roles of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge in numerical equivalence in the three surface similarity conditions.

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Cognitive flexibility and strategy training allow young children to overcome transfer-Utilization Deficiencies

Cited by 7 publications

References 70 publications

Goal choice in preschoolers is influenced by context, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition

Goal choice in preschoolers is influenced by context, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition

Judgments of relevance in preschoolers: a study of training and transfer of self-cueing strategies

Contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to numerical equivalence in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children

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