Abstract

ALVARADO, Angélica et al. Effects of Time and Experience's Subjective Value in Preschool Children. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2012, vol.2, n.3, pp.868-877. ISSN 2007-4719.

Temporal Weighting Rule predicts integration of past experiences depending on their subjective and temporal distance values (J. Devenport & Devenport 1998). To study this prediction in the search learning of preschool children (4-5 years old), an experiment with 4 groups was conducted. The task for all participants consisted of finding stickers in three equidistant containers (containers A, B and C). The search in the containers was random in 5 trials of every phase. Test phase consisted of asking participants to search in the container where they had found more stickers. During phase 1 only the container A stored stickers, whereas during phase 2, only the container B stored stickers. A group received the test after 24 hours of training (group A=B 24h), and the other immediately (group A=B 0h). For the other two groups same procedure was applied with the difference that container A stored more stickers (groups A>B 24h and A>B 0h). Results showed that children make their choice based on value (= or >), and moment (recent or distant) of the experiences. Finally we proposed that Temporal Weighting Rule can explain these integration of information.

Keywords : Temporal Weighting Rule; Task Hide/Find; Preschoolchildren Subjective Value; Retention Interval.