Exploration, Distributed Attention, and Development of Category Learning
通过成人及4-6岁儿童的类别学习实验，发现儿童即使知道关键特征仍会广泛采样信息，表明探索倾向导致其注意力分散，而非过滤干扰能力不足。
Category learning is a crucial aspect of cognition that involves organizing entities into equivalence classes. Whereas adults tend to focus on category-relevant features, young children often distribute attention between relevant and irrelevant ones. The reasons for children’s distributed attention are not fully understood. In two category-learning experiments with adults and with children aged 4, 5, and 6 ( N = 201), we examined potential drivers of distributed attention, including (a) immature filtering of distractors and (b) the general tendency for exploration or broad information sampling. By eliminating distractor competition, we reduced filtering demands. Despite identifying the features critical for accurate categorization, children, regardless of their categorization performance, continued sampling more information than was necessary. These results indicate that the tendency to sample information extensively contributes to distributed attention in young children. We identify candidate drivers of this tendency that need to be examined in future research.