Interaction of Age and Cue Validities in Multiple-Cue Probability Learning by Children

Abstract

Two studies are reported which tested the hypothesis that in comparison with older children (early teens) younger children (ages 8 to 9) would learn multiple-cue probability tasks with equal cue-criterion validities relatively better than tasks with multiple cues and a single cue of high validity. The predicted interaction was found in both studies but the pattern differed. This difference was probably due to the variations of the tasks used in the studies. While the age-cue validity interaction is plausible, further research will be required to determine its precise relevance for developmental theory.