A-not-B error

Psychologists have used the A-not-B error experiment in order to gain a better understanding of infant’s cognitive development. Piaget first introduced this concept through his cognitive development theory under substage 4 of infant’s sensorimotor stage. The A-not-B error experiment uses the prefrontal cortex. As stated in the lecture, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex controls: temporal memory, organization behavior, inhibit actions, and is sensitive to context. Studies have shown that adults with a lesion through their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex demonstrate similar to infants with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex. One of the experiments shown in class was the card sorting tasks that children under 4 years of age had difficulty with. Of the reasons given in class why children had trouble with this task, an important reason was left out.

One of the reasons why young children may have trouble with the card sort task is because of repetition. Repetition is a central concept that should be looked at while performing this task. It is critical because adults with a healthy prefrontal cortex could have trouble performing the same task. On October 8, I was taking part in a cognitive experiment that involved the repeated tasks of pushing one of two buttons depending on the situation. After several times pressing the same key, I was unaware that I was pressing the wrong until it was too late. I knew that I was pressing the wrong key, but the repeating motion led me to choose the wrong one anyways. During the “Representations of the Physical World” lecture it was stated that “infants are developing the ability to use recall memory to guide action, rather than habit.” Recall memory is being built and grow, but so is the task of repetition. Repetition works by building upon every previous action to produce the next one. Repetition will be harder to break with every successful previous act. Repetition not only makes it harder for the action to be broken, but it also helps train the subject in the act being performed.

From previous experiments we know that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is essential to performing mental representations. Although the A-not-B error experiment is a good example; the experiment does have flaws. One of the things that I would like to know is: how long does the subject take before breaking the habit of the wrong answer. I would also be curious about other variations of the experiment.