Age-Related Differences in Perceptuomotor Procedural Learning in Children

Procedural learning is generally considered to proceed in a series of phases, with cognitive
resources playing an important role during the initial step. From a developmental perspective,
little is known about the development of procedural learning or the role played by explicit
cognitive processes during learning. The main objectives of this study were: (1) to determine
whether procedural learning performance improves with age by comparing groups of 7-yearold
children, 10-year-old children, and adults, and (2) to investigate the role played by
executive functions during the acquisition in these three age groups. Seventy-six subjects
were assessed on a computerized adaptation of the mirror tracing paradigm. Results revealed
that the youngest children had more difficulty adapting to the task (they were slower and
committed more errors at the beginning of the learning process) than 10-year-olds, but
despite this age effect observed at the outset, all children improved performance across trials
and transferred their skill to a different figure as well as adults. Correlational analyses
showed that inhibition abilities play a key role in the performance of 10-year-olds and adults
at the beginning of the learning, but not in 7-year-olds. Overall, our results suggest that the
age-related differences observed in our procedural learning task are at least partly due to the
differential involvement of inhibition abilities, which may facilitate (so long as they are
sufficiently developed) learning in the initial steps of learning process; however, they would
not be a necessary condition for skill learning to occur.