The C-not-B error: a comparative study
Résumé
Fourteen 29-month-old children with type-2 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and 14controls were presented with a 3-location search task involving the invisible displacementsof an object. Results show that SMA children search correctly for a hidden object in thisparticular task, whereas healthy children emit a strong response bias toward the last hidingplace. In order to test the hypothesis according to which healthy children’s failure is theconsequence of an impulsive response, the time between the hiding of the toy and thechild’s response was manipulated in a second experiment. The results show a dramaticincrease in the healthy children’s performance. The discussion highlights the inhibitorymechanisms present in SMA children but underdeveloped in healthy children.© 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved