Automatic and Voluntary Shifts of Attention in the Dimensional Change Card Sorting Task

Different theoretical approaches to word learning and categorization recognize importance of attentional flexibility, however they assume different mechanisms underlying this flexibility. According to one approach, attentional shifts in the course of word learning and categorization are automatic in nature. According to the alternative approach, these shifts may arise as a result of voluntary processing. The present study evaluated these assumptions in the context of a task routinely used to examine attentional flexibility in young children, a Dimension Change Card Sorting task. Two experiments presented below examined attentional flexibility in 3 year-old children under conditions promoting automatic and voluntary shifts of attention.