| Abstract: | Using an instrumental response suppression paradigm, Experiment 1 demonstrated habituation and long-term retention of habituation to a tone stimulus in third-grade children, but specificity of habituation was not obtained when a new tone stimulus was presented. In Experiment 2 first graders showed specificity of habituation to auditory stimuli on the response suppression measure whereas fifth graders did not. However, both age groups evidenced specificity when a skin conductance measure was employed. In addition, specificity of habituation was not affected by amount of training at either age level. Experiment 3 demonstrated specificity of habituation in fifth graders on the response suppression measure when a cross-modality stimulus change was introduced. Implications of these data for analyses of habituation and traditional learning are discussed. |
