Disentangling component learning and executive processes in hidden pathway maze learning in children: A process-based approach

Identification of cognitive processes that affect children’s ability to manage complex information is critical to understanding the development of executive functions. However, characterization of these processes is hampered by a lack of appropriate tasks and reliance on single outcome measures that are unsuitable for studying complex aspects of executive function. The current study aimed to circumvent these limitations by employing a hidden maze learning paradigm (Groton Maze Learning Test; independence of component cognitive GMLT) to evaluate the processes—spatial memory and rule use—that underlie hidden pathway maze learning in children. Specifically, we investigated the impact of withholding rule instructions (Study 1) and nonrepeating pathways on each trial (Study 2) on the ability to use rules and to locate pathways in 10 × 10 mazes in a sample of 8-year-old children. Results of these studies suggested that manipulations of task rules did not affect spatial memory and that manipulations of the maze pathway did not affect rule use. These findings demonstrate the independence of spatial memory and rule use on the GMLT and provide evidence of a “double dissociation” of cognitive processes that underlie hidden maze learning in children. Implications for understanding the coordination of component cognitive processes that underlie executive function in childhood are discussed.