Influence of the Acoustic Background on the Selection of Visual Stimuli by Children of Early Preschool Age
摘要
This work continues a cycle of psychophysical experiments investigating the characteristics of the recognition of visual stimuli of different colors and different sizes by children of early preschool age. Measurements were made using a game-based method for organizing visual choice using a touchscreen monitor in quiet conditions and introducing an acoustic background – a recording of noise in a kindergarten group, including children’s spoken language (“child polyphony”). Noise was fed through headphones at an intensity of 45 dB (the level of spoken language). The study involved children aged 3–4 years (n = 31) attending a city kindergarten. All children had normal vision and hearing. The results confirmed previously obtained data indicating that children of this age are significantly worse (number of errors) at choosing from geometric figures on the basis of the feature “color” than the feature “size.” Introduction of child polyphony noise did not alter this ratio, but significantly increased the number of solution attempts and sensorimotor reaction time (p < 0.01), especially when choosing based on the “color” feature (p < 0.001). Additional behavioral analysis identified a subgroup of “anxious” children, whose measures of visual selection, especially on the background of acoustic interference, were 3–4 times worse than those of other test participants. Comparison of the results with data from the previous study showed that adult conversational speech is a stronger perceptual interference than the child polyphony noise. This can be explained by the fact that children are adapted to kindergarten background noise, though this requires continuation of the study with a more detailed analysis of noise characteristics and the children’s psychological profiles and anxiety levels. The results are of practical importance for organizing learning processes, including correctional work in the field of special education.