We previously reported better performance on the Day-Night task when a ditty was chanted between stimulus presentation and when children could respond (Diamond, Kirkham, & Amso, 2002). Here we investigated competing hypotheses about why the ditty helps. Does it help because it imposes a brief waiting time (the child waits while the ditty is chanted before responding)? Or, does the ditty help because of its content, providing information helpful to performing the task? One-third of the 72 children (age 4) were tested with the ditty previously used which reminds them: "Think about the answer; don't tell me." Another 24 children were tested with a ditty with no task-relevant content: "I hope you have a nice time; I like you." One-third received the standard condition. Performance in both ditty conditions was comparable and better than in the standard condition. That indicates that a factor common to both ditties (that chanting them took time, allowing the prepotent response to subside and the more-considered answer to reach response threshold) likely accounts for their benefit. Whether a ditty reminded children what to do or not did not affect the results. The challenge of the Day-Night task for preschoolers is not its working memory demands but the need to inhibit a dominant response, making a different response instead.

中文翻译：

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孩子们是否需要在日夜任务中得到提醒，或者仅仅是为了防止他们反应太快？

我们之前曾报道过，当在刺激呈现和儿童可以做出反应之间吟唱小曲时，白天-黑夜任务的表现更好（Diamond、Kirkham 和 Amso，2002 年）。在这里，我们调查了关于为什么小曲有帮助的竞争假设。它是否有帮助，因为它强加了一个短暂的等待时间（孩子在响应之前吟唱小曲时等待）？或者，小曲是否因其内容而有所帮助，提供了有助于执行任务的信息？72 名儿童（4 岁）中有三分之一接受了之前使用的小曲测试，小曲提醒他们：“想想答案；不要告诉我。” 另有 24 名儿童接受了一首没有任务相关内容的小调：“我希望你过得愉快；我喜欢你。” 三分之一获得了标准条件。在两种小调条件下的性能都可比，并且比标准条件下的性能更好。这表明两个小曲都有一个共同的因素（吟唱它们需要时间，让优势反应消退，更深思熟虑的答案达到反应阈值）可能是它们的好处。小曲是否提醒孩子该做什么并不影响结果。对学龄前儿童来说，昼夜任务的挑战不是其工作记忆需求，而是抑制显性反应的需要，而是做出不同的反应。小曲是否提醒孩子该做什么并不影响结果。对学龄前儿童来说，昼夜任务的挑战不是其工作记忆需求，而是抑制显性反应的需要，而是做出不同的反应。小曲是否提醒孩子该做什么并不影响结果。对学龄前儿童来说，昼夜任务的挑战不是其工作记忆需求，而是抑制显性反应的需要，而是做出不同的反应。