This study explored developmental differences in the effects of event rate, temporal expectancy, and sensory modality on continuous performance. Children (ages 7–8 years) and college-aged adults completed visual and auditory continuous performance tasks (CPTs) that were equated at an intermediate (20 events/min) rate using the perceptual sensitivity index (d’) and then were compared at faster (40 events/min) and slower (10 events/min) rates to determine the influence of event rate on continuous performance of children and adults. To investigate the effects of temporal expectancy, 20% of the critical signals and neutral events occurred early or late relative to the regular rhythm of the task. The findings (a) suggest that event rate influences continuous performance differently for children and adults, (b) highlight the role of temporal expectancy in continuous performance, and (c) reveal differences in the effects of event rate and temporal expectancy on visual and auditory continuous performance.

这项研究探讨了事件发生率，时间期望和感觉方式对持续表现的影响的发展差异。儿童（7至8岁）和大学年龄的成年人完成了视觉和听觉连续表演任务（CPT），使用感知敏感性指数（d'），然后以较快（40个事件/分钟）和较慢（10个事件/分钟）的速率进行比较，以确定事件速率对儿童和成人持续表现的影响。为了研究预期时间的影响，相对于任务的正常节奏，关键信号和中性事件的20％发生在早期或晚期。研究结果（a）提示事件发生率对儿童和成人的持续表现有不同的影响；（b）强调时间预期在持续表现中的作用；（c）揭示事件发生率和时间预期对视觉和听觉的影响差异持续表现。