PROCESSING TIME DECREASES GLOBALLY AT AN EXPONENTIAL RATE DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

Children (N = 108) from 6 to 16 years of age and adults (N = 108) were tested on four speeded tasks that included 19 different experimental conditions. The 6- to 16-year-olds’ response times (RTs) increased linearly as a function of adults’ RTs in those same conditions. The slope of this linear function declined exponentially with age at a rate that could be predicted accurately from values established in previous research. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.