Explore versus store: Children strategically trade off reliance on exploration versus working memory during a complex task

During complex tasks, we use working memory to actively maintain goal sets and direct attention toward goal-relevant information in the environment. However, working memory is severely limited, and storing information in working memory is cognitively effortful. Previous work by Kibbe and Kowler [2011, Journal of Vision, 11(3), Article 14] showed that adults strategically modulate reliance on working memory during complex, goal-oriented tasks, varying the amount of information they store in working memory depending both on the cognitive demands of the task and on the ease with which task-relevant information can be accessed from the environment. We asked whether children, whose working memory and executive functions are undergoing significant developmental change, also use working memory strategically during complex tasks. Forty-six 8-10-year-old children searched through arrays of hidden objects to find three that belonged to a given category defined over the objects' features. We manipulated the cognitive demands of the task by increasing the complexity of the category. We manipulated the exploration costs of the task by varying the rate at which task-relevant information could be accessed. We measured children's search patterns to gain insights into how the children used working memory during the task. We found that as the cognitive demands of the task increased, children stored less information in working memory, relying more on exploration. When exploration was costlier, children explored less, storing more in working memory. These results suggest that developing children, like adults, make strategic decisions about when to explore versus when to store during a complex, goal-oriented task.