Developmental Course of Temporal Patterning in Vision and Audition

Abstract

The ability to judge temporal patterns when they are presented visually and auditorily was examined in children at different age levels from 3 through 11 yr. The children did not make judgments at equivalent levels of accuracy for the same temporal sequences presented visually and auditorily until they were 9 yr. old. Competence in judging the patterns when visually presented was inferior in children under 9 yr. Ability to judge temporal sequences when presented in one sensory modality did not predict ability to make judgments of identical sequences in the other. The implications for function attaching to a differential developmental course for making temporal judgments of sequences presented in the two sense modalities are discussed.