Automatic processing of elements interferes with processing of relations

This research examines mechanisms underlying the primacy in processing of elements over relations. It is hypothesized that elements are detected atomatically even when the task is to ignore them, and this automatic detection may interfere with the processing of relations. In Experiment 1, 4 year-olds and adults were asked to ignore elemental features and to match a test item to a target by detecting the numerical equivalence beween the test and the target. Results indicate that only children, but not adults, cannot ignore elements, thus suggesting that elements could be processed automatically. In Experiment 2, the same task was presented again, except that elements were perceptually-rich. This time, both children and adults exhibited difficulty ignoring elements. These findings point to two important regularities. First, attention is automatically attracted to elements, interfering with processing of relations, and this interference may make relational processing more difficult. And second, perceptual richness of elements amplifies this effect.