Nature Communications · 3 September 2026 · From issue 31
Longitudinal evidence for decreasing statistical learning abilities across childhood
Kids get worse at spotting hidden patterns as they grow from age 7 to 14.
Eszter Tóth-Fáber, Bence C. Farkas et al.
Younger children spot hidden patterns in what they see and hear better than older kids do. The same children were tested at ages 7, 8, 11, and 14, and their pattern-spotting skill got weaker over time. Kids with stronger planning and self control skills showed a bigger drop in pattern spotting. This suggests early childhood may be a special window for this kind of learning.
Based on the same children tracked over time, not a one-time snapshot.
One child group tracked over years, link not proven cause.
Integrity screen: passed (3 checks) Checked 4 September 2026. Retraction record: none. DOI resolves at doi.org. Metadata record found (Nature Communications). Read the source
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