For parents, teachers, and scientists, the practical stakes are clear: if learning depends on goals or the format of tasks, then a child’s performance may reflect the situation more than their underlying ability. Long-term studies that follow the same children over time can reveal developmental changes that short snapshots miss, yet experimental choices still influence outcomes. Understanding these influences helps translate lab findings into fair assessments and supportive learning environments.
This exchange between teams invites fresh experiments that vary goals, timelines, and settings to reveal how learning unfolds across childhood. The conversation points toward deeper questions about how we measure potential and design inclusive learning opportunities. Click through to see how these methodological concerns connect to broader ideas about human growth and the conditions that let curiosity and skill emerge.
Abstract
In a recent Letter to the Editor in Cognitive Science, Németh et al. (2026) published a critical commentary in response to our experimental article on the study of visual statistical learning (visual SL) in children aged 3–9 years. The authors present three critical points regarding (1) the inaccurate interpretation of the results of their article, (2) the importance of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional studies in identifying age-related dynamics of visual SL, and (3) our interpretation of SL as not entirely an implicit process. In this letter, we would like to continue the discussion initiated by the authors, as we believe that the issues they have raised are crucial for the studies of SL in general and in the context of children’s development in particular. We clarify our interpretation of SL as a not entirely implicit process by addressing the impact of the experimental task and stimulus sequences on the learning process, and the involvement of psychological factors (such as individual expectations from the experiment) on SL.
