In a recent article published by Ohio State, professor Vladimir Sloutsky's newest study examines the way children and adults process information in various situations. According to the results of this study, Sloutsky was able to conclude that children (ages 4-5) are able to seize all the information at hand and apply it to changing circumstances, whereas adults struggled with this concept. 

Sloutsky believes this is due to the fact adults suffer from "learned inattention"- meaning they don't pay attention to information they perceive as irrelevant. Children, however, process information differently due to an immature pre-frontal cortex. They are able to broadly pay attention to more things, whereas adults over time develop selective attention. 

This study was sponsored by grants from the National Institutes of Health and was published online in the journal of Developmental Psychology.