Perceptual Load Influences Selective Attention across Development

Autor/in	Couperus, Jane W.
Titel	Perceptual Load Influences Selective Attention across Development
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 47 (2011) 5, S.1431-1439 (9 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/a0024027
Schlagwörter	Attention Control; Visual Perception; Children; Neurology; Cognitive Processes; Task Analysis; Cues; Diagnostic Tests; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Adults; Adolescents; Age Differences; Developmental Stages; Performance; Visual Stimuli + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Aufmerksamkeitstest; Visuelle Wahrnehmung; Child; Kind; Kinder; Neurologie; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Aufgabenanalyse; Stichwort; Diagnostic test; Diagnostischer Test; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Achievement; Leistung
Abstract	Research suggests that visual selective attention develops across childhood. However, there is relatively little understanding of the neurological changes that accompany this development, particularly in the context of adult theories of selective attention, such as N. Lavie's (1995) perceptual load theory of attention. This study examined visual selective attention across development from 7 years of age to adulthood. Specifically, the author examined if changes in processing as a function of selective attention are similarly influenced by perceptual load across development. Participants were asked to complete a task at either low or high perceptual load while processing of an unattended probe stimulus was examined using event related potentials. Similar to adults, children and teens showed reduced processing of the unattended stimulus as perceptual load increased at the P1 visual component. However, although there were no qualitative differences in changes in processing, there were quantitative differences, with shorter P1 latencies in teens and adults compared with children, suggesting increases in the speed of processing across development. In addition, younger children did not need as high a perceptual load to achieve the same difference in performance between low and high perceptual load as adults. Thus, this study demonstrates that although there are developmental changes in visual selective attention, the mechanisms by which visual selective attention is achieved in children may share similarities with adults. (Contains 1 footnote, 2 tables, and 2 figures.) (As Provided).
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Update	2017/4/10