Executive function (EF) skills are the attention-regulation skills that make it possible to sustain attention, keep goals and information in mind, refrain from responding immediately, resist distraction, tolerate frustration, consider the consequences of different behaviors, reflect on past experiences, and plan for the future. As EF research…

Three variables (diagnosis, location of cues, and mental age of learners) influencing stimulus control and stimulus overselectivity were assessed with eight autistic children (mean age 12 years) and eight average children matched for mean age. Among results were that autistic subjects tended to respond overselectively only in the extra-stimulus…

Negative priming was assessed to investigate what information persons with (n=18) or without (n=18) mental retardation access from distractors. All subjects showed automatic activation of both targets and distractors at a short time interval. After a long interval, only the subjects without mental retardation exhibited inhibition of the…

The sustained attention of 23 young adults with mild mental retardation and nonretarded subjects was assessed. Findings suggested that the sustained attention of the retarded differs from that of the nonretarded on those vigilance tasks that place demands on memory abilities. (Author/DB)

Comparison of 30 learning disabled (LD) children, ages 7 to 13, and controls on a computerized test of attentional skills indicated LD subjects committed more omission errors and responded at a slower rate but did not differ from the controls on commission errors, suggesting inefficient allocation of processing resources rather than attentional…

Attention processes in 103 children and adults with high functioning autism were compared with a matched control group using a battery of attention measures. Differences were found only on tasks which placed demands on cognitive flexibility or psychomotor speed, suggesting that purported attention deficits in autism may actually be primary…

This study investigated the role of executive function in children with attention deficit disorders (ADD) by comparing differences resulting when diagnostic measures of reading comprehension consisting of either short or long passages were used. Subjects (all in grades 1-12) were grouped as having an attention deficit disorder (ADD) and not taking…

Seven techniques for measuring information processing in infants are proposed to aid in the early identification of mental retardation. The techniques are based on conditioning, attentional, and manual exploration paradigms and could be combined into an assessment battery more valid than current infant IQ tests in predicting later disability.…

This study compared children with either attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n=24), reading disability (RD) (n=33), both (n=9), or controls. Children with ADHD were characterized by difficulty with a visual search task whereas children with RD had difficulty with an auditory processing task. Specifically, children with ADHD…

Describes two experiments that examined the effects of quantity and depth of processing on elementary school children's time perception. (HOD)

This study examines executive function and its relationship to attention dysfunction and working memory. It attempts to document the manifestations of executive function problems in school-related extended processing tasks, such as verbal problem-solving in math and reading of extended passages. Subjects (in grades 1-12) included 49 children with…

This study found that teachers' ratings of their 8 severely mentally handicapped pupils' (ages 9-18) classroom behavior were correlated with children's performance on a discrimination learning task. The factors of attention/distractibility and responsivity to consequences correlated significantly with number of errors and number of trials to…