The relationship between dimensions of classroom environment and off-task behavior among kindergarten students engaged in academic activities is studied. Evidence is presented substantiating the importance of signal continuity in maintaining students' task-oriented behavior. (JMF)

The incidental learning paradigm supports two findings concerning selective attention: (1) the difference between central and incidental task performance increases with age, and (2) the correlation between central and incidental performance decreases with age. Neither of these findings clearly supports the view that attentional selectivity…

This article presents instructional strategies for use with primary children who have been prenatally exposed to drugs. Recommendations are made for providing a secure and stable classroom environment, for improving the children's organization of information and attentiveness during classroom activities, and for developing security and…

Observed 10-, 26-, and 42-month-olds playing under several distraction conditions to describe development of attention and distractibility. Found that casual attention decreased and focused attention increased with age. Ten-month-olds were more distractible than older children, even during focused attention. Infants were most distracted by the…

Investigated mechanisms underlying reductions in susceptibility to interference from irrelevant information that are evident in the developing child. Used two experiments requiring attention to one stimulus out of many. Found that age changes in selective attention are mediated to an important extent by changes in the speed and efficiency of…

A study investigated the ability of six individuals with mental retardation to focus on task-relevant elements of complex visual arrays and increased visual-search efficiency. Results found participants were able to limit attention to the task-relevant items on a guided search task, thus greatly reducing overall target identification times.…

Examination of the effect of a manual interference task on deaf and hearing college students' written free recall revealed that the task had a small adverse effect on deaf students' recall. Deaf students' reading levels were very strongly related to their level of word recall. (61 references) (Author/CB)

Thirty-two primary school children were evaluated on their problem-solving ability and attention level, immediately following either an aerobic exercise or a passive activity. Results indicated that physical activity of moderate intensity enhanced problem-solving performance; the two hyperactive children improved their ability to stay on task,…

The study investigated two neurophysiologic components of event-related brain potential during auditory and visual target detection tasks with 11 non-retarded autistic children, 9 retarded autistic children, and 16 normal subjects, aged 15-19. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that non-retarded autism involves abnormal attentional and…

Examines the hypothesis that problem comprehension and computational processes interact during the solving of arithmetic word problems. Results suggest the absence of any interaction between the two processes. Questions the notion that automatized retrieval facilitates problem solving, as well as assertions suggesting that increasing computational…

Studied the ability of 8- and 11-year olds, and college-age subjects, to allocate attention rapidly. Older subjects were better able to reallocate attention. The developmental change in the reallocation of attention appears to be continuous and quantitative. Improvement is linked to the ability to use active attentional strategies. (Author/GH)

Toddlers with Down's syndrome (n=42) were presented with situations in which the primary focus alternated between an object stimulus and a social stimulus. The experimental subjects monitored their environment in the same manner as did the 25 control subjects (matched for mental age) during object mastery but had a more focused attention style…

Visual accents can create unique communication graphics to increase attending behavior necessary for learning symbol/referent relationships by students with severe vision loss. Accenting procedures use size, color, contrast, shape, and graphic pattern to enhance the probability that the learner will self-initiate attending to the visual symbol.…

Comparison of handicapped junior high school students (N=11) mainstreamed in low achieving classes with their nonhandicapped classmates found significant differences in the observed behaviors of discussion and not paying attention but no differences in teacher ratings of classroom behavior or report card grades. (Author/DB)

Twenty-three autistic children and 23 nonautistic children completed an attention battery comprising continuous performance tests, a digit-cancellation task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Tests, and two computerized tests of shifting attention. Children with autism could focus on a particular stimulus and sustain this focus and could shift their…