Infants were followed longitudinally to document the relationship between docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels and the development of attention. Erythrocyte (red-blood cell; RBC) phospholipid DHA (percentage of total fatty acids) was measured from infants and mothers at delivery. Infants were assessed in infant-control habituation at 4, 6, and 8…

Often, the sound arriving at the ears is a mixture from many different sources, but only 1 is of interest. To assist with selection, the auditory system structures the incoming input into streams, each of which ideally corresponds to a single source. Some authors have argued that this process of streaming is automatic and invariant, but recent…

Four task-switching experiments examined the notion of an exogenous component of task-set reconfiguration (i.e., a process needed to shift task set that is not initiated in the absence of a task-associated figuration stimulus). The authors varied the complexity and familiarity of stimulus-response (SR) mapping rules to produce differentially…

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated attention control for tasks involving the processing of grammaticized linguistic stimuli (function words) contextualized in sentence fragments. Attention control was operationalized as shift costs obtained with adult speakers of English in an alternating-runs experimental design (R. D. Rogers & S.…

Dual-process theories of the mind are ubiquitous in psychology. A central principle of these theories is that behavior is determined by the interplay of automatic and controlled processing. In this article, the authors examine individual differences in the capacity to control attention as a major contributor to differences in working memory…

Behavioral aspects of self-regulation, including controlling and directing actions, paying attention, and remembering instructions, are critical for successful functioning in preschool and elementary school. In recent years, several direct assessments of these skills have appeared, but few studies provide complete psychometric data and many are…

In many theories of cognition, researchers propose that working memory and perception operate interactively. For example, in previous studies researchers have suggested that sensory inputs matching the contents of working memory will have an automatic advantage in the competition for processing resources. The authors tested this hypothesis by…

Two experiments investigated developmental differences in attention allocation and attention-sharing in a dual-task paradigm using Performance Operating Characteristics (POC) as an innovative data analysis method. In Experiment 1, attention allocation was assessed. Two visual detection tasks were presented to 20 second- and 11 fifth-graders who…

The assumption that auditory attention is locked onto a shadowed (verbally tracked) message was examined. (Editor)

This study examined how well subjects of different ages were able to ignore the presence of irrelevant stimulus information. The speed of classification of 6-, 9- and 12-year-olds and adults was measured. Significant effects of age, sex, number of irrelevant dimensions, and relevant dimension on speed of classification were obtained. (GO)

In preparing instructional materials, consideration must be given to the students' attention. Carl Hagfors has conducted a number of experiments measuring the electrodermal response simultaneously from a number of subjects viewing the same materials. When most subjects were attentive there was a large discursion of the recorder pen. When some were…

Discusses the attention process and indicates the crucial role it plays in oral learning (listening). (DD)

Sixty children at each of two age levels (8 and 11 years old) performed a serial position recall task either in a control condition or under visual or auditory distraction and were tested for recall of task-relevant and task-irrelevant information. (Author/JMB)

Investigates whether noninstructional speech distracts normal school children from a vigilance task and examines the role played by meaningfulness and schedule of presentation in producing speech's effects. A total of 60 first grade males performed a 30-minute visual vigilance task under five conditions of auditory background stimulation.…

Self instructional training resulted in significant improvement in attention and accuracy rate for seven distractible students (9-15 years old). The approach, which featured modeling, prompting, and use of self-verbalizations to guide behavior, was more effective in attention improvement than strategy training. (CL)