Background: This study investigated whether another person's social attention, specifically the direction of their eye gaze, and a non-social directional cue, an arrow, triggered reflexive orienting in children with and without autism in an experimental situation. Methods: Children with autism and typically developed children participated in one…

Attention acts as the mind's "gatekeeper" by regulating and prioritizing the stimuli processed by the central nervous system. It is essential for cognitive performance, memory, and behavior, and we know that even slight deficiencies in attention compromise learning. Basic neuroscience research further indicates that attention consists of (fairly)…

This article consists of a review of 16 research studies on treatments in school settings for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) carried out in the last decade. It includes both simple interventions and multicomponent interventions where different techniques are combined. Based on this revision, the conclusion is drawn…

This study examined the relation of information processing in 7-month-old preterms ([less than] 1750g at birth) and full-terms to Bayley Mental Development Indexes (MDIs) at 2 and 3 years. The infant measures were drawn from four cognitive domains: attention, speed, memory, and representational competence. Structural equation modeling showed that…

This study investigated attention control in tasks involving the processing of relational terms (more highly grammaticized linguistic stimuli: spatial prepositions) and non-relational terms (less highly grammaticized lexical stimuli: nouns) in a first (L1) and second language (L2). Participants were adult bilinguals with greater proficiency in…

The Concept Shifting Test (CST) is a newly developed Trail Making Type test that measures concept shifting and executive functioning. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether CST performance was affected by age, gender, educational level, or handedness and to establish the normal range of test performance. The CST was…

The purpose of this study is to see if older adults who experience problems with thought suppression tend to encounter greater difficulty deriving a sense of meaning in life. Data from a longitudinal nationwide survey of older people (N = 988) indicate that greater difficulty with thought suppression is associated with a decline in meaning over…

The aim of this study was to ascertain the nature of the interaction between the affective value of musical distraction, personality type and performance on the cognitive tasks of reading comprehension, free recall, mental arithmetic and verbal reasoning in children aged 11-12 years. It was hypothesized that the cognitive performance of extraverts…

Graphomotor output was assessed in children with attentional problems using the Repeated Patterns Test (RPT). Forty-eight subjects, ages 8 to 13, who met standard criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), participated, of whom 24 had primarily Inattentive Type and 24 had Combined Type ADHD. Both groups had intact visuomotor…

A computer-based attention reduction model of training is presented, and associated issues related to instructional systems design are outlined. Attention reduction training (ART) is based on the dual task assessment procedure developed by researchers in the area of memory. The technique involves having subjects respond to two tasks…

This study examined the ability of a newly developed computerized visual vigilance measure, the Preschool Vigilance Task (PVT), to differentiate between 20 hyperactive and 20 control preschoolers. The PVT was developed to minimize cognitive requirements in a vigilance measure. The study compared performance of the subjects on the PVT and the…

The package presents a training approach for increasing test-taking skills of learning disabled (LD) and behaviorally disordered (BD) children along with a research study illustrating the approach's effectiveness with 92 LD or BD elementary students. The approach focuses on such strategies as attending to appropriate stimuli, marking answers…

The project attempted to experimentally validate the use of tutoring and small group teaching formats as alternatives to one-to-one teaching procedures involving autistic children. Single-subject studies and experimental-control group designs were used to compare the effects of tutoring and small group teaching formats in public and private school…

The study examined the family backgrounds, attentional patterns, and interpersonal styles of 20 Canadian learning disabled (LD students (10-22 years old). Using the Test for Attentional and Interpersonal Styles and a questionnaire, 94 family members, including the 20 Ss, were interviewed. Although no strong familial patterns of import were…

The project studied videotaped unstructured play sessions between 16 Downs Syndrome (DS) infants (aged 6 months and 12 months) and their mothers, to investigate the relationship between maternal attention-directing strategies and the infants' response to toys. A comparison group consisted of 16 high-risk premature infants matched by mental and…