Selective attention and active engagement in young children
Open accessAbstract
During early development, significant changes occur in the neural regions that subserve attention and related skills. Although preschoolers typically have difficulty performing continuous performance tests, it is not clear if this is primarily due to an inability to selectively respond or an inability to maintain attention. A group of 52 children between 3.5 and 5.5 years of age performed 2 vigilance-type reaction time tasks. The tasks included short duration, continuously presented visual stimuli across several short blocks. Among the children under 4.5 years of age, 46% were unable to coordinate the necessary task demands, and those who could made significantly more omission errors than the older children. Active engagement was high during the reaction time tasks for all children. These results suggest that the skills necessary for vigilance tasks, particularly speeded response initiation and response selection, are still emerging during the preschool years but can be adequately measured after 4.5 years of age.
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Sustained attention measured by continuous performance tests increases significantly from 3 to 6 years and continues developing into late childhood and adolescence, reaching adult-like levels around age 12.
“Sustained attention abilities, as measured by the CPT, increase significantly from 3 to 6 years of age (Akshoomoff, 2002; Kerns & Rondeau, 1998; Levy, 1980) and continue to develop into late childhood and adolescence, reaching adult-like levels around the age of 12 years (Lin, Hsiao, & Chen, 1999).”
From Atypical attentional networks and the emergence of autism (2013) · cites this paper as Akshoomoff, 2002
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References 49 · Cited by 68
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Akshoomoff, N. A. (1998, March). Attention and inhibitory control across tasks in young children. Paper presented at the Fifteenth Biennial Conference on Human Development, Mobile, AL.
- Bivens, J. G. (1998). The effect of novel stimuli on selective attention in young children. Unpublished honor's thesis, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
- Cukrowicz, K. C. (1999). The effect of novel auditory stimuli on selective attention in young children. Unpublished honor's thesis, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
- Thurmond, J. (1997). Individual differences in attentional control among young children. Unpublished honor's thesis, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
- Authors
- Akshoomoff, N.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Akshoomoff, Natacha
- ORCID
- Akshoomoff, Natacha
- Venue
- Developmental Neuropsychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2002-12
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 625-642
- ISSN
- 1532-6942 (ISSN-L)
- 8756-5641
- OpenAlex
- W2106927791
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 0.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- escholarship.org
- Locations
- Developmental Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Georgia State University
- Society for Research in Child Development
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- selective attention, active engagement, preschool children, sustained attention, reaction time, response selection, response initiation, omission errors, attention development, continuous performance test
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Attention, Child, Child Behavior, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Discrimination Learning, Female, Humans, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Task Performance and Analysis, Visual Perception
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