Endogenous Control is Insufficient for Preventing Attentional Capture in Children and Adults

Hayre, Rumandeep K; Cragg, Lucy; Allen, Harriet A

Abstract

Adults are known to have developed the ability to selectively focus their attention in a goal-driven (endogenous) manner but it is less clear at what stage in development (5-6 & 9-11 years) children can endogenously control their attention and whether they behave similarly to adults when managing distractions. In this study we administered a child-adapted cued visual search task to three age-groups: five- to six-year-olds (N = 45), nine- to eleven-year-olds (N = 42) and adults (N = 42). Participants were provided with a cue which either guided their attention towards or away from an upcoming target. On some trials, a singleton distracter was presented which participants needed to ignore. Participants completed three conditions where the cues were: 1) usually helpful (High Predictive), 2) usually unhelpful (Low Predictive) and 3) never helpful (Baseline) in guiding attention towards the target. We found that endogenous cue-utilisation develops with increasing age. Overall, nine- to eleven-year-olds and adults, but not five- to six-year-olds, utilised the endogenous cues in the High Predictive condition. However, all age-groups were unable to ignore the singleton distracter even when using endogenous control. Moreover, we found better maintenance ability was related to poorer inhibition ability in early-childhood, but these skills were no longer related further on in development. We conclude that overall endogenous control is still developing in early-childhood, but an adult-like form of this skill has been acquired by mid-childhood. Furthermore, endogenous cue-utilisation may be insufficient for preventing attentional capture in both children and adults.

Citation

Hayre, R. K., Cragg, L., & Allen, H. A. (in press). Endogenous Control is Insufficient for Preventing Attentional Capture in Children and Adults. Acta Psychologica,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 5, 2022
• Deposit Date: May 13, 2022
• Journal: Acta Psychologica
• Print ISSN: 0001-6918
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8048933