Mechanisms of attention: A developmental study

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Abstract

A model of selective attention is proposed which contains a number of properties. First, stimuli which are irrelevant to the subjects' task can be analyzed to semantic levels automatically, and such stimuli can produce intrusion/interference effects. Second, two mechanisms by which selection is achieved are habituation to, and inhibition of, these irrelevant stimuli. A series of studies demonstrates that both the ability to process automatically irrelevant stimuli and the habituation mechanisms of attention are observable by Grade 2, whereas the inhibitory mechanism is not always evident at this stage. It is suggested that the greater distractability of children in certain situations may be due in part to the underutilization of this inhibitory mechanism. We further propose that children may be able to employ inhibitory mechanisms in more familiar perceptual-motor tasks.

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      Citation Excerpt :

      Subsequent to the expansion of interest in negative priming approximately > 30 years ago, research on negative priming effects proceeded somewhat dichotomously. Investigations by Steve Tipper and colleagues (Milliken & Tipper, 1994; Tipper & Baylis, 1987; Tipper, Brehaut, & Driver, 1990; Tipper & Driver, 1988; Tipper, Lortie, & Baylis, 1992; Tipper, MacQueen, & Brehaut, 1988; Tipper, Weaver, & Houghton, 1994) inspired many to use the negative priming methodology as a tool for investigating attentional processes, and theoretical accounts that emerged placed a large emphasis on attentional mechanisms. In particular, a distractor inhibition hypothesis developed out of this tradition and continues to be a highly competitive explanation for negative priming effects, and related effects in which the perceiver must select against processing one or more sources of information (e.g., Healy, Campbell, & Hasher, 2010).

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    This research was supported by a grant from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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