Purpose
This study investigated attentional shifting in preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to their typically developing peers. Children's attentional shifting capacity was assessed by varying attentional demands.
Method
Twenty-five preschool children with SLI and 25 age-matched, typically developing controls participated. A behavioral task measuring attentional shifting within and across multiple dimensions (auditory, linguistic, and visual) was employed. Demands on attentional shifting were increased based on input dimension (low load: staying within dimension; medium load: shifting between 2 dimensions; and high load: shifting among 3 dimensions).
Results
Compared to controls, the group with SLI made more erroneous responses and exhibited longer response times. Although both groups' error rates were similarly affected by shifting compared to nonshifting trials, their response speed was not. The group with SLI exhibited a larger comparative decrement to their response speed in the high–attentional load condition.
Discussion
When demands on attentional shifting increase, children with SLI struggle to shift their attention as efficiently to changing stimuli as their unimpaired peers. Potential implications for the assessment and treatment of this population are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.