Competition for Infants' Attention: The Interactive Influence of Attentional State and Stimulus Characteristics

Abstract

The interactive effects of stimulus characteristics and attentional state on infants' distraction latency were studied. As 7-month-old infants explored initial stimuli that were composed of either a single nonmoving component or multiple moving components, one of several types of distractors was presented in the periphery. Infants' distraction latencies (the amount of time they took to turn from the initial stimulus to the distractor) vaned as a hnction of the interaction between the infants' attentional state at distractor onset and the characteristics of the stimuli. Variations in the visual characteristics of the distractor stimulus (solid rectangle vs. checkerboard) had a larger effect on distraction latency when infants were in a focused attentional state than when they were in a casual attentional state. Similarly, variations in the auditory characteristic of the distractor stimulus (1 intermittent tone vs. 2 alternating tones) had a larger Requests for reprints should be sent to Lisa M. Oakes,

Developmental Changes in Endogenous Control of Attention: The Role of Target Familiarity on Infants’ Distraction Latency

“…This finding confirms that the present data are similar to data obtained in previous studies using this same procedure. Indeed, the mean latencies reported here are similar to those reported in previous investigations (Oakes & Tellinghuisen, 1994;Oakes et al, 2000;Tellinghuisen & Oakes, 1997;Tellinghuisen et al, 1999).…”

“…Tellinghuisen, Oakes, and Tjebkes (1999), for example, found that when 7-monthold infants were in a focused or concentrated attentional state, distractors needed to be more salient to cause a reorientation of attention than when infants were in a more casual attentional state. Similarly, Oakes, Tellinghuisen, and Tjebkes (2000) reported that 7-month-old infants were least distractible when they were engaged in focused attention toward a complex initial target. Thus, attention allocation in infancy appears to be jointly determined by endogenous and exogenous factors.…”

The Effects of Continuous and Intermittent Distractors on Cognitive Performance and Attention in Preschoolers

“…In particular, the data suggest that children habituated more readily to a periodic distractor (intermittent distraction condition) than to a continuous (continuous distraction condition) one. This decrease in looking to the intermittent distractor over time is consistent with other research using intermittent distractors (e.g., Hale & Flaugher, 1977;Oakes et al, 2000Oakes et al, , 2004Tellinghuisen & Oakes, 1997), and it might account for the persistent effects of continuous distraction seen here well into the preschool period.…”

“…Finally, the characteristics of the distractor (e.g., auditory and visual components, complexity) have been shown to affect distractibility in infants (e.g., Oakes, Tellinghuisen, & Tjebkes, 2000;Ruff & Capozzoli, 2003;Tellinghuisen, Oakes, & Tjebkes, 1999). In contrast, there is little systematic investigation of the effects of distractor characteristics on distractibility and performance during the toddler and preschool years.…”

“…In infant distractibility research, infants orient less and less to the distractor over the course of the session (e.g., Oakes et al, 2000Oakes et al, , 2004Tellinghuisen & Oakes, 1997). To conduct this analysis, we derived the average length of looking to the distractor for the first half of the session (Block 1) and the second half of the session (Block 2), and we then entered these averages into a mixed-model ANOVA with Age (2: 3.5 vs. 4 years) and Condition (2: Intermittent Distraction, Continuous Distraction) as between-subjects factors and Block (2: 1 vs. 2) as a within-subjects factor.…”