The development of attentional resolution

Wolf, Kerstin; Pfeiffer, Till

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.09.004

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Adults and 11-year-old children could sustain high performance up to a higher level of required precision. Given the similar performance patterns across difficulty levels of 11-year-olds and adults, the behavioral data of this study indicate that the major development in the ability to constrict the attentional focus is achieved between 7 and 11 years of age (which is consistent with our previous behavioral work; Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The final sample consisted of 35 participants: 12 7-year-old children (6 females; mean age: 7.4, range: 6.5–8.0), 11 11-year-old children (5 females; mean age: 11.5, range: 11.1–12.0), and 12 adults (6 females; mean age: 24.7, range: 21.4–34.1). This sample size was determined based on several considerations, including the moderate to strong effect sizes obtained in our previous behavioral study ( Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ), the fact that the object tracking paradigm generally elicits robust BOLD activation in attentional networks (e.g., Culham et al, 1998 ; Howe et al, 2009 ), but also the potential strain of the fMRI session for the youngest age group. Adults received monetary compensation or course credit for participation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the latter was not included into the present analysis of the experiment because it turned out not to be successful in suppressing tracking-related brain activations. 7-year-old children completed only three distance conditions, as a previous behavioral study had shown that 7-year-olds performed the task at chance level at 2.8 arcmin ( Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ). The trials for the two older samples were presented in four blocks of 15 trials (7 min 45 s each) and the trials of the youngest sample were presented in six blocks of eight trials (4 min 8 s each).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Developmental research suggests that several aspects of children’s selective attention undergo substantial changes in early childhood (e.g., Ridderinkhof and van der Stelt, 2000 ; Scerif, 2010 ), including the resolution of attention ( Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ). The ability to constrict the focus of attention to increasingly smaller sizes changes markedly between 7 years of age and adulthood; for 9- to 13-year-old children and adolescents, it is about twice the size as for adults and for 7-year-olds three times the size as for adults ( Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ). Similar findings have been reported by studies using flanker ( Enns and Girgus, 1985 ; Pastò and Burack, 1997 ) and crowding paradigms ( Bondarko and Semenov, 2005 ; Jeon et al, 2010 ; Huurneman et al, 2014 ; Norgett and Siderov, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve this, the minimum distance between the to-be-tracked object and distractors was varied in four steps, i.e., 2.8, 5.6, 8.4, and 11.2 arcmin. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), BOLD activation changes were determined in children aged 7 years, 11 years, and in young adults, to identify brain mechanisms underlying the developmental changes in the resolution of spatial attention previously documented in behavioral work using the same paradigm ( Wolf and Pfeiffer, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Neurocognitive Development of the Resolution of Selective Visuo-Spatial Attention: Functional MRI Evidence From Object Tracking

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our ability to select relevant information from the environment is limited by the resolution of attention – i.e., the minimum size of the region that can be selected. Neural mechanisms that underlie this limit and its development are not yet understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed during an object tracking task in 7- and 11-year-old children, and in young adults. Object tracking activated canonical fronto-parietal attention systems and motion-sensitive area MT in children as young as 7 years. Object tracking performance improved with age, together with stronger recruitment of parietal attention areas and a shift from low-level to higher-level visual areas. Increasing the required resolution of spatial attention – which was implemented by varying the distance between target and distractors in the object tracking task – led to activation increases in fronto-insular cortex, medial frontal cortex including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and supplementary motor area, superior colliculi, and thalamus. This core circuitry for attentional precision was recruited by all age groups, but ACC showed an age-related activation reduction. Our results suggest that age-related improvements in selective visual attention and in the resolution of attention are characterized by an increased use of more functionally specialized brain regions during the course of development.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Neurocognitive Development of the Resolution of Selective Visuo-Spatial Attention: Functional MRI Evidence From Object Tracking

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Context and attention control determine whether attending to competing information helps or hinders learning in school‐aged children

Markant

Amso

2021

WIRES Cognitive Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Attention control regulates efficient processing of goal‐relevant information by suppressing interference from irrelevant competing inputs while also flexibly allocating attention across relevant inputs according to task demands. Research has established that developing attention control skills promote effective learning by minimizing distractions from task‐irrelevant competing information. Additional research also suggests that competing contextual information can provide meaningful input for learning and should not always be ignored. Instead, attending to competing information that is relevant to task goals can facilitate and broaden the scope of children's learning. We review this past research examining effects of attending to task‐relevant and task‐irrelevant competing information on learning outcomes, focusing on relations between visual attention and learning in childhood. We then present a synthesis argument that complex interactions across learning goals, the contexts of learning environments and tasks, and developing attention control mechanisms will determine whether attending to competing information helps or hinders learning. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Attention Psychology > Learning Psychology > Development and Aging

show abstract

Interaction of the salience network, ventral attention network, dorsal attention network and default mode network in neonates and early development of the bottom-up attention system

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Salience Network (SN), Ventral Attention Network (VAN), Dorsal Attention Network (DAN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) have shown signi cant interactions and overlapping functions in bottom-up and top-down mechanisms of attention. In the present study we tested if the SN, VAN, DAN and DMN connectivity can infer the gestational age (GA) at birth in a study group of 88 healthy neonates with GA at birth ranging from 28 to 40 weeks. We also ascertained whether the connectivity within each of the SN, VAN, DAN and DMN is able to infer the average functional connectivity of the others. The ability to infer GA at birth or another network's connectivity was evaluated using a multi-variate data-driven framework. A mediation analysis was performed in order to estimate the transmittance of change of a network's functional connectivity (FC) over another mediated by the GA.The VAN, DAN and the DMN infer the GA at birth (p<0.05). The SN, DMN and VAN were able to infer the average connectivity over the other networks (p<0.05). Mediation analysis between VAN's and DAN's inference on GA found reciprocal transmittance of change of VAN's and DAN's connectivity (p<0.05).Our ndings suggest that the VAN has a prominent role in the bottom-up salience detection in early infancy and that the role of the VAN and the SN may overlap in the bottom-up control of attention.

show abstract

The development of attentional resolution

Cited by 5 publications

References 66 publications

Neurocognitive Development of the Resolution of Selective Visuo-Spatial Attention: Functional MRI Evidence From Object Tracking

Neurocognitive Development of the Resolution of Selective Visuo-Spatial Attention: Functional MRI Evidence From Object Tracking

Context and attention control determine whether attending to competing information helps or hinders learning in school‐aged children

Interaction of the salience network, ventral attention network, dorsal attention network and default mode network in neonates and early development of the bottom-up attention system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About