Variations of the flanker paradigm: Assessing selective attention in young children

Abstract

The development of selective attention and associated self-regulatory processes was assessed in young children, ages 4, 5, and 6, through the use of three alternative versions of the flanker paradigm utilizing colors, shapes, and fish. These variations were used to examine the influence of task differences on children's performance. The presence of cognitive self-regulatory strategies in young children was also assessed. Significant flanker interference effects, marked by significant task-linked response time differences, were found across all three versions of the paradigm. Although a significant portion of children demonstrated self-regulatory abilities, not every participant demonstrated the specific strategies of self-monitoring and response control. Furthermore, these differences were evident across all age groups. The implications of these results are discussed within the theoretical context of task development, taking into consideration the need to modify computerized attention paradigms for use with young children in order to reliably measure cognitive constructs across children and adults.

Visual search and contextual cueing: differential effects in 10-year-old children and adults

“…For example, Enns and Akhtar (1989) asked children (ages 4-7) and adults to perform a flanker task where performance is related to the ability to ignore distracting stimuli (i.e., filtering). Findings from this study and others (e.g., Rueda et al, 2004;McDermott et al, 2007) suggest that children are less able to ignore irrelevant flanking stimuli as compared to adults. As performance improved with a reduction in the number of distractors it is possible that relative immaturity of this aspect of selective attention may have contributed to the absence of learning when more distractors were present.…”

“…In particular, children's ability to select out the relevant information (Enns & Girgus, 1985) and ignore irrelevant information (i.e., filtering) Rueda et al, 2004;McDermott, Pérez-Edgar, & Fox, 2007) changes across development. However, visual search tasks that involve the guidance of attention by relevant search criteria while ignoring irrelevant features may approach adult levels of performance at approximately 10 years of age, with little additional improvement in subsequent years (e.g., Hommel, Li, & Li, 2004;Klenberg, Korkman, & Lahti-Nuuttila, 2001;Taylor & Khan, 2000).…”

Behavioral Inhibition and Developmental Risk: A Dual-Processing Perspective

“…For example, across childhood there are rapid improvements in inhibitory control reflected by faster and more accurate performance on tasks involving conflicting response options, such as the Go/No-Go or Eriksen Flanker task (McDermott et al, 2007;Wiebe et al, 2012). Development within the anterior attention network, centered around the DLPFC, supports improved behavioral performance through the implementation of more planful and proactive control strategies.…”

Increased intrasubject variability in response time in unaffected preschoolers at familial risk for bipolar disorder

“…Preschoolers completed a 120 trial flanker task (McDermott et al, 2007), indicating the color of a center circle (red or green) by button press (for details, see Supplemental Information). Half the trials were congruent (center circle flanked by same-color circles), half were incongruent (flanked by opposite-color circles).…”