Susceptible to distraction: Children lack top-down control over spatial attention capture

Gaspelin, Nicholas; Margett-Jordan, Tessa; Ruthruff, Eric

doi:10.3758/s13423-014-0708-0

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…2 In this respect, it is important to note that the relational account can accommodate many previous behavioral and electrophysiological findings that were interpreted in favor of feature-specific accounts, including feature similarity accounts and the optimal tuning account. This holds because most studies varied not only the feature of the cue (target-matching vs. nonmatching feature value) but also the relative feature of the cue (target-matching vs. nonmatching relative feature), and thus cannot distinguish between the different views (e.g., Folk & Remington, 1998;Gaspelin, Margett-Jordan, & Ruthruff, 2015;Lien et al, 2008;Lien, Ruthruff, & Johnston, 2010). For example, in search for a red target among white nontargets, observing attentional capture by a red cue but not a green cue (e.g., Folk & Remington, 1998) is consistent both with a relational account and a feature-specific account, as the red cue matches both the target feature (red) and the target's relative feature (redder), whereas the green cue matches neither the target feature (red) nor its relative feature (redder).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional guidance by relative features: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

et al. 2016

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Citation for published item:h¤ onhmmerD tFqF nd qruertD eF nd uerzelD hF nd fekerD FsF @PHITA 9ettentionl guidne y reltive fetures X ehviorl nd eletrophysiologil evideneF9D syhophysiologyFD SQ @UAF ppF IHUREIHVQF Further information on publisher's website: httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFIIIIGpsypFIPTRS Publisher's copyright statement: his is the epted version of the following rtileX h¤ onhmmerD tF qFD qruertD eFD uerzelD hF nd fekerD F sF @PHITAD ettentionl guidne y reltive feturesX fehviorl nd eletrophysiologil evideneF syhophysiologyD SQ@UAX IHUREIHVQD whih hs een pulished in (nl form t httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFIIIIGpsypFIPTRSF his rtile my e used for nonEommeril purposes in ordne ith iley erms nd gonditions for selfErhivingF Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Attentional guidance by relative features 2 Abstract Our ability to select task-relevant information from cluttered visual environments is widely believed to be due to our ability to tune attention to the particular elementary feature values of a sought-after target (e.g., red, orange, yellow). By contrast, recent findings showed that attention is often tuned to feature relationships, viz., features that the target has relative to irrelevant features in the context (e.g., redder, yellower; Becker, 2010). However, the evidence for such a relational account is so far exclusively based on behavioral measures that do not allow a safe inference about early perceptual processes. The present study provides a critical test of the relational account, by measuring an electrophysiological marker in the EEG of participants (N2pc) in response to briefly presented distractors (cues) that could either match the physical features of the target or its relative features. In a first experiment, the target color and non-target color was kept constant across trials. In line with a relational account, we found that only cues with the same relative color as the target were attended, regardless of whether the cues had the same physical color as the target. In a second experiment, we demonstrate that attention is biased to the exact target feature value when the target is embedded in a randomly varying context. Taken together, these results provide the first electrophysiological evidence that attention can modulate early perceptual processes differently; in a contextdependent manner vs. a context-independent manner, resulting in marked differences in the range of colors that can attract attention.Attentional guidance by relative features 3

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional guidance by relative features: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

et al. 2016

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“…accuracies differ. Several previous studies have attempted to address this difficulty, for instance by normalizing RTs across age groups (Gaspelin, Margett-Jordan, & Ruthruff, 2015;Goldberg et al, 2001). It remains an open question, however, whether the mechanisms of selective spatial attention develop independently of basic visual sensitivity and task performance.…”

Section: Spatial Attention and Reading Abilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The link between reading ability and visual spatial attention across development

White

Boynton

Yeatman

2019

Cortex

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Interacting with a cluttered and dynamic environment requires making decisions about visual information at relevant locations while ignoring irrelevant locations. Typical adults can do this with covert spatial attention: prioritizing particular visual field locations even without moving the eyes. Deficits of covert spatial attention have been implicated in developmental dyslexia, a specific reading disability. Previous studies of children with dyslexia, however, have been complicated by group differences in overall task ability that are difficult to distinguish from selective spatial attention. Here, we used a single-fixation visual search task to estimate orientation discrimination thresholds with and without an informative spatial cue in a large sample (N=123) of people ranging in age from 5 to 70 years and with a wide range of reading abilities. We assessed the efficiency of attentional selection via the cueing effect: the difference in log thresholds with and without the spatial cue. Across our whole sample, both absolute thresholds and the cueing effect gradually improved throughout childhood and adolescence.Compared to typical readers, individuals with dyslexia had higher thresholds (worse orientation discrimination) as well as smaller cueing effects (weaker attentional selection).Those differences in dyslexia were especially pronounced prior to age 20, when basic visual function is still maturing. Thus, in line with previous theories, literacy skills are associated with the development of selective spatial attention.In this study, we are interested in how covert spatial attention differs between individuals with and without dyslexia, in childhood as well as in adulthood. Because our goal is to measure visual task performance across a wide age range, we must first consider more general developmental changes in visual perception and attention. The development of covert spatial attentionSince the 1980s, psychologists have studied the development of covert spatial attention using spatial cueing paradigms . Nearly all such studies assess spatial attention by comparing reaction times (RTs) across different cue conditions (e.g., valid vs. invalid). The question is how the differences in RT, which index attention effects, change across development. There is a general consensus that exogenous (automatic, stimulus-driven) cueing effects are present from at least pre-school age and are stable through the lifespan. Endogenous (voluntary, top-down) cueing effects show more gradual developmental change, suggesting an increase in strategic control over spatial attention.Beyond that, there is little agreement on the details of the time course and which internal mechanisms are changing. Some studies claim that endogenous attention becomes "adult-like" by age 10 A general challenge in this type of study is to separate developmental change in a specific mechanism of attention from developmental change in overall task performance. Younger participants tend to respond slower and less accurately to the same stimulus as older...

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“…On the other hand, children's attentional abilities and executive functions are still developing (Sarid and Breznitz, 1997; Lopez et al, 2005; Gaspelin et al, 2015) suggesting that children's visual environments may not always be advantageous (Choi et al, 2014). Indeed, while reflexive (automatic) attention is observed shortly after birth (Plude et al, 1994), other aspects of attention, such as the ability to suppress irrelevant information and sustain attention, have a rather long course of development (e.g., Ruff and Capozzoli, 2003; Rueda et al, 2004; Kannass and Colombo, 2007; Bartgis et al, 2008; Fisher et al, 2013; Gaspelin et al, 2015). It was found that toddlers are more prone to attention hijacking by distracting stimuli than are older children, and even at the age of 10 years, children are more susceptible to interference than are adults (Goldberg et al, 2001; Durston et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disruptive Effects of Colorful vs. Non-colorful Play Area on Structured Play—A Pilot Study with Preschoolers

et al. 2016

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To contribute to young children's development, sensory enrichment is often provided via colorful play areas. However, little is known about the effects of colorful environments on children while they engage in age-appropriate tasks and games. Studies in adults suggest that aspects of color can distract attention and impair performance, and children are known to have less developed attentional and executive abilities than adults. Preliminary studies conducted in children aged 5–8 suggest that the colorfulness of both distal (e.g., wall decorations) and proximal (e.g., the surface of the desktop) environments can have a disruptive effect on children's performance. The present research seeks to extend the previous studies to an even younger age group and focus on proximal colorfulness. With a sample of 15 pre-schoolers (3–4 years old) we examined whether a colorful play surface compared to a non-colorful (white) play surface would affect engagement in developmentally appropriate structured play. Our pilot findings suggest that a colorful play surface interfered with preschoolers' structured play, inducing more behaviors indicating disruption in task execution compared with a non-colorful play surface. The implications of the current study for practice and further research are discussed.

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Susceptible to distraction: Children lack top-down control over spatial attention capture

Cited by 34 publications

References 21 publications

Attentional guidance by relative features: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

Attentional guidance by relative features: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

The link between reading ability and visual spatial attention across development

Disruptive Effects of Colorful vs. Non-colorful Play Area on Structured Play—A Pilot Study with Preschoolers

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