Anna V. Fisher, Ph.D - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sustained selective attention underlies our ability to process some parts of the environment at the exclusion of others over a period of time. Therefore, sustained selective attention is a crucially important process enabling one to process relevant information and ignore information irrelevant to the task at hand, be it language comprehension, categorization, or problem solving. However, development of the mechanisms underlying this crucially important ability is not fully understood at present. The goal of the proposed research is to investigate mechanisms of sustained selective attention in 2- to 6-year-old children, age at which this ability has been shown to develop rapidly. One of the challenges in investigating mechanisms of this ability is developing a task that is sufficiently motivating and challenging to participants of different ages. Another challenge is developing a task that makes it possible to assess automatic and voluntary components of sustained selective attention within the same experimental paradigm. The proposed research will (1) develop an engaging task suitable for investigating voluntary and automatic components of sustained selective attention across a wide range of age groups, including children as young as two years of age, and (2) utilize this task to investigate mechanisms of sustained selective attention in 2- to 6-year-old children. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed project will initiate a new line of research investigating mechanisms of sustained selective attention in 2- to 6-year-old children using a novel computer-based Object Tracking task. In addition to generating new empirical and theoretical knowledge, the proposed research will develop methodology that may have important practical implications for early identification of children at risk for developing attention deficit disorder.

Selective sustained attention is the ability to maintain focus on some aspects of the environment over time while ignoring others. The ability to engage in selective sustained attention is crucial for learning and processing important information. This ability is influenced both by exogenous factors (relating to the characteristics of the environment, such as how noticeable, interesting, or novel an object is) and endogenous factors (relating to the characteristics of the individual, such as motivation or remembering the task goals). Over development, children become less easily influenced by exogenous factors, and endogenous factors begin to play a more important role. This project investigates how developmental change in the relative contributions of endogenous and exogenous factors influences different kinds of learning.

Selective sustained attention develops throughout childhood, such that endogenous factors become more powerful in guiding attention. There are numerous experimental paradigms for studying sustained attention in infancy and adulthood. However, few experimental paradigms are appropriate for use with children between the ages of approximately 2 and 7 years, the period of heightened development of endogenous regulation of selective sustained attention. The investigators have developed a task --the Track-It task-- appropriate for studying selective sustained attention in children in this age range. In the Track-It task, children visually track a moving object on a screen, surrounded by either homogenous or heterogeneous moving distracters, and report the location of the target's disappearance. Performance on this task can distinguish between the contribution of endogenous and exogenous factors to sustained attention. This project will use response accuracy and patterns of eye movements in the Track-It task to: (1) investigate the development of endogenous regulation of selective sustained attention, and (2) investigate how exogenous and endogenous attention regulation contributes to implicit versus explicit learning. This research will advance understanding of the development of attention regulation and its implications for different types of learning.

The practice of using illustrations in materials for teaching children to read dates back over 250 years. In recent years, illustrations in books for beginning readers have become increasingly more colorful and engaging than in the past. Yet, there is virtually no research evaluating the effect of close proximity of text to colorful engaging illustrations on emerging literacy skills. However, there are theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that engaging colorful illustrations placed in close proximity to text in books for beginning readers may interfere with (rather that aid) emerging literacy skills. This research will examine (1) whether close proximity of text to illustrations, a typical layout in books for beginning readers, creates competition for attentional resources, thus interfering with reading fluency and comprehension; and (2) how the layout of books for beginning readers can be optimized to reduce competition for attentional resources and thus improve fluency and comprehension in beginning readers.

To address these questions, this project will use portable eye tracking devices to examine the patterns of attention allocation as children in kindergarten through second grade read books designed for beginning readers. Specifically, researchers will measure the number of gaze shifts from text to illustrations and the total time children spend looking at text and illustrations. It is hypothesized that frequent gaze shifts from text to illustrations are indicative of children being distracted by illustrations. Additionally, researchers will collect measures of reading fluency and reading comprehension. In a series of six studies, researchers will compare performance on measures of attention and reading when children read commercially available books to modified versions of the same books. The modifications to commercially available books will be aimed at optimizing the layout of text and illustrations to reduce competition for attentional resources. It is predicted that modified book layouts will lead to decreased frequency of gaze shifts from text to illustrations, and increased reading fluency and comprehension. Overall, this project has potential to uncover low-cost and easy to scale basic principles to achieve optimal design of reading materials to improve literacy skills of beginning readers.