FOCUSED ATTENTION AND DISTRACTION IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT

控制注意力是一项基本技能，不仅对认知能力至关重要， 一般来说，适应性行为。 两个控制注意力的系统 出现在生命的前五年。 定向/调查系统 出现在前6个月;在这个系统中的注意力是敏感的 新奇和快速习惯。 一个更高层次的目标导向系统 出现在第一年年底和性质整个学前班 年;它允许注意力由计划支配，并涉及控制 为复杂的有序活动服务的较低级别流程。 的 这个项目的目标是学习更多关于集中视觉注意力， 在早期发展过程中注意力分散。 项目的具体目标 （1）进一步定义和完善专注的行为衡量标准 注意力; 2）测试几个工作假设; a）集中视觉 注意力包括缩小知觉和 动作; B）对分散注意力的事件的习惯化减少了分散注意力， 支持集中注意力; c）一些析构函数增加了 儿童的集中注意力超过非分心比较，由于 增加的觉醒和/或视野变窄;和d）随着年龄的增长， 注意力分散会减少。 几项横断面研究是 建议在10个月、26个月和42个月时观察儿童， 在存在或不存在析构函数的情况下自由玩玩具。 的 析构函数的位置、类型和定时将随预期的 位于外围的析构函数响应较少， 特别是当孩子们开始专注于玩具时， 析构函数 孩子们在开始的时候专注于玩具， 析构函数 暴露在破坏者中的儿童，特别是 外围，应该比那些没有暴露的人更关注，因为习惯于 析构函数将增强缩小的选择性。 结果应该是 对幼儿如何在复杂环境中部署注意力的重要影响 和刺激的环境，并可能有助于我们了解早期 注意力缺陷

The control of attention is a basic skill, essential not only for cognitive tasks but for adaptive action generally. Two system controlling attention appear in the first 5 years of life. An orienting/investigative system emerges in the first 6 months; attention in this system is sensitive to novelty and habituates rapidly. A higher-level, goal-oriented system emerges at the end of the first year and natures throughout the preschool years; it allows attention to be governed by plans and involves the control of lower-level processes in the service of complex sequenced activity. The goal of this project is to learn more about focused visual attention and distractibility during early development. The specific aims of the project are 1) to further define and refine the behavioral measure of focused attention; and 2) to test several working hypotheses; a) focused visual attention involves a narrowing of selectivity in both perception and action; b) habituation to distracting events reduces distraction and supports focused attention; c) some destructors increase the amount of children's focused attention over non-distraction comparisons, due either to increased arousal and/or narrowing of the visual field; and d) with age, distractibility will decrease. Several cross-sectional studies are proposed in which children at 10, 26, and 42 months will be observed during free play with toys in the presence or absence of destructors. The location, type, and timing of destructors will vary, with the expectation that destructors located in the periphery will be responded to less, especially when the children are focused on the toys at the onset of the destructor. Children are focused on the toys at the onset of the destructor. Children exposed to destructors, particularly those in the periphery, should focus more than those not exposed because habituation to the destructors will enhance narrowed selectivity. The results should have important implications for how young children deploy attention in complex and stimulating environments and may help in our understanding of early attention deficits.