Developing a Visual Attention Assessment for Children at School Entry.

Tanja Prieler,Jenny M Thomson,Clare Wood

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02496

Tanja Prieler, Jenny M Thomson + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02496

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Abstract

Whereas young children’s visual attention has been explored in a number of previous studies, so far it has not been investigated by an assessment based on Bundesen’s Theory of Visual Attention (TVA). TVA is a prominent visual attention model that has been widely used as foundation in studies targeting older children, adolescents or adults. In this paper we explore the utility of adopting TVA to explore the visual attention of 4- to 5- year olds and present the development of a simplified adapted version of a TVA-based assessment designed for this age group. Key assessment alterations included the substitution of letter stimuli with black and white symbols and the reduction of assessment duration. The suitability of the assessment for the target age group was subsequently tested in two consecutive studies (Study I: N = 43; Study II: N = 24). Study results show that measuring visual attention based on a simplified TVA-based assessment appears feasible in such a young age group, provided that the study design takes into account the capabilities of these young children. The authors argue that by adopting this kind of visual attention assessment the relationship between visual attention development and early learning could be better understood.

Highlights

We tend to believe that we are processing all details when looking at an object or watching a scene, human visual systems are only able to focus on a small central area within the visual field, caused by over representation of central vision in the cortex (Horton and Hoyt, 1991)
Is There Evidence of Floor or Ceiling Effects in Participants’ Performance on the Whole Report and Partial Report Tasks? Whole report results To examine whether floor or ceiling effects could be identified, overall performance of all participants on the whole report task in Study II was examined
Whole report data revealed that the mean visual attention span across all tested participants lay between 1 and 2 items

Summary

Introduction

We tend to believe that we are processing all details when looking at an object or watching a scene, human visual systems are only able to focus on a small central area within the visual field, caused by over representation of central vision in the cortex (Horton and Hoyt, 1991). While overt visual attention is relying on the eye fixation on certain stimuli, covert attention includes neural adjustments for paying attention to something without the movement of the eyes (Wu and Remington, 2003) This latter mechanism can for instance be observed when we become aware of motion taking place in the peripheral areas of our vision while being focused on something else. The study was designed based on the following considerations: Concerning the number of elements to display within a string for the whole report task, the most common precedent for older populations (Duncan et al, 1999; Bogon et al, 2014) was five symbols (i.e., letters) in each trial of the whole report task This design decision was itself based on the results of previous studies exploring the question of how many items can be stored in an individual’s visual short term memory (VSTM). Isbell et al (2015), going one step further, suggested that even 16-year old’s capacity of VSTM is still lower than those of tested adults

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