Distraction of attention by novel sounds in children declines fast

Nicole Wetzel,Andreas Widmann,Florian Scharf

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83528-y

Abstract

New task-irrelevant sounds can distract attention. This study specifies the impact of stimulus novelty and of learning on attention control in three groups of children aged 6–7, 8, and 9–10 years and an adult control group. Participants (N = 179) were instructed to ignore a sound sequence including standard sounds and novel or repeated distractor sounds, while performing a visual categorization task. Distractor sounds impaired performance in children more than in adult controls, demonstrating the long-term development of attention control. Children, but not adults, were more distracted by novel than by repeated sounds, indicating increased sensitivity to novel information. Children, in particular younger children, were highly distracted during the first presentations of novel sounds compared to adults, while no age differences were observed for the last presentations. Results highlight the age-related impact of auditory novel information on attention and characterize the rapid development of attention control mechanisms as a function of age and exposure to irrelevant novel sounds.

Highlights

Could result from different examined ages groups and by differences in experimental conditions such as modality, by differences in the information provided by distractor sounds, or the number of presented distractor sounds
We demonstrated that children were more distracted by unexpected and task-irrelevant novel sounds than adults
All children groups were more distracted by novel than by repeated sounds while adults were distracted by novel and repeated sounds

Summary

Introduction

Could result from different examined ages groups and by differences in experimental conditions such as modality (auditory-visual, auditory-alone), by differences in the information provided by distractor sounds, or the number of presented distractor sounds. Distraction effects declined with increasing age and performance was more impaired by novel than by repeated deviant sounds. A decline of distraction effects in response to novel but not to pitch deviant sounds during the experimental session in the youngest children was reported. We assume that children are initially much more distracted by task-irrelevant sounds than adults, but that distraction effects decrease during the experimental session. We assume that children are initially more distracted by task-irrelevant sounds than adults and that this effect is pronounced for novel sounds. Three groups of children aged 6–7, 8, and 9–10-years and an adult control group performed a visual categorization task. We expected prolonged RTs in the categorization task when a novel or repeated distractor sound preceded a target, demonstrating distraction of attention. Results could explain inconsistent findings on age effects of attention control in middle childhood

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Discussion

Conclusion