Selective Attention (SA) and Perceptual Inhibition (PI) Throughout the Lifespan

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to analyze the development of Perceptual Inhibition (PI) and Selective Visual Attention (SVA) across lifespan, identifying key moments of change in the direction of development. A total of 810 Argentinian participants, ranging from 6–80 years, were included. The results revealed that PI and SVA followed similar patterns, characterized by a linear function with three phases and two significant transition zones. The first phase spanned from childhood to early adolescence, showing a rapid and constant improvement in PI and SVA efficiency until 11 and 13 years. Subsequently, the next developmental phase is more extensive and lasts about 40 years. This phase is characterized by stability with a slight decline. In older adults another transition was identified, with a progressive decline until 80 years. It is important to note that the decline in older adults was much slower than the rapid improvement observed in childhood and adolescence, suggesting that the decline in older adults was not an inverse mirror image of their early development. PI showed a continuous improvement between the ages of 6 and 11, reaching a similar level of performance as young adults. On the other hand, SVA indexes showed a linear and progressive improvement from 6 years of age, but the first transition in the other direction was registered at 13 years of age. In summary, this study highlighted that both PI and SVA followed nonsymmetrical developmental patterns, with rapid early improvements in childhood and adolescence, and a slower decline in older adults.