The Efficacy of Visual and Auditory Distractions for Preschool Children1

Abstract

Morgan and Evans both survey the experiments on distractions that had been published prior to 1916. Thus it remains only to survey their studies and those which have appeared since that time. Morgan (10) was interested in the way in which subject would react to distractions occurring while he was engaged in some task. The task was to press the one of ten reaction keys corresponding to the letter appearing in the exposure apparatus. Each of the 12 subjects had only one sitting, alternating half hour quiet period with ten minute period under distraction. The 9 noises, all of which were used at once, consisted of: fire bell, a bell mechanism with hammer against a resonance box, bell mechanism with hammer against metal beam across the room, bell mechanism with hammer against the table, buzzer on the table, bell on the left in front of the subject, bell on the right behind the subject, buzzer on tin box under the table, and buzzer on resonance board in the left wall. A graphophone with six different records was also used. The results show that after an initial retardation, the subject in many cases exceded the speed he had acquired before the introduction of the noises. This elimination of the effects of the noises from the time records is due to an increase in effort and to the use of articulation. Less effort was expended to overcome the distraction offered by the graphophone. Better time was made during the instrumental selections than during the humorous speeches and vocal solos, and little better also than during the final quiet period. Evans (5) was interested in slightly different aspect of the problem. He 1 From the University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Welfare. The writer acknowledges indebtedness to Dr. Mary M. Shirley who directed both the research and the analysis of the data.