The Intellectual Structure of Attention Research in Korea

Abstract

This study aims to better understand the intellectual structure of attention literature, its trending themes, and changes. A keyword network analysis method was applied to determine the characteristics of the structure, identify the subfields and main themes, and examine the trajectory of the academic evolution of the field. After a search for peer-reviewed journal articles using the term ‘attention’ as a search word, the keyword network of attention research was constructed based on the co-occurrence frequency of the keywords in the articles. Ucinet, Vosviewer, and Netdraw softwares were used to find out the structural characteristics of the field, to measure centralities of the keywords, to determine the clusters, and to visualize the network. According to the findings of this study, the attention literature in Korea is dominated by the ADHD research. The keyword network analysis yielded 18 subfields and identified ‘attention,’ ‘ADHD,’ and ‘autism’ as the influential themes in the field. The intellectual structures appeared to have developed during the last ten years by exploring novel themes and building up more sound interrelationships among the themes. Several suggestions were discussed for further development of the field in the perspectives of educators and attention researchers.