Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
1006984844
Link(s) to full text
LAC copy
LAC copy
Author
McConnell, Beth A.(Beth Alexandra),1973-
Title
Disengaging visual attention : normal developmental data from the first six months of life.
Degree
M.A. -- York University, 1999
Publisher
Ottawa : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, [2001]
Description
1 microfiche
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
Visual-spatial attention enables individuals to orient selectively to objects and/or events in visual space. In order to orient attention in visual space, attention is first disengaged from its current focus and then shifted to a new target and re-engaged (Posner & Petersen, 1990). The present study was designed to explore the development of the shift and disengage operations longitudinally over the first six months of life. The relationship between visual attention and temperament was also examined. At 2-, 4-, and 6-months of age 14 infants participated in a visual orienting task designed to look independently at the shift and disengage operations. Parents of infants also completed the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire, as measure of infant temperament (IBQ; Rothbart, 1978). Each trial of the orienting task was initiated by the appearance of a central stimulus. On shift trials the centre stimulus was extinguished before a peripheral stimulus appeared, and on disengage trials the centre stimulus remained illuminated during the presentation of the peripheral stimulus. Latency (in ms) to make an eye movement to the peripheral stimulus served as the dependent measure. The latency to shift and disengage attention improved significantly across each of the three age intervals. At two-months of age infants took significantly longer to disengage attention, but the RT advantage for shift trials was not maintained for 4- and 6-month-olds. Contrary to expectations, latency to disengage was not associated with the distress or the soothability subscales of the IBQ. Discussion focuses on the finding that the shift and disengage operations undergo significant development over the first six months of life.
ISBN
0612561933
9780612561939