Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention
The current experiment examined changes in visual selective attention in young children, older children, young adults, and older adults while participants were instructed to ignore auditory and visual distractors. The aims of the study were to: (a) determine if the Perceptual Load Hypothesis (PLH) (...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02564/full |
| _version_ | 1819236360320450560 |
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| author | Christopher W. Robinson Andrew M. Hawthorn Arisha N. Rahman |
| author_facet | Christopher W. Robinson Andrew M. Hawthorn Arisha N. Rahman |
| author_sort | Christopher W. Robinson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The current experiment examined changes in visual selective attention in young children, older children, young adults, and older adults while participants were instructed to ignore auditory and visual distractors. The aims of the study were to: (a) determine if the Perceptual Load Hypothesis (PLH) (distraction greater under low perceptual load) could predict which irrelevant stimuli would disrupt visual selective attention, and (b) if auditory to visual shifts found in modality dominance research could be extended to selective attention tasks. Overall, distractibility decreased with age, with incompatible distractors having larger costs in young and older children than adults. In regard to accuracy, visual distractibility did not differ across age nor load, whereas, auditory interference was more pronounced early in development and correlated with age. Auditory and visual distractors also slowed down responses in young and older children more than adults. Finally, the PLH did not predict performance. Rather, children often showed the opposite pattern, with visual distractors having a greater cost in the high load condition (older children) and auditory distractors having a greater cost in the high load condition (young children). These findings are consistent with research examining the development of modality dominance and shed light on changes in multisensory processing and selective attention across the lifespan. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5c5923a95fbd457bac2c1439f825dea6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:03:12Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5c5923a95fbd457bac2c1439f825dea62022-12-21T17:45:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-12-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.02564387481Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective AttentionChristopher W. RobinsonAndrew M. HawthornArisha N. RahmanThe current experiment examined changes in visual selective attention in young children, older children, young adults, and older adults while participants were instructed to ignore auditory and visual distractors. The aims of the study were to: (a) determine if the Perceptual Load Hypothesis (PLH) (distraction greater under low perceptual load) could predict which irrelevant stimuli would disrupt visual selective attention, and (b) if auditory to visual shifts found in modality dominance research could be extended to selective attention tasks. Overall, distractibility decreased with age, with incompatible distractors having larger costs in young and older children than adults. In regard to accuracy, visual distractibility did not differ across age nor load, whereas, auditory interference was more pronounced early in development and correlated with age. Auditory and visual distractors also slowed down responses in young and older children more than adults. Finally, the PLH did not predict performance. Rather, children often showed the opposite pattern, with visual distractors having a greater cost in the high load condition (older children) and auditory distractors having a greater cost in the high load condition (young children). These findings are consistent with research examining the development of modality dominance and shed light on changes in multisensory processing and selective attention across the lifespan.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02564/fullselective attentioncross-modal processingmodality dominanceagingauditory processingvisual processing |
| spellingShingle | Christopher W. Robinson Andrew M. Hawthorn Arisha N. Rahman Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention Frontiers in Psychology selective attention cross-modal processing modality dominance aging auditory processing visual processing |
| title | Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention |
| title_full | Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention |
| title_fullStr | Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention |
| title_short | Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention |
| title_sort | developmental differences in filtering auditory and visual distractors during visual selective attention |
| topic | selective attention cross-modal processing modality dominance aging auditory processing visual processing |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02564/full |
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