The purpose of this study was to compare two conflicting theoretical perspectives on the relationship between intelligence and sustained attention. The cognitive resources theory assumes that lower IQ subjects are required to allocate greater amounts of their limited attentional resources during information-processing tasks than higher IQ subjects. The arousal theory assumes that there is an optimal level of arousal associated with task performance, and that an increase or decrease in arousal produces impairment in performance. Additionally the arousal theory predicts that increased time on task leads to a decrement in arousal as a function of IQ levels. Signal detection theory applications were used to operationalize and compare the two theories. Specifically, the signal detection parameters of sensory acuity ( d’), the decision criterion (a), correct detections, and false alarms were used to determine subject performance across three time periods ( 2, 4, and 6 mm.) on a visual continuous performance task. Twenty-nine teacher-nominated at-risk for learning difficulties and twenty-nine normally achieving kindergarten students were adminstered the Stanford-Binet:Fourth Edition (SB:FE) and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI.R), as well as the Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) Vigilance Task. The GDS is a standardized behaviour-based measure of sustained attention. The results of this study were interpreted as suggesting that ability group differences reflect attentional capacity. Two findings were important in this interpretation. First, regardless of IQ, the groups varied on the signal detection discrimination index. Second, these measures did not vary over time in either group. Thus, the arousal theory was not supported. IQ and attention intercorrelation patterns were higher for the at-risk group compared to the normally achieving group. Exploratory maximum-likelihood factor analyses indicated that intelligence plays a greater role in relation to vigilance for the at-risk for learning difficulties group than the normal achieving group. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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Stroop interference through the colour-word task has been a popular means of studying selective attention since its introduction in 1935. Little effort has been made to adapting a non-verbal task for use with pre-school children. Cramer (1976) devised a colour-picture task where pictures characteristically associated with a particular colour (such as a picture of a banana and the colour yellow) were presented in incongruous colours (e.g., a blue banana). A series of studies was conducted with children aged between 3 and 8 years of age which investigated facets of this colour-picture task. Two methods of responding were compared - a verbal response, and a manual response that allowed younger children to participate (a card-sorting technique). In addition to the basic colour-picture task where children named colours and forms, another task was introduced where children 'prescribed' the correct colour of incorrectly-coloured pictures (Santostefano, 1978; Sebovà & Árochovà, 1986). Results showed that children consistently displayed increased latencies when colour-naming and colour-sorting characteristically and uncharacteristically-coloured pictures. Interference was frequently found for inappropriately-coloured but not appropriately-coloured pictures in form-naming/sorting tasks. The prescribing task proved difficult for children to complete and produced increased latencies and error rates. Performance of the naming colour-picture task was compared to classic Stroop colour-word procedures in children aged between 5 and 8. There were correlations between colour naming in the colour-picture and colour-word tasks for children aged 5 - 7. Performance in the prescribing task did not correlate. It is concluded that the tasks are good measures of selective attention but not necessarily direct equivalents of the colour-word task. An evaluation of the verbal and non-verbal methods is also given.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2003. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-159). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99187

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 1998. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-90). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ27331.

Two studies were conducted to examine the hypothesis that compliance may be a "keystone" behaviour for intervention for children with developmental delays. The relations among children's behaviours were examined during teaching sessions conducted either by children's mother or an unfamiliar examiner. Specifically, the relations between children's compliance with instructional requests and their attention, affect (positive and negative), and inappropriate behaviours (inappropriate object use, inappropriate vocalizations, inappropriate sitting, wandering, and self-directed behaviour) were examined. In both studies, highly compliant children showed less negative affect and were more attentive to the tasks than were less compliant children. Highly attentive children, in turn, showed less out-of-seat behaviour/wandering, less inappropriate object use, and less negative affect, than did less attentive children. / In the second study, the hypothesis that delayed children may have greater difficulties with self-regulation than nondelayed children was investigated by examining-the effects of task difficulty on children's behaviour and affect during instruction. The responses of preschoolers with developmental delays Were compared to those of their nondelayed peers during two types of tasks (verbal and visual-perceptual) presented at three levels of difficulty (easy, moderate, and difficult). The tasks were presented in a standardized manner by an unfamiliar adult to minimize extraneous sources of variation in children's responding. To ensure that children in all groups received comparably difficult tasks, task difficulty was defined using an individualized procedure. Thus, group differences in children's responses to task requests could not be attributed to differences in their level of developmental functioning. Finally the associations between children's behaviours and task performance were examined to identify the behaviours that contributed to task success. / The results indicated that even when given comparably difficult tasks, children with delays showed less tolerance for task demands than did their nondelayed peers. The delayed children were less compliant than the nondelayed children during moderately difficult and difficult tasks and were also less attentive than the controls during difficult tasks. Also, whereas the delayed children showed reductions in compliance and on-task attention with increases in task difficulty, the nondelayed children were equally compliant and attentive at all levels of task difficulty. / All children were more compliant and attentive and showed less inappropriate behaviour during the visual-perceptual than the verbal tasks. Furthermore, compliance was strongly associated with children's performance on both types of tasks. The findings are interpreted as evidence that children with delays may have greater difficulties with emotion and self-regulation than their nondelayed peers.