There are two ways that attentional resources can be aligned in visual space. They can be "pulled" automatically by stimulus cues, or "pushed" in a more strategic manner by the observer in response to information cues. The present study was designed to determine if the ability to align attention in these two ways changes throughout the course of the lifespan. Subjects (6, 8, 10, 23, and 73 years) were tested in two conditions. In the first, subjects were presented with a stimulus cue (a dot that appears briefly at a target location) prior to the presentation of a target. Attention was automatically aligned to a possible target location in response to the stimulus cue. In the second, an arrow was presented prior to the target, allowing the subject to align attention strategically in response to the cue. Cues were either valid or invalid predictors of target location, cue-target SOA was varied so the time course for the effective use of both types of cues was measured and compared. Eye movements were monitored to control for confounding developmental differences in vision. In a second experiment, lifespan changes in the interaction between the two forms of orienting were assessed by presenting subjects with both cues on each trial. The location information provided by each cue could be either compatible or incompatible with each other. The results of both experiments suggest that the ability to align attention automatically changes very little from early childhood through old age. Strategic attention alignment becomes more efficient in early adulthood. Children have difficulty sustaining attention at locations specified by information cues and seniors have difficulty using the information rapidly. Both children and seniors are less able to use information cues when stimulus cues are also available where as young adults can use both. These findings suggest that separate mechanisms are required to implement attention alignments to automatic and strategic cues.

There are two ways that attentional resources can be aligned in visual space. They can be "pulled" automatically by stimulus cues, or "pushed" in a more strategic manner by the observer in response to information cues. The present study was designed to determine if the ability to align attention in these two ways changes throughout the course of the lifespan. Subjects (6, 8, 10, 23, and 73 years) were tested in two conditions. In the first, subjects were presented with a stimulus cue (a dot that appears briefly at a target location) prior to the presentation of a target. Attention was automatically aligned to a possible target location in response to the stimulus cue. In the second, an arrow was presented prior to the target, allowing the subject to align attention strategically in response to the cue. Cues were either valid or invalid predictors of target location, cue-target SOA was varied so the time course for the effective use of both types of cues was measured and compared. Eye movements were monitored to control for confounding developmental differences in vision. In a second experiment, lifespan changes in the interaction between the two forms of orienting were assessed by presenting subjects with both cues on each trial. The location information provided by each cue could be either compatible or incompatible with each other. The results of both experiments suggest that the ability to align attention automatically changes very little from early childhood through old age. Strategic attention alignment becomes more efficient in early adulthood. Children have difficulty sustaining attention at locations specified by information cues and seniors have difficulty using the information rapidly. Both children and seniors are less able to use information cues when stimulus cues are also available where as young adults can use both. These findings suggest that separate mechanisms are required to implement attention alignments to automatic and strategic cues. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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This study found a relationship between the Search and Cancellation of Ascending Numbers (SCAN), Digit Span, and Visual Search and Attention Test (VSAT). Data suggest the measures represent a common construct interpreted to be attention. An auditory distracter condition of the SCAN did not distract participants, while the measure exhibited ample alternate forms reliability. The study also found that the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) short form poorly predicted performance on the Digit Span, VSAT, and SCAN. Although the TAIS exhibited good internal consistency, the items likely measure the subjective perception of attention. Furthermore, discriminant and convergent validity of the TAIS were found to be poor.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of self-efficacy on attentional deployment in a coincidence timing (CT) task. / Hypotheses stating that high self-efficacy would incur less performance error than low self-efficacy and that increasing task difficulty, or stimulus speed, would increase CT error as a result of decreased reserve attentional capacity were tested. MANOVA procedures were used to compare CT error scores over three experimental conditions, two levels of task condition (single/dual) and two speeds (15/25 mph). Alpha was set at the.10 probability level for all statistical comparisons. / As predicted, the positive feedback group reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than did the control and negative feedback groups, who were statistically similar in self-efficacy. Less variable, absolute, and total error was incurred by positive feedback than by the negative and no feedback treatments. A significant difference between the negative and no feedback groups was also noted in reserve attentional capacity.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of auditory background interference on test performance on a group of schizophrenics as well as with a normal group and to ascertain if subgroups of each type could be differentiated on neuopsychological measures from the WMS-R particularly sensitive to left-hemispheric functions.There were 60 subjects, 30 normals and 30 schizophrenics, who volunteered to participate in the study. The schizophrenics, all hospitalized at Logansport State Hospital, had a diagnosis of chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia. The normals were students at Logansport High School enrolled in a senior psychology class. The research utilized a counterbalanced design in which subjects were administered items from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised in both a normal administration condition and in the presence of auditory background information provided by a prerecorded tape.The relationship between auditory background interference and diagnosis was examined using an analysis of variance (MANOVA) of the difference between means. The overall mean for groups did not differ significantly, F (1,58) = .087. No test was identified as being able to differentiate left-hemispheric functions for either group in either testing condition, F (4, 55) = 1.09, p .37. There also was no statistically significant difference between the test performance of males and females in the presence of auditory background interference.The results indicate that neither group evidenced much change in perfromance in the presence of auditory background information. This would suggest that the testing conditionn had little influence on test results. It also suggests that internal differences, as opposed to the external environment, contributed much more to the differences in test performance. The lack of significant differences on the subtests that are considered measures of left-hemispheric functioning may have been due to the significant cognitive impairments of the schizophrenics. The normals may have been more able to increase their attentional and concentration skills in the presence of auditory background interference so that no decreases in performance resulted. / School of Physical Education

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