Because children are bombarded by an abundance of information from the environment, the development of the ability to filter extraneous information in order to attend to the most relevant information is crucial for optimal information processing. The ability to effectively filter affects every aspect of children's functioning, including educational activities and social interactions. In order to assess the development of filtering with ecologically relevant factors, a forced-choice filtering paradigm in which the target and distracting stimuli were presented at different times was used to measure the speed of target identification among a group of 6-year-olds (n=10), 7-year-olds (n=12), 9-year-olds (n=13) and adults (n=13). The targets were presented at the centre of a computer screen with flankers presented to their left and right along the same horizontal plane. The flankers varied with regard to proximity to the target and were presented 200 ms or 400 ms before, at the same time as, or 200 or 400 ms after the presentation of the target. The distance between the distractors and target was also varied to assess the ability of participants to optimally narrow their focus of attention. Temporal differences in the onset of the target and distractors were used to assess issues of attentional control in a real-world context, where attention must be maintained within a changing environment. Though no difference in response time was observed for the presentation of close and far flankers, the display of flankers before the targets led to faster response times in all four groups while the display of flankers after the target led to slower response times in the two youngest groups. The results are consistent with the notion that children are less efficient in their ability to filter attention compared to adults. Findings are discussed in relation to developmental changes from age 6 years to adulthood.

Typescript (photocopy) / iv, 227 leaves, [35] leaves of plates : ill ; 31 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1982

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-73)

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-49). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR19634

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1982. / Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (B.A. Hons. 1973) from the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide.

Thesis (B.A. (Hons.)) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1970.

Thesis (B.Sc. (Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1980.