The developmental trajectories of selective and divided attention were examined in relation to the processing of hierarchically integrated stimuli. Items consisted of square, diamond, and circle forms made up of smaller squares, diamonds, and circles. Participants included 20 observers in 5 age groups (6, 8, 10, 12, and 24) who decided whether a square or diamond was presented on any given trial. In one set of trials, they were told to selectively attend (and respond) at only one level of analysis (global or local) whereas in the divided attention task, the target could appear at either level. This procedure allowed a unique comparison between selective and divided attention tasks using the same stimuli, task requirements, and instructions. Thus only the mental and attentional state of the observer was manipulated across tasks. In addition, for the divided attention task, observers were biased to one level of analysis. For both tasks and for the cross-task comparison, a clear and qualitative developmental shift was evident from six years of age to eight and ten years of age. The shift occurred in terms of selective attention, sensitivity to the probability of bias, and relative efficiency in processing global and local targets.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.32922 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Kovshoff, Hanna. |
| Contributors | Burack, Jacob B. (advisor), Shore, D I. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001846105, proquestno: MQ75237, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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