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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2026

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Published on: October 19, 2014

Perceptual load influences selective attention across development.

Jane W Couperus¹

¹School of Cognitive Science, Adele Simmons Hall, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA. jcouperus@hampshire.edu

Developmental Psychology

|June 22, 2011

Summary

Visual selective attention develops with age, showing similar processing mechanisms but faster speeds in teens and adults compared to children. This highlights shared, yet quantitatively different, attentional development across childhood.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology

Background:

Visual selective attention develops throughout childhood.
Neurological underpinnings of this development are not well understood.
Existing adult theories, like perceptual load theory, lack developmental context.

Purpose of the Study:

Examine visual selective attention development from childhood to adulthood.
Investigate if perceptual load influences selective attention similarly across age groups.
Understand the neurological changes accompanying attentional development.

Main Methods:

Event-related potentials (ERPs) measured unattended stimulus processing.
Participants (7 years to adult) completed tasks under low and high perceptual load.
Analyzed P1 visual component for processing changes and latency.

Main Results:

Children, teens, and adults showed reduced unattended processing with increased perceptual load (P1 component).
No qualitative differences in processing changes were observed across age groups.
Quantitative differences emerged: shorter P1 latencies in teens/adults vs. children, indicating faster processing speed.
Younger children required lower perceptual load for performance differences compared to adults.

Conclusions:

Developmental changes in visual selective attention exist.
Attentional mechanisms in children share similarities with adults.
Processing speed increases across development.
Perceptual load effects on attention show both similarities and quantitative differences across development.