Cultural determinations on the auditory split-span technique of selective attention

Cultural differences in selective attention among Ibo and Yoruba adolescents of Nigeria were examined with the auditory split-span technique. It was predicted that Yoruba would perform better than Ibo in a task involving auditory discrimination of digits alternated with letters. A group of 200 16-year-old boys and girls was randomly drawn from four secondary schools of both ethnic groups to represent a wide range of socioenconomic environments. Factorial analysis and analysis of variance showed no significant differences and did not substantiate the hypothesis. Theoretical implications of the findings were elaborated.