Poster #1 - A Test of Parasuraman's Sustained Attention Taxonomy in Children

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

This study considered Parasuraman’s sustained attention (SA) taxonomy – the effects of event rate and task discrimination – on SA performance in children. The vast adult SA literature has proven invaluable to the study of children (Laurie-Rose, Pempek, & Curtindale, 2015). Two variables are considered crucial to SA tasks with adults: event rate and task discrimination. Event rate refers to the speed at which events are presented during a task. Event rate can be described as the number of events presented per minute – and this rate determines whether a task is fast or slow. Adult performance typically shows an inverse relation to event rate – as event rate increases performance tends to decline (Warm & Jerison, 1984). However, with children, there is evidence to suggest the opposite pattern: performance may improve with increased event rate (Laurie-Rose, Bennett-Murphy, Curtindale, Granger, &Walker, 2005). Task discrimination refers to whether stimuli are presented simultaneously or successively. Simultaneous tasks present stimuli at the same time and allow participants to make comparative judgments of the stimuli whereas successive tasks ask participants to make absolute judgments based on their memory of the critical and neutral events. To date, researchers have yet to examine this critical variable with typically developing children.

The present study considered effects of event rate and task discrimination on SA performance of younger and older children. One hundred and two 6-to 9-year-old children completed a 10-minute SA task that varied with regard to event rate (fast: 45 event/minute; slow: 10 events/minute) and task discrimination (simultaneous: respond to any matching emoji pair; successive: respond to the “special” emoji pair); producing four conditions. Performance was evaluated across five two-minute periods of watch, using the signal detection indices perceptual sensitivity (d’) and response bias (c). Eighty-two children (6-to 7-year-olds; n = 42 and 8-to 9-year-olds; n = 40) without diagnoses or concerns related to attention were included in the analyses.

Age (6-7 years; 8-9 years) x event rate (fast; slow) x task discrimination (simultaneous; successive) x periods of watch (1-5) mixed ANOVAs were conducted on perceptual sensitivity (d’) and response bias (c). Concerning d’, the main effect of event rate was significant (p <. 05), with the fast event rate yielding lower sensitivity scores than the slow event rate. Concerning c, the main effects of age and task were significant (p < .01 and p < .05, respectively). Younger children responded more conservatively than older children. Children also responded more conservatively in the simultaneous task compared to the successive task. The main effect for event rate was significant (p < .05) but modified by a significant event rate x watch interaction (p < .01). Children in the fast condition became increasingly conservative across periods of watch. By contrast, in the slow condition, children set a more liberal criterion which remained relatively stable across periods of watch (see Figure 1). These findings suggest that event rate and task discrimination manipulations differentially affect SA performance. Further examination of these factors may illuminate optimal event rate and task discrimination necessary for sustaining attention.

Authors

• Lori Curtindale, East Carolina University
  Presenting Author

• Cynthia Laurie-Rose, Otterbein University
  Non-Presenting Author