| Abstract: | Five- and 8-year-old children's performance in a short-term memory task was assessed under two auditory and two visual distraction conditions, as well as with no extraneous stimuli present. Performance under distraction was found to be inferior to that under nondistraction, but the degree of difference was roughly the same at ages 5 and 8, indicating little developmental change in the effects of distraction over this age range. Other findings included differences in the effectiveness of the distractors used and evidence that the children adapted somewhat to the influence of extraneous stimulation. |
