Mechanisms of attention: a developmental study

A model of selective attention is proposed which contains a number of properties. First, stimuli which are irrelevant to the subjects' task can be analyzed to semantic levels automatically, and such stimuli can produce intrusion/interference effects. Second, two mechanisms by which selection is achieved are habituation to, and inhibition of, these irrelevant stimuli. A series of studies demonstrates that both the ability to process automatically irrelevant stimuli and the habituation mechanisms of attention are observable by Grade 2, whereas the inhibitory mechanism is not always evident at this stage. It is suggested that the greater distractability of children in certain situations may be due in part to the underutilization of this inhibitory mechanism. We further propose that children may be able to employ inhibitory mechanisms in more familiar perceptual-motor tasks.