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Xia R, Zhao X, Liu Y, Dou Y, Shu Z, Ding X, Zhou X, Han J, Zhao X. Attention network training promotes selective attention of children with low socioeconomic status. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 239:105807. [PMID: 37972517 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the difference of selective attention efficiency between children with low and high socioeconomic status (SES) and the promotional effect of attention network training (an attention network test was used as the training task) on selective attention in children with the low SES. A total of 139 10- to 12-year-old children participated in two experiments (71 in Experiment 1 and 68 in Experiment 2). The results suggest that selective attention and switch ability of children with high SES are better than those of children with low SES. After attention network training, selective attention, switch ability, and working memory of low-SES children improved significantly. The findings provide evidence that attention network training could enhance selective attention in low-SES children and that the beneficial training effect could also transfer to switch ability and working memory. The research may provide a promising method to compensate cognitive delay of low-SES children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruixue Xia
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China.
| | - Xuerong Zhao
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
| | - Yang Liu
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Yan Dou
- Lanzhou 101 Middle School,Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Zhenzhou Shu
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Xiaohuan Ding
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Xiaoqin Zhou
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Jingjing Han
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China
| | - Xin Zhao
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China.
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Quirós-Godoy M, Gil-Gómez de Liaño B, Perez-Hernandez E. I can look for it! Modulation of a concurrent Visual Working Memory task in Visual Search in development. Front Psychol 2022; 13:907121. [PMID: 35936305 PMCID: PMC9353270 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Daily classroom activities that require children to perform visual search (VS) tasks are common across all educational levels: from searching for a missing piece of a puzzle in kindergarten to solving equations in college. However, VS tasks are often not performed in isolation, but rather students are maintaining information related to an ongoing task that loads working memory (WM). Unfortunately, it is still unclear how these processes interact and evolve in development. The present work aims to study how a concurrent visual WM (VWM) load can modulate VS performance based on the Developmental Model of Endogenous Mental Attention (Pascual-Leone and Johnson, 1999, 2005, 2021). A sample of kindergarten, elementary (2nd and 4th grades), middle school (6th grade), and college students looked for real-world photorealistic targets while maintaining similar objects in VWM in a dual-task paradigm. VWM load was manipulated using high and low memory load conditions. Additionally, looking for potential modulations related to individual differences, we studied the relationship between IQ, VWM span, and executive functions with VS efficiency. Finally, we also registered reported measures of potential strategies employed during the VS task. The results from a large sample of 147 participants between 5 and 25 years old revealed that even the youngest children could efficiently perform a VS task with a concurrent VWM load, replicating previous results found in adulthood. However, we found a slight increase in false alarms and commission errors when memory was highly loaded for all the participants regardless of age. As expected, we found positive correlations between VS efficiency and IQ and VWM span measures. Interestingly, the proportion of participants who used tracking organization strategies increased with age in all cases. However, although cognitive strategies to remember the target became more complex as age increased, it was only significant under the low VWM load conditions. The results seem relevant to understanding the development of VS based on the Model of Endogenous Mental Attention and the design of training programs to improve attention. The implications in educational contexts are discussed and are especially relevant for students with learning disabilities or attention problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Quirós-Godoy
- Department of Social Psychology and Methodology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- *Correspondence: María Quirós-Godoy,
| | | | - Elena Perez-Hernandez
- Department of Development and Educational Psychology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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