The development of attentional resolution
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Till Pfeiffer; Kerstin Wolf
- Source
- Cognitive Development. 29:62-80
- Subject
- Developmental trajectory
Resolution (electron density)
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Dyslexia
medicine
Visual attention
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Selective attention
Psychology
medicine.disease
Image resolution
Cognitive psychology
- Language
- ISSN
- 0885-2014
Attentional resolution ( He & Cavanagh, 1996 ) is defined as the smallest region in space that can be selected by visual attention. We investigated the development of attentional resolution of 7-, 9-, 11- and 13-year-olds and adults. We used a tracking paradigm with one target and varied the distance between target and distractors. Our results demonstrate that the resolution of attention develops markedly between childhood and adulthood. The developmental trajectory is characterized by a strong increase in attentional resolution between 7 and 9 years of age and a plateau at still immature performance between 11 and 13 years. The observed development of attentional resolution may be caused by the maturation of the neural networks responsible for the top-down deployment of visuo-spatial attention. Implications for reading acquisition are discussed.