Background: Using longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we examined behavior problems and social and academic outcomes from ages 9 through 12 in children classified into five trajectories of physical aggression, on the basis of maternal ratings obtained from 24 months through 9 years (N = 1195). Methods:…

A study investigated the attention of 116 children in 6 second- and third-grade classrooms while they participated in 4 lessons involving progressively more difficult stories. Analysis of videotapes of the lessons revealed that the likelihood of a lapse of attention was highest during the first 15 seconds of attention episodes. Lapses in attention…

A study consisting of two experiments attempted to further adapt the visual preference procedure for determining children's meaningful phonological perception. In the first experiment, 1-year-olds were presented with auditory stimuli (words) and screens containing paired color photographs of the object described by each word and of an unusual…

Until recently it has been possible only to measure the behavioral products of cognitive processing, e.g. reaction time. However, this is a rather indirect way of studying brain substrates of cognition. Psychophysiological techniques can be used to study the neural mechanisms of cognition. In this experiment brain electrical activity was measured…

A conceptual framework of attention can be organized around three functions of attention: determining how much capacity is to be deployed (attention allocation), for how long (attention maintenance), and to which potential information sources (attention direction). Within this framework, several critical distinctions can be made between processes…

Two experiments were implemented in which hyperactive children were exposed to models of their own age level. It was hypothesized that modeling treatments designed to demonstrate reflective problem-solving strategies would improve the problem-solving ability of both normal and hyperactive children, and that, concomicantly, children's ability to…

Visual fixations were recorded in newborn, 4-, and 8-week-old human infants as they scanned displays that varied in contour length, size, number, and a new metric, CVAL (based on Contour Variability, Amount and Location). One of the findings was that both contour length and CVAL separately accounted for approximatel1 95 of looking-duration…

This study tested the hypothesis that 15- to 21-year-old educable mentally retarded students could successfully interact with microcomputers and show interest in using them as a learning tool. High interest levels and attention spans and positive microcomputer attitudes displayed by subjects suggest there may be unrealized potential in…

Twenty-eight normal and 28 learning disabled children were given the Bender-Gestalt Test under instructional sets of low (standard) attention or high attention. Results failed to support the hypothesis that high attention instructions would lead to differential recall performance of the diagnostic groups.

Three strategies of attention were investigated in two dichotic monitoring experiments. Subjects were divided into three groups, 7, 11 and 20 years of age. (CM)

Defined peer-rated, narrow-band dimensions of undercontrolled behavior of 362 third through sixth grade boys that was associated with peer rejection. Results revealed three narrow-band dimensions in the peer perceptions of grade school boys: (1) aggression; (2) hyperactivity; and (3) inattention-immaturity. (SH)

Reports on a study of attention span and persevering behaviors of preschool children. Finds the Suzuki Method of violin instruction is associated with longer attention spans and more persevering behaviors than creative movement instruction or other preschool programs. Concludes that teachers prefer the Suzuki Method's approach to other forms of…

Parents of 180 Swedish children (ages 3-19) with different types of disabilities attending Computer Play Centers evaluated the importance of computers for their children within ten different areas of development. Parents had high expectations of the computer and believed computers helped develop their child's self-confidence, coordination,…

Twenty children with autism were compared to children with Down syndrome (n=19) and typical peers (n=20) in visual orientation to two social and two nonsocial stimuli and in ability to share attention. Children with autism frequently failed to orient to all stimuli, particularly social stimuli, and exhibited attention deficits. (Author/CR)

The research in this article focuses on the relation between self-report of attention deficit disorder (ADD) symptoms and performance on a two-alternative forced-choice task that measures repetition effects. The ADD/Hyperactive Adolescent Self-Report Scale--Short Form is administered to college students after they completed the repetition effects…