Often times, teachers and prospective teachers repeat the "common knowledge" that young children have short attention spans. How often this becomes another self-fulfilling prophecy as teachers switch frequently from one activity to another, before student attention can wander, in an imitation of the Sesame Street model of teaching as…

A neural theory of visual attention (NTVA) is presented. NTVA is a neural interpretation of C. Bundesen's (1990) theory of visual attention (TVA). In NTVA, visual processing capacity is distributed across stimuli by dynamic remapping of receptive fields of cortical cells such that more processing resources (cells) are devoted to behaviorally…

In his lectures published in 1902, George Still described 43 children in his clinical practice who had serious problems with sustained attention and self-regulation. George Still certainly did not use the current terminology for this disorder, but many historians of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have inferred that the children he…

The adult education literature on disruptive behavior of adult learners was reviewed and a survey on disruptive behavior of adult learners was conducted with adult educators. The findings are synthesized in a conceptual framework for understanding the types and causes of disruptive behavior, which fall into the categories of inattention,…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) negatively affects the cognitive and psychomotoric spheres of the pupil's social behavior and social adaptation. The review of many studies states that pupils with AD/HD achieve worse learning results because of insufficiently functioning cognitive processes, such as attention, (work) memory,…

This study explored how toddlers' increasing social sophistication and increasing ability to coordinate attention between the social and object realm are reflected in toddlers' mastery play. A total of 57 toddlers (24 boys and 33 girls from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds) between the ages of 15 and 35 months participated in 7 mastery…

A study assessed the variable amounts of attention that are required for a viewer to process two kinds of interruptions that commonly occur in television: the shift from one message to a different, unexpected message; and the reference to previously presented material that follows an interruption. Twenty-six subjects recruited from an…

The effects of a visual distractor on vigilance task performance were examined in a sample of 35 learning disabled and 35 normal boys 8-12 years old. (Author/DB)

This article describes how a classroom can be arranged to encourage and channel a child's curiosity instead of discouraging it. (PB)

Subjects of this study were 19- and 23-week-old infants. Results showed that the older infants demonstrated differential attention to novel over familiar stimuli during recognition tests. An examination of their responsiveness during familiarization presentations indicated differing trends of looking activity. (Author/CS)

The paper reviews issues in evaluating the manual communications skills of pre-college hearing impaired students, including testing of visual discrimination and visual memory, simultaneous communication, and attention span. (CL)

THE PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN 5 1/2, 6 1/2, AND 7 1/2 YEARS OF AGE ON AN ODDITY PROBLEM UNDER THREE CONDITIONS OF DISTRACTION WAS INVESTIGATED. SUBJECT'S GLANCES AWAY FROM THE TASK WERE RECORDED ALONG WITH THEIR LEARNING DATA. ON THE BASIS OF EARLIER FINDINGS AND AN HYPOTHESIS THAT THE ABILITY OF CHILDREN TO MOBILIZE AND DIRECT THEIR ATTENTION…