Evaluated with 18 learning disabled boys (from 6 to 12 years of age) was the diagnostic potential of a vigilance task to evaluate the effects of medication on attention span and distractibility. (DB)

A serial-reaction task was used to study personality, as well as physiological, correlates of individual differences in performance decrement under low task-load conditions. (Editor)

Sustained attention to visual and auditory stimuli and reflection-impulsivity were examined in 48 hyperactive and 48 normal 9 and 14 year old boys. Multivariate analyses, followed by univariate tests, indicated that the nonhyperactive Ss increased sustained attention efficiency with age to both visual and auditory Stimuli. Hyperactive Ss increased…

Research is presented on attention problems in children with learning disabilities, and suggestions for remediating the problems are offered. Variables involved are analyzed according to the setting (teacher-child ratio and lesson type); task (nature, props, and the rules); and teacher communication (number of teacher solicitations or questions,…

This research project assessed: (1) the practicality of recording heart rate in 18-month-old infants as they watched events filmed on color, silent motion picture films; and (2) the validity and sensitivity of heart rate change as an index of differential attention arousal elicited by changes within and between complex visual events. The research…

The human infant is now considered capable of active informational interaction with the environment. This study tested certain hypotheses concerning the nature of that interaction. These hypotheses, developed partly from Piaget's work, are (1) that repeated visual encounters with a stimulus pattern leads first to attentional preference for that…

A study of the effects of inadequate nutrition upon disadvantaged children involved 113 Head Start children and their families. Information was collected on home diet, socioeconomic data, performance on intelligence tests, hemoglobin levels, class attendance, height, and weight to find out whether or not there was a relationship between nutrition…

Twelve educable or trainable Ss, 14 to 22 years of age, who were institutionalized residents of a state school for the retarded, were examined in a simple vigilance test to determine effects of knowledge-of-results (KR) contingent upon correct responses. Each S in the KR group was instructed to press a switch upon seeing a light signal and to…

Conjugate reinforcement is a new attention measure which has emerged from experimental psychology. It can provide accurate measurement of a subject's attention to a stimulus. In conjugate reinforcement, the duration of the stimulus varies directly and immediately with the subject's rate of response. In this process, the subject must demonstrate…

A series of studies on hyperkinesis in learning disabled children conducted at Texas Tech University over the past 10 years is reviewed. The research is described to have included three phases: the development of a basic vigilance task for assessing hyperkinesis and attentional deficits (a computer controlled series of regularly occuring events to…

Describes research into student attention patterns during lectures that suggests that student attention declines steadily during a lecture, and that the rate of decrease is dependent upon several variables including subject difficulty. (MLH)

Student behavior measures were shown to be highly predictive of achievement, adding support to the notion that student behavior during instruction is strongly linked to student learning. (Author)

Eighteen hyperkinetic boys (ages 5-12) who had a history of successful drug treatment with methylphenidate were compared with a similar group of normal controls on a series of objective measures of activity and attentional problems. (Author/DLS)