Development of endogenous orienting of attention in school-age children

Abstract

Orienting of attention was investigated in 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds and in young adults, in a spatial cueing experiment comparing nonpredictive, predictive, and counterpredictive cues (in different blocks). A larger positive orienting effect (advantage of valid over invalid cues) in the predictive than in the nonpredictive condition occurred in all groups, showing efficient endogenous orienting of attention. However, this effect was larger in 6-year-olds, as if the ability to distribute attention between the different locations (and not only to orient to the most probable location) developed between 6 and 8 years. Moreover, only 10-year-olds and adults showed a significant negative orienting effect (advantage of invalid cues) in the counterpredictive condition, indicating inhibition of attentional capture by goal-irrelevant stimuli. Therefore, our results indicate a large change in the modulation of endogenous orienting between 6 and 10 years.