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Attentional Engagement in Infancy: The Interactive Influence of Attentional Inertia and Attentional State
Author(s) -
Oakes Lisa M.,
RossSheehy Shan,
Kannass Kathleen N.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0502_8
Subject(s) - distraction , psychology , attentional control , attentional blink , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , cognition , neuroscience
We evaluated the interactive influences of attentional state and attentional inertia on infants' level of attentional engagement. We assessed infants' distraction latencies longitudinally at 6.5 and 9 months as they explored toys, and we coded both their attentional state (focused vs. casual) and how long they had been looking at the toy at each distractor onset. Consistent with previous results, both attentional state and attentional inertia contributed to differences in distraction latency. Importantly, the level of attentional engagement was interactively determined by attentional state and attentional inertia. Infants were most resistant to distraction when they were judged to be in a state of focused attention following relatively long looks to the toy, and they were equivalently less resistant to distraction under all other conditions. These results are consistent with a general conceptualization of attentional engagement resulting from the interaction of multiple processes.