Effects of instructions on children's attention to stimulus components.

In 3 experiments, 5-, 8-, 9-, and 12-yr-olds were given a component-selection task with instructions to attend to one component or another or with no specific instructions. Ss at all age levels varied their attention to the nondominant component (color) in accord with instructions. Thus, children even as young as age 5 are capable of altering their manner of attention deployment. In another respect, however, data suggest a developmental change in the way children respond to varying task demands: Ss at 8 yrs of age and beyond, but not the 5-yr-olds, reduced their attention to the dominant component (shape) in response to instructions to concentrate on the nondominant component. During the early school years, children apparently develop a tendency to employ "attentional trading," withdrawing attention from a normally dominant stimulus component when it becomes advantageous to increase attention to another feature. Results are discussed as calling for modification of earlier hypotheses concerning development of attention. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)