The ongoing visual attention research and development program at BA&T is continually expanding our understanding of the fundamental nature of visual attention, primarily in young children and in individuals with developmental disabilities. Notable among our findings, for example, are our discoveries about overselective visual attention.
Overselective visual attention is a perceptual problem that can interfere with the learning and development of a child. Individuals with overselective visual attention respond to only restricted portions of the complex array of features and stimuli in their visual environment. They demonstrate a type of tunnel vision that affects their ability to shift attention among elements of complex stimuli. It is most prevalent among individuals with developmental disabilities, and it is thought that it may explain the difficulty these indviduals commonly have in acquiring appropriate social, language, play, and emotional behaviors.
Our research in this area has revealed several fundamental findings:
-
Overselective visual attention does not only occur for individuals with developmental disabilities but also for young children of typical development. A difference between the two populations is the efficiency with which they shift attention among elements of complex visual stimuli. (More)
-
Overselective visual attention in young children of typical development appears to be temporary, while it is chronic and does not diminish with age in individuals with developmental disabilities. How long overselective visual attention persists is a factor that appears to distinguish children with attentional disturbances and developmental disabilities.(Full text article 1)
-
Assessing visual attention in children can identify attentional deficits that interfere with academic performance. Utilizing multiple stimulus-control assessment techniques administered by a computer can provide a fine-grained analysis that can reveal differences in how children of similar age attend to words, which is critical information for developing effective reading instruction.(Full text article 2)
-
Overselective visual attention may be due to the disrupting effects of compound training cues, which can be minimized through use of single stimulus pretraining combined with repeated presentations of compound training cues. (More)
-
Overselective visual attention is not an unmodifiable perceptual characteristic. With appropriate training procedures, individuals with developmental disabilities may be able to acquire essential attentional skills for learning educational tasks involving complex cues. (More)
Our research into this critical topic is ongoing. As we increase our understanding of the factors that underlie and control attentional problems, we will continue to make this information freely available to the community through print-medium and electronic publication. See our latest publications in Behavior Analysis & Tehnology Monographs (Full text article 1) (Full text article 2):
Press the Continue button to learn about our companion Technology Development program.