FOUR The development of visual attention and the brain

Attention shows development throughout the lifespan. In the early period of infancy, attention is directed primarily to salient characteristics of the environment and, by 2 or 3 years of age, comes under subject-directed control. The attention system comes under control of the child's executive functioning and is used in the service of cognitive, social, and emotional tasks. Some aspects of attention show gradnal development over the entire period of childhood and adolescence, and tben follow the course of other cognitive changes in the adnlt period. Many of these changes in attention are based npon age-related changes in brain areas involved in attention. This chapter presents a neurodevelopmental perspective on the development of visual attention, focusing on research done with infants and very young children, because of the wealth of studies showing brain-attention relations in this age range. The primary focus is on visual attention, again because of the broad set of theories and empirical studies iu this area. However, the comments about infants and young children should generalize to other ages, and the comments about visual attention should generalize to other sensory systems. First, two influential neurodevelopmental models of visual attention that relate the development of visual attention to changes in the brain are reviewed; a recent model that relates a general arousal/attention system to the development of visual attention is also presented. Second, three research areas that illustrate the role that brain development plays in the changes that occur in infant attention are examined. These areas will show the role that developmental change in a general attention/arousal system has on infant recognition memory, developmental changes in covert orienting and attention and their relation to brain development, and saccade planning. Some implications of the role of brain development in visual attention are discussed.

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