Endogenous control is insufficient for preventing attentional capture in children and adults

• Published in: Acta psychologica 2022-08, Vol.228, p.103611-103611, Article 103611
• Main Authors: Hayre, Rumandeep K., Cragg, Lucy, Allen, Harriet A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attentional capture; Development; Distraction; Endogenous cues; Orienting; Proactive control; Visual search
• ISSN: 0001-6918; 1873-6297
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103611

Adults are known to have developed the ability to selectively focus their attention in a goal-driven (endogenous) manner but it is less clear at what stage in development (5–6 & 9–11 years) children can endogenously control their attention and whether they behave similarly to adults when managing distractions. In this study we administered a child-adapted cued visual search task to three age-groups: five- to six-year-olds (N = 45), nine- to eleven-year-olds (N = 42) and adults (N = 42). Participants were provided with a cue which either guided their attention towards or away from an upcoming target. On some trials, a singleton distracter was presented which participants needed to ignore. Participants completed three conditions where the cues were: 1) usually helpful (High Predictive), 2) usually unhelpful (Low Predictive) and 3) never helpful (Baseline) in guiding attention towards the target. We found that endogenous cue-utilisation develops with increasing age. Overall, nine- to eleven-year-olds and adults, but not five- to six-year-olds, utilised the endogenous cues in the High Predictive condition. However, all age-groups were unable to ignore the singleton distracter even when using endogenous control. Moreover, we found better cue-maintenance ability was related to poorer distracter-inhibition ability in early-childhood, but these skills were no longer related further on in development. We conclude that overall endogenous control is still developing in early-childhood, but an adult-like form of this skill has been acquired by mid-childhood. Furthermore, endogenous cue-utilisation was shown as insufficient for preventing attentional capture in both children and adults. •Endogenous/proactive control development was studied using a cued search task.•We assessed if early attentional guidance by cues would reduce attentional capture.•Endogenous cue-use was adult-like by 9–11 years but still developing in 5–6 years.•Endogenous cues were insufficient for reducing distraction in children and adults.•Better cue-maintenance predicted poorer distracter-inhibition in 5–6 years only.