Children's attentional breadth around their mother: Comparing stimulus‐driven vs. cognitively controlled processes

Attentional processes in children are tuned toward their mother. It is unclear whether this is a cognitively controlled or more automatic, stimulus‐driven process. Therefore, 172 children (age 9–13) were assigned to either a cognitively controlled or a stimulus‐driven task measuring the breadth of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social development (Oxford, England) England), 2018-02, Vol.27 (1), p.95-108
Main Authors: Bosmans, Guy, Goldblum, Emma, Braet, Caroline, van de Walle, Magali, Heylen, Joke, Bijttebier, Patricia, Santens, Tara, Koster, Ernst H. W., De Raedt, Rudi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age differences
attachment
attentional bias
attentional breadth
Attentional processes
Autonomy
Child development
Child psychology
Children
Cognition & reasoning
Family support
middle childhood
mother‐child relationship
Older children
Stimulus
trust
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Summary:Attentional processes in children are tuned toward their mother. It is unclear whether this is a cognitively controlled or more automatic, stimulus‐driven process. Therefore, 172 children (age 9–13) were assigned to either a cognitively controlled or a stimulus‐driven task measuring the breadth of their attentional field around their mother. Results demonstrated a narrower field around the mother for children completing the more stimulus‐driven task. Moreover, only for the stimulus‐driven task, this effect was linked with the interaction between children's age and self‐reported trust in maternal support. More trust was linked with a narrower attentional field around the mother in younger children, but with a less narrow field in older children. This resembles the expected age‐related shift toward increased autonomy and points at stimulus‐driven attentional processes.
ISSN:0961-205X
1467-9507
DOI:10.1111/sode.12256