Bias in Visual Attention Behavior in a Normal School-Aged Population

Hemi-field visual-spatial attention was studied on a timed letter cancellation task in proficient readers from 7th to 9th grades. Participants maintained greater accuracy in identifying targets in the left quadrants (top/bottom) when compared with the right quadrants (top/bottom), revealing a leftwa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and cognition 2002-03, Vol.48 (2-3), p.291-296
Main Authors: VALCARCEL, Eduardo Cairo, IJALBA, Elizabeth, OBLER, Loraine K, GOMEZ LOZANO, Rosalba, MARIN LLANES, Rusella, DEVIA COLLAZOS, Carmenza, BOUZA HERRERA, Carlos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Attention - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Developmental psychology
Discrimination (Psychology)
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sex Factors
Space Perception - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:Hemi-field visual-spatial attention was studied on a timed letter cancellation task in proficient readers from 7th to 9th grades. Participants maintained greater accuracy in identifying targets in the left quadrants (top/bottom) when compared with the right quadrants (top/bottom), revealing a leftward bias in their responses. Effects of gender and age were evident on performance; females scored significantly higher than males, and 9th graders scored significantly higher than 7th and 8th graders. Thus, a substantial shift in brain maturation may take place from 8th to 9th grades or from the ages of 13.0 to 14.11. Discriminative characteristics of the task are analyzed by assigning greater value to targets located in the top left quadrant. The 9th graders, as compared to the younger students, and the girls, as compared to the boys, evidenced a reading-direction-related bias toward systematic preference for the upper-left to lower-right quadrants.
ISSN:0278-2626
1090-2147
DOI:10.1006/brcg.2001.1365