Development of an ability to maintain verbally instructed central gaze fixation studied in 8- to 10-year-old children.
Development of an ability to maintain verbally instructed central gaze fixation was studied in 8-, 9- and 10-year-old boys. The stability of central gaze fixation was tested by the sudden appearance of a novel, peripheral stimulus triggering reflexive saccade. In Experiment I, the ability to maintain verbally instructed central gaze fixation upon nonsense geometrical pattern was found to be equal in 8 and 9 years of life. This ability increased markedly between 9 and 10 years of age. Gaze fixation upon gradually appearing shapes during a TV-like game reducing volitional effort of subject was, however, equal in all age groups. Concentration of attention upon central stimulus as reflected by saccade latency (Experiment I) and P3-N3 amplitude of evoked potentials to peripheral flashes (Experiment II) was equal in both tasks in 8-year-olds. In contrast, higher concentration of attention upon meaningful central stimulus presented during the TV-like game was found in 9- as well as in 10-year-old boys. Developmental changes of the ability to maintain verbally instructed central gaze fixation might be related to the late structural maturation of frontal cortex.
Paus
T
T
Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague.
Babenko
V
V
Radil
T
T
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D004585:Electrooculography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology