Attention of preschool children: electrodermal activity during auditory stimulation.
Electrodermal activity during passive and active listening tasks of 43 healthy preschool children (aged 4 yr., 8 mo. to 6 yr., 5 mo.) was studied. The procedure included the following phases: baseline recording (3 min.), a passive listening task, instructions, and an active listening task. An increase in mean amplitude of skin conductance response (SCR) was found during the active listening task over the level for the passive listening task over 10 trials. On the passive listening task from Trial 1 to Trial 10, habituation of mean SCR amplitude occurred. The younger children, moreover, exhibited significantly greater habituation than the older children. Habituation of mean SCR amplitude did not occur during the active listening task. No significant difference was found in mean SCR amplitude during the active listening task for the two age groups. The children seemed to pay more attention during the active listening task than during the passive listening task. The younger children, moreover, are believed to have shorter attention spans.
Shibagaki
M
M
Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Prefectural Colony, Japan.
Yamanaka
T
T
D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011597:Psychomotor Performance