A national study on the development of visual attention using the cognitive assessment system.
OBJECTIVE
Developmental changes in the performance of children and adolescents are studied using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) which is an individually administered test of 4 basic cognitive processes.


METHODS
The test measures the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processes as a theory of intelligence that can provide the framework for an alternative to traditional IQ tests. The CAS, which includes a scale of attention comprising 3 subtests, each of which is presented visually, provides an opportunity to study the development of visual attention for 2,200 children and adolescents aged 5- to 17-years-old who participated in the national standardization sample. A subsample ( n = 1,395) is also administered the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement - Revised (WJ-R).


RESULTS
On all 3 CAS attention subtests, the mean scores improve with age, and the rate of change between adjacent age groups is moderate-to-large up to 15-years-old. At all ages the CAS Attention standard score is moderately related to WJ-R Achievement Cluster scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are discussed in light of conclusions about the development of attention based on the standardization sample of the NEPSY-A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment.
Lehman
Elyse Brauch
EB
George Mason University, Fairfax,VA 22030, USA. elehman@gmu.edu
Naglieri
Jack A
JA
Aquilino
Sally A
SA
D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014481:United States; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*