title: Attentional performance, age and scholastic achievement in healthy children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attentional processes in children play a critical role in daily school demands and accomplishments. Studies on the association of attentional processes with school achievement and age in healthy school children are scarce. The aim of the present study was to identify correlations between dimensions of attentional performance, scholastic achievement and age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An extensive testing battery was used to assess a wide range of attentional dimensions. A principal component analysis revealed three factors that are related to attentional performance (distractibility, lapses of attention, cognitive speed). Age was negatively associated with distractibility, lapses of attention and cognitive speed, indicating that distractibility and lapses of attention decreased with age in healthy children and resulted in lower cognitive speed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attentional processes in healthy children should be measured in relation to distractibility, lapses of attention and cognitive speed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. mireille.trautmann@uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trautmann
authors.forename: Florian Daniel
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Zepf
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012574:Schools