title: Age-related changes in visual and auditory sustained attention in preschool-aged children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The development of sustained attention in the preschool years is not yet fully understood. Delineating age-related changes of attentional proficiencies and deficiencies is important for understanding atypical developmental trajectories, specifically in neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by attentional difficulties. The objective of the current study was to develop preschool-appropriate measures for assessing sustained attention and to chart developmental changes in attention in early childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using adapted computerized paradigms, the present study investigated age-related changes in visual and auditory sustained attention in seventy typically developing children aged 3 to 6 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that similar age-related gains in performance emerged across both visual and auditory attention tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that the adapted measures developed in this study are sensitive enough to capture developmental variations in attention performance.
authors.affiliation: a Perceptual Neuroscience Laboratory for Autism and Development , McGill University , Montreal , Quebec , Canada.
authors.forename: Jacalyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guy
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cornish
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation