title: Separable sustained and selective attention factors are apparent in 5-year-old children.
abstract: In adults and older children, evidence consistent with relative separation between selective and sustained attention, superimposed upon generally positive inter-test correlations, has been reported. Here we examine whether this pattern is detectable in 5-year-old children from the healthy population. A new test battery (TEA-Ch(J)) was adapted from measures previously used with adults and older children and administered to 172 5-year-olds. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 60 children. Ninety-eight percent of the children managed to complete all measures. Discrimination of visual and auditory stimuli were good. In a factor analysis, the two TEA-Ch(J) selective attention tasks (one visual, one auditory) loaded onto a common factor and diverged from the two sustained attention tasks (one auditory, one motor), which shared a common loading on the second factor. This pattern, which suggests that the tests are indeed sensitive to underlying attentional capacities, was supported by the relationships between the TEA-Ch(J) factors and Test of Everyday Attention for Children subtests in the older children in the sample. It is possible to gain convincing performance-based estimates of attention at the age of 5 with the results reflecting a similar factor structure to that obtained in older children and adults. The results are discussed in light of contemporary models of attention function. Given the potential advantages of early intervention for attention difficulties, the findings are of clinical as well as theoretical interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark ; Children's Neurocenter at Vejlefjord Rehabilitation Center, Stouby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mette
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Underbjerg
authors.affiliation: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Melanie S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lillebaelt Hospital, Kolding, Denmark.
authors.forename: Poul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thorsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ulrik S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Kesmodel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Erik L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manly
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results