title: Contingent capture of involuntary visual spatial attention does not differ between normally hearing children and proficient cochlear implant users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evidence suggests that deafness-induced changes in visual perception, cognition and attention may compensate for a hearing loss. Such alterations, however, may also negatively influence adaptation to a cochlear implant. This study investigated whether involuntary attentional capture by salient visual stimuli is altered in children who use a cochlear implant.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirteen experienced implant users (aged 8-16 years) and age-matched normally hearing children were presented with a rapid sequence of simultaneous visual and auditory events. Participants were tasked with detecting numbers presented in a specified color and identifying a change in the tonal frequency whilst ignoring irrelevant visual distractors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to visual distractors that did not possess the target-defining characteristic, target-colored distractors were associated with a decrement in visual performance (response time and accuracy), demonstrating a contingent capture of involuntary attention. Visual distractors did not, however, impair auditory task performance. Importantly, detection performance for the visual and auditory targets did not differ between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that proficient cochlear implant users demonstrate normal capture of visuospatial attention by stimuli that match top-down control settings.
authors.affiliation: Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Marc R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kamke
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Luyn
authors.affiliation: Hear and Say Research and Innovation, Hear and Say, Toowong, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Constantinescu
authors.affiliation: Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception; D013067:Speech Perception; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Cochlear implant; children; contingent capture; selective attention; spatial attention