title: Auditory and visual sustained attention in Down syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sustained attention (SA) is important to task performance and development of higher functions. It emerges as a separable component of attention during preschool and shows incremental improvements during this stage of development.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current study investigated if auditory and visual SA match developmental level or are particular challenges for youth with DS. Further, we sought to determine if there were modality effects in SA that could predict those seen in short-term memory (STM).
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared youth with DS to typically developing youth matched for nonverbal mental age and receptive vocabulary. Groups completed auditory and visual sustained attention to response tests (SARTs) and STM tasks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated groups performed similarly on both SARTs, even over varying cognitive ability. Further, within groups participants performed similarly on auditory and visual SARTs, thus SA could not predict modality effects in STM. However, SA did generally predict a significant portion of unique variance in groups' STM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ultimately, results suggested both auditory and visual SA match developmental level in DS. Further, SA generally predicts STM, though SA does not necessarily predict the pattern of poor auditory relative to visual STM characteristic of DS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348, United States. Electronic address: eggraham@crimson.ua.edu.
authors.forename: Gayle G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Faught
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348, United States. Electronic address: fconners@ua.edu.
authors.forename: Frances A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Conners
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348, United States. Electronic address: zhimmelberger@crimson.ua.edu.
authors.forename: Zachary M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Himmelberger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Developmental trajectory; Down syndrome; Short-term memory; Sustained attention; Sustained attention to response test; Typically developing children