Developmental trend of Sustained Attention in Children (using Conjunctive Continues Performance Task (CCPT))

Background and Aim: Attention known as concentration, and alertness is one of the central aspects of human cognition. Sohlberg and Mateer described five level of attention including: focused attention, selective attention, alternating attention, divided attention and sustained attention. Sustained attention represents higher aspects of attention and cognitive capacity in general. It is the ability to focus on one specific task for a continuous amount of time or to maintain a consistent behavioral response during continuous and repetitive activity without being distracted. Researchers believe that in childhood brain function growths rapidly to the point that older children performer better in some tasks which measure cognitive function than younger ones. Methods: A visual version of Conjunctive Continues Performance Task (CCPT-V) was used as a measure of sustained attention. A group of ۱۳۷ children with the age range of ۶-۱۱ years old participated in this study. They were instructed to perform CCPT-V. Results: The aim of this study was to investigate the developmental trend of sustained attention in a group of primary school children in Iran. Conclusion: The results revealed that there was a significant negative correlation between performance in CCPT and ageing (all p<۰.۰۰۱). The results of one way ANOVA showed that children age between ۶-۱۱ were strongly different in numbers of omission, F(۵, ۱۳۲)= ۶.۰۳, and commission, F(۵, ۱۳۲)= ۶.۲ errors and also reaction time, F(۵, ۱۳۲)=۱۵.۵۲ (all p<۰.۰۰۱). Age had complimentary relation with performance as to the higher the age, the better the performance: less omission and commission errors and faster reaction time to respond to the target stimuli. It can be concluded that sustained attention increase by age in childhood.

کلیدواژه ها:

childhood ، sustained attention ، Conjunctive Continues Performance Task (CCPT)