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Abstract:
Prior neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies have
helped establish the brain systems underlying attention to
configural versus component portions of visual scenes. Few studies
have examined the neural systems underlying such attention and
visual processing in childhood. This project evaluated possible
changes in hierarchical visual processing in middle childhood. In
Study 1, seven, nine, eleven, and nineteen year-old participants
(n=12 each) completed a response time measure of divided attention
for global versus local level targets. In study 2, similar age
groups (n=10 each) completed the same paradigm with high-density
electroencephalogram used to measure event-related brain
potentials. Response time data from study 1 indicated a shift from
a greater global to a greater local level bias in hierarchical
attention with increasing age. There were no age changes in the
facilitation or cost in response time related to prior targets
occurring at the same or different hierarchical levels,
respectively. Study 2 indicated changes in the relative recruitment
of left versus right temporal lobe regions from ages 7 to 11 years
of age for global and local level targets. There were no
age-related changes in parietal activation associated with shifting
attention across hierarchical levels. There are measurable changes
in the regulation of attention to global versus local elements of a
visual scene in middle childhood. These changes appear to be
related to an increase in the asymmetry of local level processing
with age.
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