Attention and Distractibility in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigated the development of attention in infants, and the relationship between attention state and distraction latency at 12 and 24 months of age. Seven 12-month olds and seven 24-month olds participated in a distractibility task involving play with novel toys while periodic audio-visual distractors were presented in their periphery. The results found evidence of an overall main effect of attention state on distraction latency. There was a significant interaction between the target toy used and resulting distraction latencies within the sample of 24-month olds. The latency to distraction was shortest when participants were engaged in casual attention toward the target toys across the entire sample. Finally, the results suggest that the ability to allocate attention and ignore distractions improves with age.