Voronin, Stroganova. [Lateralization of visuospatial attention modules and the effect of perceptual learning in preschool children]

Abstract:
With the help of their own modification of the laterilized computer test of attention neuronetsthe authors studied lateralization of modules of visual spatial attention (alertness / readiness, orientation and attention control) in healthy children aged 5 to 7 on the basis of their responses to conflicting and congruent stimuli presented after prompts of different kinds. Two groups of subjects performed the test twice at a week's interval. The time of exposure varied from stimulus to stimulus. Irrespective of the exposure time, in the second approach the speed and accuracy of responses improved dramatically and there emerged dominance of the right visual field in accuracy of responses to conflicting stimuli, characteristic of adults. Speed of responses to conflicting stimuli also improved in the same field while speed of responses to congruent stimuli increased in the left visual field. The data suggest qualitative changes in lateralized attention mechanisms in children from the first testing to the next which should be taken into account in experimental studies of attention in children.