Latent Factors in Attention Emerge from 9 Years of Age among Elementary School Children

• Main Authors: Ting Tao, Ligang Wang, Chunlei Fan, Wenbin Gao, Jiannong Shi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-10-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: elementary school children; perceptual attention; executive attention; development; factor analysis
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01725/full
• ISSN: 1664-1078

We explored the development of attention among elementary school children. Three hundred and sixty-five primary school children aged 7–12 years completed seven attention tests (alertness, focused attention, divided attention, attentional switching, sustained attention, spatial attention, and supervisory attention). A factor analysis indicated that there was no stable construct of attention among 7- to 8-year-old children. However, from 9 years on, children’s attention could be separated into perceptual and executive attention. Notably, however, the attention types included in these two factors differed from those among adults.