Abstract
To test the proposition that learning-disabled children manifest a sustained attentional deficit, the Continuous Performance Test was administered to learningdisabled and nondisabled children at three age levels. Children were tested on three task lengths (5, 10, and 15 minutes) and two modalities (auditory and visual) in which dependent measures were correct detections and false responses, d′ and B values. As expected, learning-disabled children made fewer correct detections and more false responses and were less sensitive (d') to critical stimuli than were nondisabled children at all ages. There was also evidence to indicate that learningdisabled children apply different response criteria across age when compared to nondisabled children. B values varied significantly across age, group, modality, and time on task; d′ remained relatively unchanged across time periods. The popular notion that learning-disabled and younger subjects start a vigilance task with the same capacity as nondisabled older children but show a decline in attention as time on task increases was not supported.
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This research was supported by funds from the Colorado Commission of Higher Education and a University of Northern Colorado Faculty Research Grant. The author is indebted to Weld School District VI and the University Lab School for their administrative assistance. The author is especially indebted to Russ Poulin in the Department of Statistical and Research Methodology for data collection, to John Payne of Educational Media Services for the development of apparatus and materials, and to Don Myers, Connie Baker, and Dr. Susan Kontos for computer programming and critical appraisal of these results.
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Swanson, H.L. A developmental study of vigilance in learning-disabled and nondisabled children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 11, 415–429 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00914249
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00914249