This book provides both a review of the literature and a theoretical framework for understanding the development of visual attention from infancy through early childhood. Taking a functional approach to the topic, the authors discuss the development of the selective and state-related aspects of attention, as well as the emergence of higher-level controls. They also explore the individual differences in these facets of attention, and consider the possible origins of early deficits in attention, which has obvious implications for children with developmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactive disorder. These findings will be invaluable to developmental, cognitive, and clinical psychologists and psychiatrists.

Holly A. Ruff is a developmental psychologist and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York Mary K. Rothbart is a developmental psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon

Introduction	p. 3
Our Approach to Attention	p. 3
Development of Attention	p. 5
Individuality and Development	p. 8
Organization of the Book	p. 10
Constructs and Measures	p. 12
Attention as Selectivity	p. 13
Selection of Objects and Locations	p. 13
Selection of Attributes Within an Object	p. 17
Attention as State	p. 17
Behavioral Measures	p. 18
Physiological Measures	p. 20
Attention as Executive Control	p. 26
Voluntary Attention	p. 29
Limited Capacity	p. 30
Automatic versus Controlled Processes	p. 31
Summary	p. 32
Looking and Visual Attention: Overview and Developmental Framework	p. 34
Looking in the Newborn	p. 34
The Transition at 2 to 3 months	p. 35
Social Implications of the 2- to 3-Month Shift	p. 37
Processes Underlying the Transition at 2 to 3 Months	p. 39
Looking and the Development of the First Attention System	p. 40
The Transition at 9 to 12 Months	p. 42
Developmental Changes in Looking	p. 42
Changes in Other Domains	p. 45
Processes Underlying the Transition at 9 Months	p. 45
Consolidation of the Second Attention System and the Transition at 18 Months	p. 48
Developments in Patterns of Looking	p. 48
The 18-Month Transition	p. 50
Processes Underlying the 18-Month Transition	p. 51
The Preschool Years and Increasing Control of Attention	p. 52
Behavioral Evidence	p. 52
Processes Underlying Development from 2 to 5 Years	p. 53
Summary	p. 55
Scanning, Searching, and Shifting Attention	p. 57
Shifting Attention	p. 57
Scanning	p. 58
Shifting Attention Between Events	p. 63
Visual Search and Expectation	p. 67
Nonobservable Shifts of Attention	p. 72
Summary	p. 74
Development of Selectivity	p. 75
Changing Visual Preferences in the First Few Months	p. 75
A Shift from Quantitative to More Qualitative Bases for Selection	p. 76
Neural Underpinnings for the Shift in Selectivity at 2 to 3 Months	p. 77
Selection Based on Perceptual Experience	p. 79
Selection of Novel Objects and Events	p. 80
Selection of Novel Locations	p. 81
Selection Based on Motivational Relevance	p. 83
Social and Emotional Consequences of People	p. 84
Selection Based on What Is Relevant to New Motor Skills	p. 85
Selecting What Others Select	p. 89
Summary	p. 91
Development of Attention as a State	p. 93
Engagement and Disengagement of Attention	p. 93
Initiation	p. 95
Engagement	p. 98
Disengagement and Termination of Attention	p. 101
Factors that Sustain Engagement	p. 103
Arousal	p. 103
Cognitive Factors	p. 105
Mutual Influences of Attention and Other States	p. 107
Summary	p. 109
Focused Visual Attention and Resistance to Distraction	p. 110
General Conceptual Issues	p. 110
Framework for Development	p. 112
Orienting/Investigative System	p. 114
System of Higher Level Control	p. 116
Development of Two Systems of Attention	p. 117
Implications for Distractibility	p. 118
Conceptual Issues in the Study of Distractibility	p. 121
Common Mechanisms	p. 122
Developmental Changes in Mechanisms	p. 125
Can Distractors Help Performance?	p. 127
Summary	p. 131
Increasing Independence in the Control of Attention	p. 133
Adult as Regulator	p. 134
The Role of the Parent in State Control	p. 134
Shared Attention to Objects	p. 137
Cultural Influences	p. 139
The Shift from Other-Regulation to Self-Regulation	p. 142
Increased Awareness of Attention in Self and Others	p. 142
The Role of Changing Motivations	p. 145
Volitional Skills	p. 146
Summary	p. 154
Attention in Learning and Performance	p. 155
Learning and Performance as Defining Aspects of Attention	p. 155
Does Attention Enhance Learning and Performance?	p. 156
Behavioral Evidence for the Role of Focused Attention	p. 158
Physiological Differentiation	p. 161
Specific Types of Learning	p. 162
Discrimination Learning	p. 162
Sequence Learning	p. 166
Observational Learning	p. 167
Attention and Practice of New Skills	p. 169
Practice of Emerging Motor Skills	p. 169
Attention to Emerging Cognitive Skills	p. 170
Effort Involved in Emerging Use of Strategies	p. 171
Summary	p. 172
Individual Differences in Attention	p. 174
Studying Individual Differences	p. 174
Individual Differences in Aspects of Attention	p. 176
Reactivity	p. 176
Sustained Visual Attention	p. 178
Focused Attention	p. 184
Related Dimensions of Individuality	p. 187
Motor Activity	p. 188
Higher Level Control of Impulses	p. 192
Attention and Emotionality	p. 195
Summary	p. 197
Early Manifestations of Attention Deficits	p. 199
Attention Deficits in School-Age Children	p. 199
Excess Motor Activity and Attention	p. 200
Relating Disorders to Different Processes	p. 201
Possible Precursors of Attention Deficits with Hyperactivity	p. 202
Early Signs of Hyperactivity	p. 202
Developmental Patterns	p. 205
Precursors to Attention Deficits Without Hyperactivity	p. 207
Attention Deficits in Other Conditions	p. 210
Infants with Regulatory Disorders	p. 211
Impaired Attention in Autistic Children in Social Situations	p. 212
Underlying Deviations in Early Attention Deficits	p. 215
Attention Deficit as Neurodevelopmental Lag	p. 215
A Temperament Approach to Attention Deficits	p. 216
Hypotheses About Optimal Arousal Level	p. 217
Imbalances of Activation and Inhibition	p. 218
Summary	p. 221
Individuality and Development	p. 223
Origins of Individual Differences	p. 223
Early Biological Variation	p. 223
Environment as a Contributor	p. 225
An Interactionist Approach to Individual Differences	p. 226
The Development of Attention Deficits	p. 231
Biological Bases	p. 231
Social Contributions to Developmental Patterns	p. 232
Individual Profiles of Development	p. 235
Summary	p. 239
Recapitulation	p. 241
Development	p. 241
Individual Differences	p. 242
The Larger Context	p. 243
References	p. 245
Author Index	p. 281
Subject Index	p. 287
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