A measure of children's attentional capacity

Abstract

The Attentional Capacity Test (ACT, Weber, 1988) has been found to be a meaningful measure of attention in adults. This study explored the usefulness of this test with children. It was discovered that, with only minor modifications, this test could be administered to children; in addition the measure is resilient, in that it was not affected by background noise, sex, parental education, or conformity to mental counting instructions. It has been designed so that it can be used with speech and/or motor impaired people. ACT performance showed a strong association with age, improving across age levels until it reached an adult level by age 13. The preliminary normative data are presented here.