The Development of Attention and Its Relations to Language in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Abstract

We investigated longitudinally the development of attention in two free-play tasks and the relation between attention in those tasks and language ability in toddlerhood. We observed developmental differences in attention from 9 and 31 months both as children investigated a single object and as they investigated multiple objects. Attention in these contexts at 9 months was differentially related to vocabulary at 31 months, but concurrent measures of attention at 31 months were not related to vocabulary at that age. The results are discussed in terms of the potential processes guiding the relation between attention and cognitive outcome and the development of endogenous control of attention.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was made possible by grants R03 MH56326 and R01 HD36060 awarded to LMO, an American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award, and a University of Iowa Student Government Research Grant awarded to KNK. Portions of this research were presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development (April 2003 in Tampa, Florida).

We thank Jill Shaddy, Jill Pearson, Lucy Pittman, Chereen Lindstrom, and the undergraduates in the University of Iowa Infant Perception and Cognition Lab for their help in the data collection and coding phases of this project; Grazyna Kochanska, Jodie Plumert, Mary Ann Roberts, and John Spencer for comments and suggestions at various points during this project; and the delightful participants and their parents. Portions of this article are based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Kathleen N. Kannass to the University of Iowa.

Notes

⁺ p ≤ .05

∗p ≤ .08.

^a N = 54

^b N = 46.

∗p ≤ .05

⁺ p ≤ .10.