Control of attention in children: Interaction of voluntary and involuntary attention

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Nicole Wetzel
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 430287218

The main aim of the joint French-German project is to gain knowledge about the development of auditory attention and its underlying neuronal mechanisms throughout childhood. The successful control of attention is based on a balance between two important aspects of attention: voluntary attention that allows to focus on goal-relevant information and the involuntary capture of attention by task-irrelevant but potentially important events outside the current focus of attention. We focus on the interaction between these aspects of attention in typically developed children aged 4-12-years and adults as well as in a group of adolescents suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (11-17 years). In three lines of research, we will (1) dissociate the developmental trajectories of voluntary and involuntary attention and (2) characterize the influence of arousal mediated by the Locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system on these attention processes. To voluntarily focus on a task in the context of task-irrelevant background sounds or speech is a typical situation in classrooms. We therefore will study (3) the effects of irrelevant meaningful background speech on involuntary and voluntary attention mechanisms in children. The bilateral approach enables the control of language specific features by presenting German and French to German and French children, respectively. These three topics will be studied using newly developed innovative paradigms and paradigms that are well established in auditory attention research and adapted to the needs of children. We will measure and analyze brain activity using event-related potentials in the electroencephalogram, micro-saccadic behavior, pupil dilation responses, and task performance. The studies are conducted in two laboratories, which enables the exchange of formal, informal, and methodological knowledge, from which particularly young scientists of the groups will benefit, and increases reproducibility in general. This research cooperation will further benefit from the integration of several state-of-the-art methods, innovative paradigms, and excellent expertise of both laboratories and provides the basis for a new long-term French-German research collaboration. This project is of high societal relevance as it can significantly contribute to adapt learning environments to the age-related needs of children. Furthermore, our results can be applied in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of attention disorders, which are of high prevalence and associated with the majority of learning disorders.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Cooperation Partner: Aurelie Bidet-Caulet, Ph.D.