Early Childhood: Attention and Self-Control

Popularized study at Stanford looked at children’s ability to delay instant gratification for a later reward * Initially, Mischel was more interested in the coping strategies kids employed to not eat the marshmallow than in potential predictions based on how long child waited
Study focused on delay of gratification – resist current temptation for a later reward
Found correlation with those who “waited” had later academic and employment success
However, while this study is popular, results have been disputed and studies have not been able to replicate

Thought in research that “self-control is like a muscle” , you need to build and strengthen , and it can get fatigued
Study of “Marshmallow experiment” was popularized in the 80s – 90s. Even taught explicitly to teachers, on sesame street – the importance of self-control and delay of gratification
Focus has shifted to broader concept self-regulation of emotions, cognitive processes, learning as opposed to deprivation and discipline

Child’s ability to ‘pay attention’ improves over the preschool years, relative to toddlerhood, but still under development
“Pay Attention!” * Request usually implies focusing on one thing (e.g. teacher’s voice), and not another (e.g. noises in the hall). * Attention = multifaceted construct * Selective attention: ability to tune into certain things while tuning out others
* Sustained or focused attention: maintaining that focus over time

Ability to attend to information critical foundational skill for all learning, aspects of school readiness
General rule of thumb: 2 - 3 minutes x age * Can often focus on tasks of interest for longer periods of time
Individual differences * Some can sit for longer periods of time others have greater difficulty (think, circle time in preschool)
Mediated by parental and environmental factors

Preschool Games that promote sustained or focused attention: * Eye-contact exercises – sustained attention improved when children needed to make eye contact with teacher before leaving the group in circle time * Stop-go activities – freeze dance • Using specific signals - beats, two claps * Chants/Phrases to refocus - “crisscross apple sauce” ; “123 eyes on me” for selective attention ; refocusing * Play, Movement – brain breaks, Go Noodle * Games-Simon says, red light green light, head-shoulders-knees-toes (also has executive functioning components – response inhibition etc. ) * Tasks with end-goals, puzzles, timers/speed tasks (clean up in 4 min)

In a longitudinal study, parents rated their 4-year-old child’s attention span and persistence. * Children who were better able to maintain focused attention and who persisted even when faced with difficulties had higher math and reading achievement at age 21 and a greater chance of college completion by age 25
A 2005 longitudinal study of 1000 preschoolers showed that children ranked low in attentional control had poorer social skills and peer relationships in 1st and 3rd grade

Differences in attention in part to heritable characteristics (nature), yet also influenced by experience (nurture)
Ability to focus and sustain attention in preschool children has also been linked to differences in families’ economic circumstances
Young children from low-income families may have less effective selective attention * May be due to: * Impact of chronic stress * Heightened arousal * Sleep, nutrition * Routine consistency

Neville and her colleagues at University of Oregon’s Brain Development lab developed a training program for children from low SES using games that allowed them to practice attention skills.
Her program also trained parents to promote their child’s attention skills.
After 8 weeks, she found positive changes in the way these children’s brains functioned and in their language skills, nonverbal IQ, and social skills, as well as a reduction in problem behaviors.
Parents also benefitted from the program, showing reduced stress and greater ability to maintain conversations with their children.