Closely associated with our visual attention research is a technology development program. From its inception, BA&T has been applying its research findings to develop innovative technologies for detecting and diminishing attentional deficits.
Developments include:
- The first application of touch-screen technology for visual attention research. This included the pioneering integration of touch screen technology (hardware, interface, and software) in the first integrated desktop computer (HP 9845C) in the mid 1980s. Touch screens are more direct and responsive than traditional input devices, and they provide the needed precision for identifying overselective visual attention in children and for assisting in understanding conditions responsible for its occurrence.
- Sophisticated and sensitive multiple-assessment measurement techniques. A visual attention testing procedure has been developed in which two different stimulus-control testing procedures are simultaneously and automatically administered to assess how individuals attend to stimulus compounds. One test assesses stimulus control by determining response accuracy (correct versus incorrect response), while the other records response topography (which stimuli are touched) during a discrimination task. Without both, false conclusions can be made about which features control responding. We recently added response latency as a third measure of visual attention. Response latency was defined as the amount of time that elapsed between the presentation of the symbols and the participant’s symbol selection. By recording response latency, individual differences were discovered in how quickly they shifted their attention in accordance with prior reinforcement histories. These individual differences, in contrast, were not revealed by their response accuracies or response topographies. Recording response latencies could identify attentional disorders, such as overselective attention or difficulties shifting attention, which have a higher incidence in autistic children, and which might not be revealed by other types of assessment. Recording response latencies might permit children to be identified at a younger age who are at risk for developing autism.
- Software technologies for assessing and remediating attentional deficits. BA&T utilizes its research findings as a foundation for developing innovative software technologies to provide effective and sensitive attentional skills assessments and remediation. This ongoing effort is providing our Psychologist with tools for early identification and remediation of attentional problems in young children. One of these tools is our AttentionWare Series 1 Visual Attention Assessment, administered from the web. Designed for 5-7 year old children, the Assessment takes the form of an interactive video that measures and analyzes key characteristics of visual attention and determines whether the child might benefit from repeating the Assessment to improve attentional skills. Reports are automatically generated that document the findings, and reveal the nature and extent of improvement with repeated use. Included in the AttentionWare Series 1 Visual Attention Assessment report is an assessment of learning efficiency, which determines how quickly the child attends to the relevant features of visual materials. Also included is an assessment of attention durability, which identifies the extent to which attentional skills are disrupted when complex educational material is presented. A third element is an assessment of attention focus, which identifies whether attention can be directed to relevant features in the visual environment, important for learning complex material. Ongoing efforts are expanding these web-administered assessment capabilities to include evidence for possible overselective visual attention, which identifies whether there is restricted visual attention that can interfere with learning. We are also developing new training procedures that may permit individuals with developmental disabilities to acquire essential attentional skills for learning educational and vocational tasks involving complex visual material.
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