The effect of different stimulus attributes on the attentional performance of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.
Trade plain shapes for real-object pictures to sharpen selective attention in dyslexia and stretch sustained attention in ADHD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wang et al. (2013) compared two kinds of pictures on computer screens.
One set showed everyday things: a house, a cat, a tree.
The other set showed plain shapes: circles, squares, triangles.
Kids with ADHD, kids with dyslexia, and typical kids all tried both sets.
The team watched who kept looking longer and who stayed on task.
What they found
Real-life pictures helped the dyslexic kids pick the right target faster.
The same pictures helped the ADHD kids keep looking longer.
Typical kids did fine with either set, so the change did not help them.
In short, meaningful pictures boosted attention only when attention was already shaky.
How this fits with other research
Wilson et al. (2024) also shows that format matters.
They found video clips give the steadiest preference list for social items, just as Li-Chih found pictures beat shapes for attention.
Hastings et al. (2001) used a single-stimulus test to predict reinforcer power years earlier.
Li-Chih uses the same one-item-at-a-time idea, but predicts attention instead of reinforcement.
Together, these papers say: show one clear stimulus, watch the child respond, and you can forecast what will work later.
Why it matters
If a child drifts off during table work, swap bland flashcards for photos of real objects.
Start with one picture at a time, note how long the child looks, and keep the winners.
This quick swap costs nothing and may cut your prompt rate tomorrow.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
While teachers have traditionally used the interesting objects to increase student attention in the classroom, evidence supporting the effectiveness of this method is lacking. The present study investigated the influence of different stimulus attributes for typical developing students and for students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Thirty children with ADHD, 30 children with dyslexia, and 30 typical developing students were tested using a measuring tool that was constructed by the authors to assess their sustained attention and selective attention on the geometric-figure assessment and the interesting-figure assessment. The geometric-figure assessment included a square, circle, trapezium, and triangle; and the interesting-figure assessment included a house, cat, hand, and tree. While the typical developing group showed better selective attention on the geometric-figure assessment, there was no difference between the dyslexic group and the ADHD group with respect to selective attention. Furthermore, the typical developing and dyslexic groups did not differ in the geometric-figure assessment in sustained attention and were both better in this area than the ADHD group. In the interesting-figure assessment, the typical developing and dyslexic groups performed similarly in sustained attention, but selective attention of the dyslexic group improved more than the ADHD group, similar to the typical developing group. Both selective attention of the dyslexic group and sustained attention of the ADHD group showed positive significant differences in the interesting-figure assessment, but sustained attention of the dyslexic group and selective attention of the ADHD group showed little difference in the interesting-figure assessment. Surprisingly, the typical developing group did not show any significant difference in the interesting-figure assessment, possibly because they had previously demonstrated a ceiling effect in the geometric-figure assessment.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.08.038