van Baar Anneloes L, de Jong Marjanneke, Maat Martine, Hooge Ignace T C, Bogičević Lilly, Verhoeven Marjolein
Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 8;11:1179. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01179. eCollection 2020.
Attention problems hinder many children in their cognitive and social emotional development. Children at risk for developmental problems, like preterm born infants, are specifically known for attention difficulties. Early identification of attention difficulties is important for application of appropriate stimulation in trying to reduce further problems. Specifically designed instruments with good psychometric characteristics are needed to show difficulties in attention, that may contribute to early identification. The Utrecht Tasks of Attention in Toddlers using Eye tracking (UTATE) is an instrument to measure orienting, alerting and executive attention capacities in young children. Reliability and validity of the UTATE are specifically addressed in three studies, reported in this paper. A sample of 95 term born children assessed at 18 months of age was used that provided data for both the second and third study reported here. In addition, three other small samples were used, of which the first consisted of 12 children at 18 months with test-retest data available that are reported in the first study. Two other samples that were used in the third study, consisted of 14 children measured at 12 months, and 15 children examined at 24 months. The UTATE resulted in reliable information on eye movements and some first support for construct and predictive validity was found. Low scores on the UTATE at 18 months were found to be related to slower cognitive development as measured with the Bayley-III-NL at 24 months. Furthermore, a first indication that the UTATE is able to detect some age differences in attention was found. It is concluded that the UTATE can be used to study attention capacities in toddlers that underlie cognitive functioning and development, but further research is necessary.
注意力问题阻碍了许多儿童的认知和社会情感发展。有发育问题风险的儿童，如早产儿，尤其以注意力困难而闻名。早期识别注意力困难对于应用适当的刺激措施以减少进一步的问题很重要。需要具有良好心理测量学特征的专门设计的工具来显示注意力方面的困难，这可能有助于早期识别。乌得勒支幼儿注意力眼动追踪任务（UTATE）是一种测量幼儿定向、警觉和执行注意力能力的工具。本文报道的三项研究专门探讨了UTATE的信度和效度。使用了一个由95名足月儿在18个月时进行评估的样本，该样本为本文报道的第二项和第三项研究提供了数据。此外，还使用了其他三个小样本，其中第一个样本由12名18个月大的儿童组成，有重测数据，在第一项研究中进行了报道。第三项研究中使用的另外两个样本，一个由14名12个月大的儿童组成，另一个由15名24个月大的儿童组成。UTATE得出了关于眼动的可靠信息，并发现了对结构效度和预测效度的一些初步支持。发现18个月时UTATE得分低与24个月时用贝利婴幼儿发展量表第三版荷兰语版测量的认知发展较慢有关。此外，还发现了UTATE能够检测出注意力方面一些年龄差异的初步迹象。得出的结论是，UTATE可用于研究幼儿中作为认知功能和发展基础的注意力能力，但还需要进一步研究。
