Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Critical Evaluation Of Selective Attention Measures, Hannah K. Wilson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Selective attention is comprised of two simultaneous processes—the inhibition of distractors and the focus of attention on target stimuli; yet, many existing selective attention measures only measure one aspect of selective attention. This leads to a high possibility of Type I errors as high interference control or high working memory capacity may be mistaken for high selective attention. This paper proposes several criteria for high construct validity and external validity in selective attention measures.

Concerning construct validity, the test must allow participants to exercise selective attention, adequately measure the level of attention to the distractor stimuli, and adequately measure level …