A neuropsychologically based assessment model of the structure of attention in children

Traditional attentional assessment paradigms have often failed to separate factors relevant to components of attention from factors related to other c ognitive-related processes or task-specific variance. This study attempted to evaluate various multidimensional assessment models of children's attent ional functioning using a neuropsychological framework addressing multiple components of attention. A series of increasingly complex measurement model s were proposed to explain 2nd graders' (n = 107) patterns of performance a cross multiple measures of hemispheric activation, verbal and nonverbal sel ective and sustained attention, and general ability. Evaluation of the late nt structure produced by these measurement models using confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a multidimensional factor structure that incorpora ted components of attention involving levels of processing provided a bette r resolution of the latent structure of the data than those based on latera lized processes or a unidimensional attentional model.