Resumen

MONTEOLIVA, Juan Manuel; CARRADA, Mariana  y  ISON, Mirta Susana. Perception of differences test (FACES): Normative study of attentional performance in argentine students. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2017, vol.34, n.1, pp.39-56. ISSN 1668-7027.

Attention plays a key role in school performance of children. Different studies have reported that the attentional capacity is positively correlated with the skills of reading, writing and math in primary school. In the teaching-learning process, a child uses different forms of attention. In one task, the child selects relevant information and inhibits the others. Perhaps, should divide his attention and switch his focus of attention between two or more sources of information, holding -intentionally- these activities for a specified time. In this context, it is important evaluate the attentional abilities of children in education with valid, reliable and adapted instruments to the school population. The main perceptual-attentional skills used in assessing attentional tasks are: perception of differences, visual discrimination, visual integration and perceptual speed. These tasks can be characterized as simple, yet include a lot of tests, which requires a relatively large time to be realized. In this way become continuous performance tasks in which the subject must locate significant stimulus to a wider set of stimuli acting distracting way. The purpose of this work was the development of normative data of performance indicators in Perception Test Similarities and Differences or FACES. This test is used to evaluate the focused and sustained attention and the ability to perceive, quickly and correctly, similarities, differences and partially ordered stimulating patterns. As a main feature, the CARAS, has 60 blocks stimuli each composed of three schematic drawings of faces (with elementary strokes representing the mouth, eyes, eyebrows and hair), one of which is different. The task is to determine the different side and cross it off. The research was descriptive and cross-sectional non-experimental design was used. The analysis was performed on a standardized sample stratified random sample of 4.462 students between 7 and 12 years of public primary schools of Mendoza (República Argentina). As a result are obtained performance attentional scores: attentional efficacy (AE), attentional efficiency (AE) and attentional yield (AY) in partial evaluation time (t1 and t2) and total time (T), for each sex and age. These attentional assessment indicators are proposed by the authors in previous work. Mathematical expressions derived from these indicators, emerged from the chronological review of the progress made in this assessment tool and the need to know more accurately the capabilities of the subjects tested. In this context, the term attentional performance is introduced as an inclusive concept of attentional efficiency, attentional efficiency and attentional yield of a subject in visual search tasks. Attentional efficiency allows to evaluate the accuracy with which a child discriminate stimuli within a series of similar stimuli; attentional efficiency (AF) is defined as the cognitive ability to regulate and optimize the attentional mechanism to select and maintain attention for an extended period of time, using minimal resources of time available. Moreover, attentional yield (AY) is the product resulting from the level of effectiveness and efficiency obtained in selection and sustained attentional task. Then, the cumulative frequencies, which were subsequently transformed to percentile ranks, were determined. With this kind of normative study is to provide, in different attentional performance indicators, greater diagnostic accuracy in assessing attentional mechanism in children. The attentional capacity is key to proper cognitive functioning, thus its evaluation is relevant for the purposes of precise diagnosis and adequate psycho-educational intervention programs that interrupt the cycle of failure and frustration helping to increase the feeling of self-efficacy in the school.

Palabras clave : Attentional performance; Test on Perception of Differences (FACES); Attentional efficacy; Attentional efficiency; Attentional yield; Children.

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