Abstract

This exploratory investigation was conducted to uncover the influence of toy type, level of toy difficulty, and temperament on the duration of focused attention in young children. A total of 28 children, all attending childcare centers, participated in this study and were aged between 33 and 39 months. Each child participated in two play sessions and played with two types of toys of two different levels of difficulty for a 4-minute period. The children's parents and educators were asked to complete a temperament questionnaire for each child. The duration of focused attention for each child was calculated through analysis of the recoded play sessions. Results indicated that children showed a longer duration of focused attention during play with construction toys than during play with puzzles. Also, the children were found to display a longer duration of focused attention when the puzzle was easier and when the construction toy was more difficult. There were two temperament characteristics found to be related to the children's duration of focused attention: perceptual sensitivity and inhibitor control.