The Changing Face of Attentional Development

The field of attentional development has recently undergone a quiet revolution. Attention is no longer being studied as a static gatekeeper of consciousness and action; instead, it is being reconceptualized as a dynamic system that both influences and is influenced by the interactions between individuals and their environments. In this review, we first revisit the conventional understanding of attentional development, showing that a large body of research conducted using a handful of laboratory tasks failed to deliver deep theoretical insights. We then trace the revolution to show how investigators have been changing their research questions in response to this impasse. Finally, we speculate on what the future of attentional development research might look like from this emerging dynamic perspective.