Attention Profiles of Young and Middle Aged Adults: A Comparative Study

By : Susmita Halder, Shreya Manot, Akshat Chowdhury

Page No: 319-326

Abstract
Attention is the ability to focus selectively on a stimulus, sustaining that focus and shifting it as well. Attentional processes serve various functions in the organization of our perceptions and other cognitive functions. Between 3% and 6% of the adult population have symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder that interfere to some degree with their day to-day vocational, social, and family functioning. Detecting attention problems in adults is particularly important because people with it may have poor psychosocial outcomes including higher rates of school failure, incarceration, work instability, and substance abuse and higher levels of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Thus the investigation purports to find out the attention profile of young adults and middle aged adults. The present study is cross sectional and included 100 individuals, divided into two subgroups of young (18 – 25 years) and middle aged (36 – 45 years) adults. Neuropsychological tests were administered to find out the attention profile of both the groups. Results indicated that the middle aged adults group performed significantly better than the young adults group with respect to digit symbol substitution test and digit vigilance test, while the young adults group performed significantly better on the digit span test as compared to the middle aged adults group. Thus it can be concluded that there tends to significant difference in the attention profiles of young adults and middle aged adults.

Authors :
Susmita Halder : Associate Professor – Department of Clinical Psychology, Amity University, Kolkata.
Shreya Manot : MPhil Trainee of Clinical Psychology – Amity University, Kolkata.
Akshat Chowdhury : Counselling Psychologist – Directorate of Education. Delhi
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JPR.2019.14.02.9