  The capacity to filter out irrelevant information from our environment is
critical to efficient processing. Yet, during development, when building a
knowledge base of the world is occurring, the ability to selectively allocate
attentional resources is limited (e.g., Amso & Scerif, 2015). In adulthood,
research has demonstrated that surrounding the spatial location of attentional
focus is a suppressive field, resulting from top-down attention promoting the
processing of relevant stimuli and inhibiting surrounding distractors (e.g.,
Hopf et al., 2006). It is not fully known, however, whether this phenomenon
manifests in development. In the current study, we examined whether spatial
suppression surrounding the focus of visual attention is exhibited in
developmental age groups. Participants between 12 and 27 years of age exhibited
spatial suppression surrounding their focus of visual attention. Their accuracy
increased as a function of the separation distance between a spatially cued
(and attended) target and a second target, suggesting that a ring of
suppression surrounded the attended target. When a central cue was instead
presented and therefore attention was no longer spatially cued, surround
suppression was not observed, indicating that our initial findings of
suppression were indeed related to the focus of attention. Attentional surround
suppression was not observed in 8- to 11-years-olds, even with a longer spatial
cue presentation time, demonstrating that the lack of the effect at these ages
is not due to slowed attentional feedback processes. Our findings demonstrate
that top-down attentional processes are still immature until approximately 12
years of age, and that they continue to be refined throughout adolescence,
converging well with previous research on attentional development.
