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Background: The d2‐R test is a cancellation test developed in Germany to measure concentration and attention. This study examined the validity of the d2‐R test for Japanese adolescents in comparison with German standardized data. Methods: Japanese junior high school students (n = 121; 61 girls, 60 boys) participated in this study. The students' performance scores in the d2‐R test were compared with their daily attentiveness and hyperactivity/impulsiveness assessments conducted by the teachers. The assessments were evaluated using the attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder rating scale, fourth edition (ADHD‐RS)‐IV. The comparison with German counterparts was also made. Results: Students who were rated as less attentive and more hyperactive/impulsive performed more slowly and committed more errors in the d2‐R test. Although there were no sex differences in any of the d2‐R parameters, male students were rated higher than female students in all of the ADHD‐RS‐IV scores. Japanese adolescents outscored German counterparts on speed, concentration, and carefulness. Conclusion: The concurrent validity of the d2‐R test is confirmed. It is an appropriate index to measure the sustained and focused attention of Japanese adolescents. The present research merits attention as the first investigation of the d2‐R test conducted for Japanese adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory theories make opposing predictions as to whether the disruptive effect of task-irrelevant sound on serial recall should be attenuated after repeated exposure to the auditory distractors. Although evidence of habituation has emerged after a passive listening phase, previous attempts to observe habituation to to-be ignored distractors on a trial-by-trial basis have proven to be fruitless. With the present study, we suggest that habituation to auditory distractors occurs, but has often been overlooked because past attempts to measure habituation in the irrelevant-sound paradigm were not sensitive enough. In a series of four experiments, the disruptive effects of to-be-ignored speech and music relative to a quiet control condition were markedly reduced after eight repetitions, regardless of whether trials were presented in blocks (Exp. 1) or in a random order (Exp. 2). The auditory distractor's playback direction (forward, backward) had no effect (Exp. 3). The same results were obtained when the auditory distractors were only presented in a retention interval after the presentation of the to-be-remembered items (Exp. 4). This pattern is only consistent with theoretical accounts that allow for attentional processes to interfere with the maintenance of information in working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distractor inhibition and distractor-response binding were investigated in two experiments by analyzing distractor repetition benefits and their interaction with response repetition effects in a sequential-priming paradigm. Distractor repetition benefits were larger for distractors that were incompatible with the to-be-executed response (task-related distractors) than for distractors that were not assigned to a response (neutral distractors), indicating that the strength of distractor inhibition was a function of response interference for the distractors. In contrast, the distractor-response bindings were found to be of equal strength for both task-related and neutral distractors. Thus, differences in the strengths of distractor inhibition did not affect the integration of distractors with responses into event files. Instead, our results suggest that distractor-response binding and distractor inhibition are independent mechanisms that are recruited for the automatization of behavior and action control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]