ABSTRACT
Many investigators have posited that infant attention consists of multiple components or processes (Cohen, 1972, 1973; Richards, 1987; Ruff, 1986a). The components of infant attention occur sequentially. Cognitive activity differs during these components, and during each component the infant processes stimulus information differently. The idea of attention phases, or components of attention, occurs in the literature on adult cognition. Many researchers examining adult cognition (e.g., Posner & Boies, 1971; Posner & Cohen, 1982; Robinson & Peterson, 1986) have postulated distinct components of attention in adult cognitive activity.
