Motor overflow and attentional processes in normal school-age children.

Two groups of 28 school-age children (divided equally by sex) who were equivalent in terms of chronological age and IQ but differed in the prevalence of motor overflow were given a concept identification task designed to measure relative attentiveness to central, task-related cues and incidental, social environmental ones. Children with a high level of overflow were relatively more responsive to social cues than to task-related ones, while children with a low level were more equally responsive to the two types of cues. The results are interpreted in terms of a relationship between motor overflow and attentional processes.