The mosaic of experience: How individual differences in attention and working memory shape event segmentation.

Individual differences in attentional abilities and learning were examined in a latent variable study. Participants performed a variety of learning tasks while pupillary responses were recorded during learning (a measure of the intensity of attention) and participants provided self-reports of off-task thinking (a measure of the consistency of attention), learning strategies, motivation, and self-efficacy in some of the learning tasks. Participants also performed measures of attention control and working memory. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that attentional abilities were best represented as three separate factors (behavioral measures of broad attention control, pupillary measures of the intensity of attention, and self-reports of the consistency of attention) and each factor was correlated with the learning factor. Learning was also correlated with working memory, strategy use, motivation, and learning self-efficacy. These factors were differentially correlated with the attention factors. Structural equation modeling suggested that attention control had a direct relation with learning and also demonstrated indirect relations via strategy use and self-efficacy. The intensity of attention was related to learning via indirect relations with attention control, strategy use, and self-efficacy. The consistency of attention was related to learning indirectly via attention control and strategy use. The current results suggest that individual differences in attentional abilities are important for learning and these relations are due to a combination of cognitive, strategic, and conative factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Selective attention is responsible for detecting, localizing and identifying a target while neglecting distractors [1],[2]. A superior capacity in selective attention contributes to good performance in tasks that require monitoring the environment and searching for a target [2],[3],[4]. Since it is our goal to optimize work efficiency, understanding individual differences in attentional capacity and whether they are mutable is important. Our first experiment demonstrates the existence of systematic individual differences in selective attention. More remarkably, our second experiment shows that appropriate cognitive training using an action video game can alter selective attentional capacity. Furthermore, individuals with the poorest initial scores gain most from the training. We show that these gains cannot be attributed to regression effects alone. Thus we conclude that individual differences in attentional capacity can be reduced or even eliminated by training.

Individual differences in attentional abilities provide an interesting approach in studying visual attention as well as the relation of attention to other psychometric measures. However, recent research has demonstrated that many tasks from experimental research are not suitable for individual differences research, as they fail to capture these differences reliably. Here, we provide a test for individual differences in visual attention which relies on the multiple object tracking task (MOT). This test captures individual differences reliably in 6 to 15 min. Within the task, the participants have to maintain a set of targets (among identical distractors) across an interval of object motion. It captures the efficiency of attentional deployment. Importantly, this test was explicitly designed and tested for reliability under conditions that match those of most laboratory research (restricted sample of students, approximately n = 50). The test is free to use and runs fully under open-source software. In order to facilitate the application of the test, we have translated it into 16 common languages (Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish). The test can be downloaded at https://osf.io/qy6nb/ . We hope that this MOT test supports researchers whose field of study requires capturing individual differences in visual attention reliably.

Individual differences in attentional abilities provide an interesting approach in studying visual attention as well as the relation of attention to other psychometric measures. However, recent research has demonstrated that many tasks from experimental research are not suitable for individual differences research, as they fail to capture these differences reliably. Here, we provide a test for individual differences in visual attention which relies on the multiple object tracking task (MOT). This test captures individual differences reliably in 6 to 15 min. Within the task, the participants have to maintain a set of targets (among identical distractors) across an interval of object motion. It captures the efficiency of attentional deployment. Importantly, this test was explicitly designed and tested for reliability under conditions that match those of most laboratory research (restricted sample of students, approximately n = 50). The test is free to use and runs fully under open-source software. In order to facilitate the application of the test, we have translated it into 16 common languages (Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish). The test can be downloaded at https://osf.io/qy6nb/ . We hope that this MOT test supports researchers whose field of study requires capturing individual differences in visual attention reliably.

The phenomenon of comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has not been fully investigated, especially in the paediatric population. Various mechanisms for the development of PTSD have been proposed, with theories suggesting aetiological importance in the presence of trauma memories, and neurocognitive deficits in working memory and attentional control functions. To address the gap in the literature, the present study sets out to examine the potential factors underpinning the development of PTSD post-TBI in children, with prime interest in the contribution from post-injury neurocognitive outcomes. The present study recruited 166 children (from 6 to 14 years old) immediately after TBI. Injury severity, demographic information, and intellectual capacity were assessed within 2 months of the injury. Neurocognitive functions and PTSD severity were assessed at 3, and 6-months post-injury, with PTSD severity re-assessed at 18-months post-injury. Regression analyses used demographic, injury-related, and neurocognitive factors to predict PTSD severity at a later stage. Results showed that children presented with substantial neurocognitive impairments in sustained attention and verbal learning functions and greater TBI severity resulted in higher deficit rates in verbal learning, selective attention, and processing efficiency. Although presented with some degree of impairments, working memory performance did not worsen with injury severity. At 3-months post-injury, 9.5% of the children warranted a PTSD diagnosis, with the percentage dropping to 4.4%, and below at 6 and 18-months post-injury. Comorbid PTSD in paediatric TBI demonstrated similar risk factors to PTSD following non-injury related emotional trauma, for instance age at injury, sex, and intelligence. Socio-economic status, however, did not predict PTSD severity post-TBI. Paediatric TBI severity also correlated positively and significantly with post-injury PTSD severity. Neurocognitive functions emerged as the key outcome predictors for future PTSD severity. In particular, poorer attentional control and better memory encoding outcomes following injury predicted greater symptom severity in children. Unexpected by the study, post-TBI working memory deficits correlated positively with subsequent symptom severity. Evidence indicates that TBI may simultaneously facilitate and inhibit the development of subsequent PTSD symptoms in children, via the ability to encode memory and the ability to regulate these memories. As memory encoding becomes increasingly impaired with injury severity, fewer recollections of injury-related events protected children from PTSD symptoms after injury. Impaired sustained attention across injury severity post-TBI, however, gives rise to general difficulties in disinhibiting or regulating trauma memories, and emotional/physiological arousal. In conclusion, supporting the Neurobiological Theory, the present study demonstrated significant neurocognitive contributions, and highlighted the role of attentional control and memory functions in the development of PTSD. Findings suggest that the neurological mechanisms involve in PTSD and paediatric TBI are distinct, yet intertwined. A number of potential mechanisms underpinning the development of PTSD in the context of paediatric TBI are discussed. Theoretical, research, and clinical implications are also provided.

BackgroundWhen two targets are presented in close temporal succession, the majority of people frequently fail to report the second target. This phenomenon, known as the ‘attentional blink’ (AB), has been a major topic in attention research for the past twenty years because it is informative about the rate at which stimuli can be encoded into consciously accessible representations. An aspect of the AB that has long been ignored, however, is individual differences.Methodology/Principal FindingsHere we compare a group of blinkers (who show an AB) and non-blinkers (who show little or no AB), and investigate the boundary conditions of the non-blinkers' remarkable ability. Second, we directly test the properties of temporal selection by analysing response errors, allowing us to uncover individual differences in suppression, delay, and diffusion of selective attention across time. Thirdly, we test the hypothesis that information concerning temporal order is compromised when an AB is somehow avoided. Surprisingly, compared to earlier studies, only a modest amount of suppression was found for blinkers. Non-blinkers showed no suppression, were more precise in selecting the second target, and made less order reversals than blinkers did. In contrast, non-blinkers made relatively more intrusions and showed a selection delay when the second target immediately followed the first target (at lag 1).Conclusion/SignificanceThe findings shed new light on the mechanisms that may underlie individual differences in selective attention. The notable ability of non-blinkers to accurately perceive targets presented in close temporal succession might be due to a relatively faster and more precise target selection process compared to large blinkers.

Training working memory to improve attentional control in anxiety: A proof-of-principle study using behavioral and electrophysiological measures

Individual differences in encoded neural representations within cortical speech production network

Objective To investigate the differences of working memory and brain biochemical metabolism between untreated obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients comorbid with and without major depressive disorder (MDD) by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Methods Thirty-five patients with OCD, 38 patients with OCD comorbid MDD, and 41 healthy controls were studied in our study. 2-back, visual space memory test (VSMT), digit span test (DST) and Stroop color and word test (SCWT) were performed to evaluate working memory. And the 3 groups were also measured the levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds (Cho) and creatine (Cr) in frontal lobe and basal ganglia by using 1H-MRS, the ratios of NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr were calculated. Results The accurate answer number of 2-back task in both OCD patients comorbid with and without MDD were lower than that in healthy control (P=0.022, 0.049), and the completion time of VSMT ( (1 963±1 193) ms vs. (1 302±587) ms) and SCWT-C ( (16.6±4.2) s vs. (13.9±4.3) s) in OCD comorbid with MDD patients were longer than healthy controls (P=0.004, 0.007) .Also, OCD patients comorbid with MDD had lower score in VSMT, digit span forward, digit span backward and total DST than that in healthy controls (P=0.003, 0.020, 0.042, 0.006) . The NAA/Cr ratio in the left prefrontal white matter of OCD comorbid with MDD patients was significantly lower than that in healthy controls (2.07±0.40 vs. 2.32±0.33, P=0.017) . Conclusions OCD patients comorbid with MDD have verbal, visuospatial working memory impairments and inhibition dysfunction of central executive system, and OCD without MDD patients only have verbal working memory impairments. In addition, neuronal dysfunction in the left prefrontal white matter was found in OCD comorbid with MDD. Key words: Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Depressive disorder; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Comorbidity; Working memory

Neural Correlates of Impaired Cognitive Control over Working Memory in Schizophrenia

We assessed individual differences in visual attention toward faces in relation to their attractiveness via saccadic reaction times. Motivated by the aim to understand individual differences in attention to faces, we tested three hypotheses: (a) Attractive faces hold or capture attention more effectively than less attractive faces; (b) men show a stronger bias toward attractive opposite-sex faces than women; and (c) blue-eyed men show a stronger bias toward blue-eyed than brown-eyed feminine faces. The latter test was included because prior research suggested a high effect size. Our data supported hypotheses (a) and (b) but not (c). By conducting separate tests for disengagement of attention and attention capture, we found that individual differences exist at distinct stages of attentional processing but these differences are of varying robustness and importance. In our conclusion, we also advocate the use of linear mixed effects models as the most appropriate statistical approach for studying inter-individual differences in visual attention with naturalistic stimuli.

Children reasoning about the world must attend to not only visible objects but also the relations between them. For example, in mathematics classroom, it is crucial to notice not only objects in word problems, but also how they relate to each other mathematically. Attention to relations has generally been considered a function of domain knowledge or task-specific context, though we posit that individual differences in relational attention can be identified and may affect reasoning and learning across tasks. Individual differences in spontaneous relational attention were measured in a sample of 218 fifth/sixth grade children from the U.S. The latent class analysis revealed that children could be systematically grouped into four clusters based on how likely they were to attend to relational correspondences, and importantly, these differences predicted their learning from a videotaped mathematics lesson. Children who preferentially attended to relations systematically learned more from the same lesson than those who preferentially attended to objects, controlling for prior math knowledge and Executive Functions (EFs). At the same time, the latter group showed greater learning when the lesson explicitly highlighted relational correspondences, suggesting that relational attention is a key mechanism for learning, and also that this could ensure equity across students in learning from high-quality lessons.

Individuals differ in their ability to sustain attention. However, whether differences in sustained attention reflect differences in processes related to attentional control and working memory or long-term memory (LTM) remains underexplored. In Experiment 1, we conducted an online study (n = 136) measuring participants' sustained attention, attention control and working memory, and LTM. We measured sustained attention with an audiovisual continuous performance task in which participants responded to images while inhibiting responses to infrequent targets; attention control and working memory with flanker, change localization, and Simon tasks; and LTM with recognition and source memory tests. Factor analyses revealed that sustained attention formed a distinct factor from attention control and working memory and LTM. Individual differences in the Sustained attention factor robustly predicted individual differences in LTM and, to a lesser extent, attention control and working memory. In Experiment 2, to test how neural signatures of sustained attention related to attention control and working memory and LTM, we analyzed fMRI functional connectivity patterns collected as 20 participants performed the audiovisual continuous performance task. A pretrained connectome-based model of sustained attention predicted participants' performance on out-of-scanner LTM tasks, but not attention control and working memory tasks. Together, these results suggest that individual differences in sustained attention, although correlated with attention control and working memory, are more closely related to LTM.

Previous research has shown memory deficits in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) but has been inconsistent as to which aspects of memory are affected and how deficits are linked to OCD symptoms. The current study assessed working, episodic and semantic memory in 19 subjects with OCD and 19 matched controls. The severity of OCD symptoms was assessed using a clinician-rated scale (Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale, Y-BOCS) and a self-report measure (Padua Inventory-Revised, PI-R). Episodic and semantic memory performance was significantly reduced in OCD subjects relative to controls while working memory was preserved. Episodic memory performance in both OCD and healthy control subjects was significantly related to the Padua dimensions Rumination and Checking even if the influence of depressive mood and total OC symptom severity was controlled for. Linear regression revealed that Rumination was most closely related to episodic memory performance in both OCD and healthy control subjects above Checking. Results point to the possible impact of self-focused attention on effortful encoding processes.

Carriers of the fragile X premutation allele (fXPCs) have an expanded CGG trinucleotide repeat size within the FMR1 gene and are at increased risk of developing fragile x-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Previous research has shown that male fXPCs with FXTAS exhibit cognitive decline, predominantly in executive functions such as inhibitory control and working memory. Recent evidence suggests fXPCs may also exhibit impairments in processing temporal information. The attentional blink (AB) task is often used to examine the dynamics of attentional selection, but disagreements exist as to whether the AB is due to excessive or insufficient attentional control. In this study, we used a variant of the AB task and neuropsychological testing to explore the dynamics of attentional selection, relate AB performance to attentional control, and determine whether fXPCs exhibited temporal and/or attentional control impairments. Participants were adult male fXPCs, aged 18–48 years and asymptomatic for FXTAS (n = 19) and age-matched male controls (n = 20). We found that fXPCs did not differ from controls in the AB task, indicating that the temporal dynamics of attentional selection were intact. However, they were impaired in the letter-number sequencing task, a test of executive working memory. In the combined fXPC and control group, letter-number sequencing performance correlated positively with AB magnitude. This finding supports models that posit the AB is due to excess attentional control. In our two-pronged analysis approach, in control participants we replicated a previously observed effect and demonstrated that it persists under more stringent theoretical constraints, and we enhance our understanding of fXPCs by demonstrating that at least some aspects of temporal processing may be spared.