Aspects Of Selective Attention Research Articles

How Behavioral Finance Patterns affect Investors’ Activity in Capital Markets?

Research by cognitive psychologists is challenging the rationality paradigm. It has started to penetrate economic modeling with a vast experimental documentation of cognitive limitations that has been accumulated so far raising the questions: Does behavioral decision models, which capture hope or expectation to risk in experimental settings, can help us comprehend investor behavior in financial markets. We try to portrait a whole picture on the attention hypothesis we have developed around pricing patterns within the innovative pharmaceuticals sector firms. We try to encompass it from several aspects: first, we lay a general psychological framework for Attention theory describing cognitive mechanisms such as the rule of selective attention in processing information in short-term. Second we explore financial aspects of selective attention, and last we explore real life investors` behavior around a major milestone within the drug development process – advisory committee milestone. Our findings based on 78 events dating for 2002-2014, a puzzling investors` behavior. We observe that higher trading is held around regulatory event in what seems like a speculative “micro bubbles”. In this paper, we try to portrait a whole picture on the attention hypothesis and merge it with these “micro bubbles” we assume to be in the drug development industry.

Brain mechanisms underlying the effects of aging on different aspects of selective attention

The ability to suppress irrelevant information declines with age, while the ability to enhance relevant information remains largely intact. We examined mechanisms behind this dissociation in an fMRI study, using a selective attention task in which relevant and irrelevant information appeared simultaneously. Slowing of response times due to distraction by irrelevant targets was larger in older than younger participants. Increased distraction was related to larger increases in activity and connectivity in areas of the dorsal attention network, indicating a more pronounced (re-)orientation of attention. The decreases in accuracy in target compared to nontarget trials were smaller in older compared to younger participants. In older adults we found increased recruitment of areas in the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN) during target detection. Moreover, older adults showed increased connectivity between the FPCN, supporting cognitive control, and somatomotor areas implicated in response selection and execution. This connectivity increase was related to improved target detection, suggesting that older adults engage additional cognitive control, which might enable the observed intact performance in detecting and responding to target stimuli.

Distinct neural mechanisms of distractor suppression in the frontal and parietal lobe

The posterior parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex are associated with eye movements and visual attention, but their specific contributions are poorly understood. We compared the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) in monkeys using a memory saccade task in which a salient distractor flashed at a variable timing and location during the memory delay. We found that the two areas had similar responses to target selection, but made distinct contributions to distractor suppression. Distractor responses were more strongly suppressed and more closely correlated with performance in the dlPFC relative to LIP. Moreover, reversible inactivation of the dlPFC produced much larger increases in distractibility than inactivation of LIP. These findings suggest that LIP and dlPFC mediate different aspects of selective attention. Although both areas can contribute to the perceptual selection of salient information, the dlPFC has a decisive influence on whether and how attended stimulus is linked with actions.

Attention in Williams syndrome and Down's syndrome: Performance on the new early childhood attention battery

Attentional problems are commonly reported as a feature of the behavioural profile in both Williams syndrome (WS) and Down's syndrome (DS). Recent studies have begun to investigate these impairments empirically, acknowledging the need for an approach that considers cross-syndrome comparisons and developmental changes across the different component functions of attention. The present study assessed children with WS and DS using a new preschool attention battery (ECAB: early childhood attention battery), designed to be suitable for mental age 3-6 years including groups with developmental disorders. The ECAB has the advantage of giving an individual profile of attentional abilities for each child, covering different components of attention. In relation to test norms for their mental age, both groups showed a profile of strengths and weaknesses in the attention domain. Both syndrome groups performed relatively well on tests of sustained attention and poorly on aspects of selective attention and attentional control (executive function). The DS group showed a specific strength in auditory sustained attention, whilst the WS group showed a particular deficit in visuo-spatial response control. There was also evidence for considerable differences in the developmental trajectory of these abilities across the two groups. The results provide evidence for syndrome-specific patterns of impairment, and distinct profiles of strengths and weaknesses that may be useful in understanding the nature of everyday attention difficulties in these groups and tailoring interventions to meet these needs.

Relationships between the color-word matching Stroop task and the Go/NoGo task: toward multifaceted assessment of attention and inhibition abilities of children.

Both selective attention and response inhibition can be assessed through the Stroop task and the Go/NoGo task (Go/NoGo). The color-word matching Stroop task (cwmStroop) differs from the traditional Stroop task in ways that make it easy to administer, and it enables the examiners to analyze reaction time. It is expected that the cwmStroop and Go/NoGo tasks will be useful as clinical assessments for children with developmental disorders and in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the pattern of developmental change in cwmStroop scores and Go/NoGo scores and to determine whether and how cwmStroop scores are related to Go/NoGo scores. The subjects consisted of 108 healthy Japanese children aged 6-14 years. We found that cwmStroop and Go/NoGo scores displayed clear developmental changes between 6 and 14 years of age. The children's scores on the 2 tasks followed different developmental courses, however, and the correlation between scores on the two tasks was weak on the whole. These results indicate that the cwmStroop and Go/NoGo tasks tap different aspects of selective attention and response inhibition. Therefore it is expected that the combination of both tests will be useful in the multifaceted assessment of selective attention and response inhibition in childhood.

Guiding Attention by Cooperative Cues

A common assumption in visual attention is based on the rationale of “limited capacity of information processing”. From this view point there is little consideration of how different information channels or modules are cooperating because cells in processing stages are forced to compete for the limited resource. To examine the mechanism behind the cooperative behavior of information channels, a computational model of selective attention is implemented based on two hypotheses. Unlike the traditional view of visual attention, the cooperative behavior is assumed to be a dynamic integration process between the bottom-up and top-down information. Furthermore, top-down information is assumed to provide a contextual cue during selection process and to guide the attentional allocation among many bottom-up candidates. The result from a series of simulation with still and video images showed some interesting properties that could not be explained by the competitive aspect of selective attention alone.

Development of Inattention, Impulsivity, and Processing Speed as Measured by the d2 Test: Results of a Large Cross-sectional Study in Children Aged 7–13

The development of three aspects of selective attention was studied in 451 Dutch schoolchildren attending second to sixth grade. Selective attention was measured with the d2 Test of attention. The largest age differences were found for processing speed that continued to improve until the sixth grade. Impulsivity, as measured by the percentage of errors of commission, decreased until the fourth grade. Inattention, measured by the percentage of errors of omission, was stable in all grades. Processing speed and impulsivity were correlated with the score on the Attention Problems subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist. These results imply that selective attention continues to develop, at least, until the end of elementary school. The findings are support for a step-wise model of cognitive development (P. Anderson, 2002).

Methylphenidate-induced improvements of various measures of attention in adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The present study examined the effect of the stimulant medication methylphenidate (MPH) on attentional functioning of adults with ADHD. Sixteen adults with a diagnosed ADHD without comorbidity were assessed twice, at baseline off MPH and following MPH treatment. The assessment battery consisted of reaction time tasks of low complexity, including measures of alertness--subdivided into tonic and phasic alertness, vigilance, divided attention, flexibility and such aspects of selective attention as including focused attention, inhibition and integration of sensory information. In addition, 16 healthy participants who were matched to adults with ADHD according to sex, age, education level and intellectual functions were also assessed twice using the same test battery. The results of the present study suggest that adults with ADHD off stimulant medication are seriously impaired in various components of attention including vigilance, divided attention, selective attention and flexibility. These impairments of attention were observed primarily in regard to reaction time and its variability. Treatment of adults with ADHD using individually tailored doses of MPH has a positive effect on measures of alertness, vigilance, selective attention, divided attention and flexibility. However, even on MPH adults with ADHD displayed considerable deficits in vigilance and integration of sensory information. The present findings indicate that adults with ADHD are not differentially impaired in attentional processes but may suffer from a more global deficit of attention. Although MPH treatment has been found to be effective in the treatment of the attention deficit of adults with ADHD, additional treatment appears to be necessary.

Neural systems for orienting attention to the location of threat signals: An event-related fMRI study

Attention may reflexively shift towards the location of perceived threats, but it is still unclear how these spatial biases recruit the distributed fronto-parietal cortical networks involved in other aspects of selective attention. We used event-related fMRI to determine how brain responses to a neutral visual target are influenced by the emotional expression of faces appearing at the same location during a covert orienting task. On each trial, two faces were briefly presented, one in each upper visual field (one neutral and one emotional, fearful or happy), followed by a unilateral target (a small horizontal or vertical bar) replacing one of the faces. Participants had to discriminate the target orientation, shown on the same (valid) or opposite (invalid) side as the emotional face. Trials with faces but no subsequent target (cue-only trials) were included to disentangle activation due to emotional cues from their effects on target detection. We found increased responses in bilateral temporo-parietal areas and right occipito-parietal cortex for fearful faces relative to happy faces, unrelated to the subsequent target and cueing validity. More critically, we found a selective modulation of intraparietal and orbitofrontal cortex for targets following an invalid fearful face, as well as an increased visual response in right lateral occipital cortex for targets following a valid fearful face. No such effects were observed with happy faces. These results demonstrate that fearful faces can act as exogenous cues by increasing sensory processing in extrastriate cortex for a subsequent target presented at the same location, but also produce a cost in disengaging towards another location by altering the response of IPS to invalidly cued targets. Neural mechanisms responsible for orienting attention towards emotional vs. non-emotional stimuli are thus partly shared in parietal and visual areas, but also partly distinct.

Surveying a blank field with the attentional spotlight.

Spatial localization is a unique aspect of selective attention that precedes and facilitates other aspects of sensory processing. A common model of spatial attention is an attentional spotlight that enlarges to fit attentional demands. It is unclear if this attentional spotlight expands to survey a blank field or to scan the spatial environment with a smaller attentional spotlight. Two tachistoscopic experiments with young adults investigated how attention is surveyed in a blank field. Exp. 1 consisted of single letters at two concentric regions and under different conditions of attentional demand. Reaction times were proportionally slower for stimuli occurring in a combination of the two regions located at different distances from the fixation point than for stimuli occurring in each region alone. This finding is not consistent with attentional spread to encompass the entire attentional field. The addition of more stimulus locations within each single region yielded significantly slower reaction times. Together these findings suggest that a small attentional spotlight serially monitors different regions of the visual field when there are anticipated locations to be attended.

Selective attention in Alzheimer's disease.

This chapter presents a review of selective attention functioning in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The primary focus is on work conducted into this complex topic within the author and colleagues' laboratories (i.e. studies of simple and conjoined visual search). Findings obtained by the author and colleagues investigating simple and conjoined feature visual search in AD are related to findings obtained in the same laboratories in the healthy elderly and in patients with Parkinson's disease. Selective attention is a complex, multifactorial entity. Impairment of selective attention may be an early feature of AD and a prominent clinical characteristic of some patients. However, there are currently few reliable clinical measures of attentional dysfunction in AD. The experimental literature implicates some aspects of selective attention more reliably in AD than others. With respect to our own empirical studies, more effortful or controlled aspects of selective attention (as characterized by conjoined feature visual search) are impaired in AD. Furthermore, on the basis of our experimental observations, these aspects of selective attention appear to be disproportionately impaired relative to deficits in other cognitive domains that have previously been reported in the AD literature. By contrast, conjoined feature visual search deficits were not observed in our studies in patients with Parkinson's disease. The selective attention deficits that we have noted in AD patients represent an extension of the types of impairments that we have also observed in healthy aging; that is, compared with the healthy elderly, AD patients were quantitatively but not qualitatively more impaired on conjoined feature visual search. This is an important observation. The ways in which these findings relate to the wider AD selective attention literature are also considered, drawing out several common theoretical strands across a range of empirical studies.

Attention and executive deficits in Alzheimer's disease. A critical review.

In this review we summarize the progress that has been made in the research on attentional and executive deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Like memory, attention is now recognized as consisting of subtypes that differ in their function and anatomical basis. We base our review upon a classification of three subtypes of attention: selective, sustained and divided. This model derives from lesion studies, animal electrophysiological recordings and functional imaging. We examine how these subcomponents of attention can be reconciled with neuropsychological models of attentional control, particularly the Supervisory Attentional System and the Central Executive System of Shallice and Baddeley, respectively. We also discuss the relationship of attention to the concept of executive function. Current evidence suggests that after an initial amnesic stage in Alzheimer's disease, attention is the first non-memory domain to be affected, before deficits in language and visuospatial functions. This is consistent with the possibility that difficulties with activities of daily living, which occur in even mildly demented patients, may be related to attentional deficits. It appears that divided attention and aspects of selective attention, such as set-shifting and response selection, are particularly vulnerable while sustained attention is relatively preserved in the early stages. The phenomenon of cognitive slowing in Alzheimer's disease and normal ageing emphasizes the need to discriminate quantitative changes in attention dysfunction from qualitative changes which may be specifically related to the disease process. The neuropathological basis of these attentional deficits remains unsettled, with two competing hypotheses: spread of pathology from the medial temporal to basal forebrain structures versus corticocortical tract disconnection. Finally we discuss the difficulties of comparing evidence across studies and look at the implications for the design of future studies and future directions that may be fruitful in the research on attention in Alzheimer's disease.

Focussing on aging: an electrophysiological exploration of spatial and attentional processing during reading

Three types of selective attention tasks were presented to 24 young (20.5 years) and 24 middle-aged (57.5 years) participants. The major aim of the experiment was to explore three different aspects of selective attention, namely a pre-attentive level (i.e. auditory passive oddball task), an attentive level using spatial attention in a memory search task (i.e. selective search task) and an attentive level using a spatial cue to select a word in a reading-like situation (i.e. selective language task). The data showed that the mismatch negativity was not affected by aging although the ERPs indicated that the younger participants were paying more attention to the tones than the middle-aged. The selective search task data showed that spatial selective attention is only mildly affected by aging. The ERP-data seemed to indicate that irrelevant stimuli had a smaller impact in the middle-aged. The selective language data showed a look-a-like effect of flanker words for both age groups although the effect in the middle-aged was delayed by 30 ms and smaller. It was theorised that flankers might have smaller impact in the middle-aged. N400 was found to be smaller and delayed (90 ms) in the middle-aged particiants. The overall conclusion on the basis of the three experiments is that the selectivity of processing was preserved or even enhanced in our particular group of middle-aged participants.

The development of selective attention: A life-span overview

This paper outlines research on selective attention within a life-span developmental framework. Findings obtained in both the infancy-child and adulthood-aging literatures are reviewed and discussed in relationship to four aspects of selective attention: orienting, filtering, search, and expecting. Developmental consistencies and inconsistencies are identified and integrative theories are evaluated. Although a single theory is unlikely to accomodate the diverse patterns of age effects, emergent themes are identifiable nonetheless and the essential ingredients of a life-span theory of attentional development are enumerated. Directions for future research and theory are suggested.

Comparison of deaf and hearing children on measures of selective attention in two age groups.

The Stroop and Posner tasks, used as measures of expressive and receptive attention, were administered to two age groups of deaf and hearing children. The purpose was to determine if developmental age would affect subjects' performance and to compare performance of the deaf with hearing subjects. The mean age for the younger deaf subjects was 9.9 years and the younger hearing subjects was 9.4 years. The mean age for the older deaf and hearing subjects was 13.7 years each. The results revealed higher interference in the Stroop tasks for the younger deaf and hearing groups than for the older groups. There were no significant differences between deaf and hearing subjects' performance on the Stroop and Posner tasks when they were of similar age. The results indicate that the deaf had no difficulty compared to the hearing in either aspect of selective attention. It is suggested that separate norms for the Stroop and Posner tasks be developed based on developmental age.

The effects and after effects of the α2-adrenoceptor antagonist idazoxan on mood, memory and attention in normal volunteers

Idazoxan, an α( 2)-adrenoceptor antagonist, is an effective antidepressant with a mode of action different from that of conventional antidepressants. As it is used as an antidepressant it is important to know whether there are any unwanted CNS side effects. Study of its effects will also provide information on the relationship between noradrenergic function and mood and performance. Twelve normal male volunteers who were given the drug (40 mg orally three times daily for 21 days) were compared with 12 matched controls. A computerized test battery was used to assess mood and various aspects of memory and attention. Many of the tests of memory and attention in the battery have been widely used over the last 20 years, and in addition two new selective attention tasks were included. The subjects were tested 3 days before starting the drug, on days 3 and 17 while on the drug, and after they had stopped taking the drug (4 days after and 24 days after). Control subjects followed a similar testing schedule. The results showed that the drug had no effect on mood, logical reasoning, retrieval from semantic memory or sustained attention. However, the drug did improve one aspect of selective attention (the place repetition effect), although this effect was only observed on the third day on the drug. Overall, the results suggest that idazoxan produces selective performance improvements, and that the measures of selective attention used here may be more sensitive indicators of drug effects than some of the traditional tasks currently in use.

Event-related potentials and selective attention in major depressive illness

Depressive episodes have been frequently characterized by deficits in information processing efficiency which are particularly evident when required to sustain or focus attention. As cerebral event-related potentials (ERPs) have been shown to reflect various aspects of selective attention and attentional dysfunction, this study attempted to examine ERPs in depressed patients performing a selective auditory attention task. Twenty-nine patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (DSM-III) and 15 normal, non-psychiatric controls served as experimental subjects. Auditory potentials were recorded from the vertex of subjects who listened selectively to a series of tone pips in one ear and ignored concurrent tone pips to the other ear. Tone pips were delivered at short (320–500 ms) interstimulus intervals and subjects were required to detect, within the attended ear, rare ‘target’ tones of a different pitch than the more frequent ‘standard’ tones. In addition to behavioral indices of ‘hits’ and ‘false alarms’, ERP-derived measures included N 1 amplitudes to attended and ignored stimuli, ‘coefficients of attention’ as calculated from N 1 amplitude ratios and the latency onset and amplitude of the ‘negative difference’ (Nd) wave resulting from the subtraction of attended and ignored waveforms. Behavioral measures indicated that depressed patients were as efficient as controls in task performance and in fact they exhibited a significant left ear advantage in the additional task. Although a significant ‘N 1 effect’ was observed with attended tones eliciting larger amplitudes than unattended tones, ERP measures of selective attention did not tend to differentiate the two groups.

Focused and Divided Attention in Alzheimer's Disease

Visual search tasks were used to examine two aspects of selective attention (focused and divided attention) in normal young and older persons and in Alzheimer patients. Normal and demented subjects were equally efficient in using a color cue to selectively search only the relevant items in an array. Thus, focused attention abilities appear to be relatively unimpaired by Alzheimer's disease. By contrast, in comparison to normals, the search time of demented patients rose disproportionately as the number of items over which they had to distribute their attention was increased. This suggests that Alzheimer patients are less efficient than normals in dividing their attention.

Impaired extra-dimensional shift performance in medicated and unmedicated Parkinson's disease: Evidence for a specific attentional dysfunction

Groups of patients with Parkinson's disease, either medicated, or unmedicated and early in the course, together with age- and IQ-matched control subjects were tested in two paradigms measuring different aspects of selective attention. The first set of tests compared visual discrimination learning following intra- and extra-dimensional shifts, using a “total change” design in which each shift was made in the presence of novel exemplars of the compound stimuli used as discriminanda. The second test consisted of a visual search task in which the number of alternatives was varied. The results of the first experiment showed a selective deficit in both groups of Parkinsonian subjects in their ability to perform an extra-dimensional shift. In the visual search task, the patients were less accurate, but responded with equivalent choice reaction times to those of controls. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of the attentional dysfunction that occurs in Parkinson's disease.

Visual Search in Sport and Ergonomics: Its Relationship to Selective Attention and Performer Expertise

Visual search data has been frequently used to make direct implications about aspects of selective attention. In the first part of this article, the relationship between visual search and selective attention is examined to see what assumptions and limitations exist in making these implications. It is revealed that although much of the existing visual search research can be interpreted from within the selective attention notions of pertinence and context, measures of visual orientation alone, as provided by eye-movement recording, are inadequate solitary indicators of the allocation of attention. The capacity to make attentional shifts without eye movements, the distinction between looking and seeing, and the unknown role of information processed from the periphery of the retina in dynamic information pick-up emerge as essential limitations in the eye-movement recording approach to assessing selective attention. In the second part of the article, the extent to which visual search strategy, like selective a...