Attentional Control Abilities Research Articles

Behavioral Inhibition Underlies the Link Between Interoceptive Sensitivity and Anxiety-Related Temperamental Traits.

Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) is a biologically determined, constitutional trait of an individual. High IS has been often associated with proneness to anxiety. This association has been explained by elevated autonomic responsiveness in anxious individuals. However, in a heartbeat discrimination task (discrimination of heartbeats’ simultaneity to an external stimulus) low cardiac responsiveness has accompanied enhanced performance. The relation between these factors seems task dependent, and cannot comprehensively explain the link between IS and anxiety. We explored for additional explanatory factors for this link. More specifically, we studied which anxiety-related temperamental traits most strongly predict IS in the discrimination task. Compatibly with earlier findings, IS was positively associated with individual trait anxiety and also other related traits such as negative affect, emotional intensity, and introversion. Interestingly, behavioral inhibition was the temperamental trait that most strongly predicted high IS, and, in fact, accounted for its significant associations with the other anxiety-related temperamental traits. Good performance on heartbeat discrimination task may reflect adaptive attentional control abilities in behaviorally inhibited individuals. These results can improve our understanding of how IS and other traits together determine the personality and wellbeing of a human individual.

Neural bases of enhanced attentional control: Lessons from action video game players.

ObjectivesThe ability to resist distraction and focus on‐task‐relevant information while being responsive to changes in the environment is fundamental to goal‐directed behavior. Such attentional control abilities are regulated by a constant interplay between previously characterized bottom‐up and top‐down attentional networks. Here we ask about the neural changes within these two attentional networks that may mediate enhanced attentional control.Materials and MethodsTo address this question, we contrasted action video game players (AVGPs) and nonvideo game players (NVGPs) in a Posner‐cueing paradigm, building on studies documenting enhanced attentional control in AVGPs.ResultsBehavioral results indicated a trend for more efficient target processing in AVGPs, and better suppression in rare catch trials for which responses had to be withheld. During the cue period, AVGPs recruited the top‐down network less than NVGPs, despite showing comparable validity effects, in line with a greater efficiency of that network in AVGPs. During target processing, as previously shown, recruitment of top‐down areas correlated with greater processing difficulties, but only in NVGPs. AVGPs showed no such effect, but rather greater activation across the two networks. In particular, the right temporoparietal junction, middle frontal gyrus, and superior parietal cortex predicted better task performance in catch trials. A functional connectivity analysis revealed enhanced correlated activity in AVGPs compared to NVGPs between parietal and visual areas.ConclusionsThese results point to dynamic functional reconfigurations of top‐down and bottom‐up attentional networks in AVGPs as attentional demands vary. Aspects of this functional reconfiguration that may act as key signatures of high attentional control are discussed.

Attention please! Enhanced attention control abilities compensate for instructional impairments in multimedia learning

Learners exposed to multimedia learning contexts have to deal with a variety of visual stimuli, demanding a conducive design of learning material to maintain limitations in attentional resources. Within the current study, effects and constraints arising from two selected impairing features are investigated in more detail within a computer-based learning task on factor analysis. A sample of 53 students received a combination of textual and pictorial elements that explained the topic, while impaired attention was systematically induced in a 2 × 2 factorial between-subjects design by interrupting system-notifications (with vs. without) and seductive text passages (with vs. without). Learners’ ability for controlled attention was assessed with a standardized psychological attention inventory. Approaching the results, learners receiving seductive text passages spent significantly more time on the learning material. In addition, a moderation effect of attention control abilities on the relationship between interruptions and retention performance resulted. Explanations for the obtained findings are discussed referring to mechanisms of compensation, load, and activation.

Multi-modal human-machine interaction for human intelligence augmentation

Human-machine symbiosis and harmony is an ultimate goal of human-machine interaction (HMI). Recently, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has given rise to concern regarding the domination of machine intelligence over human intelligence. Enhancing human intelligence through multi-modal HMI technology is becoming an important research topic. The studies on neural plasticity indicate that the core capabilities of human cognition including attention control ability and working memory capacity could be enhanced and trained through several approaches including visual-auditory games, haptic interaction tasks, transcranial electromagnetic stimulation, and brain-computer interfaces. In this paper, we propose a systematic paradigm of augmenting cognition through HMI tasks by seamlessly integrating haptic-visual-aural multisensory feedback. This paradigm is constructed on analyzing the inherent features of virtual reality including immersion, interaction, and imagination. Based on the concept of cybernetics, cognitive enhancement methods based on Hebbian learning are proposed to achieve several goals including the realization of controllable cognitive loads, immediate physiological feedback, and bidirectional mind-body interaction. The proposed paradigm may provide new tools for revealing the mechanism of neural plasticity and promote the development of novel human-machine interaction devices; it is promising in the generation of practical values in the domain of personalized education, neural rehabilitation, and cognitive training of specialized personnel.

Equivalent auditory distraction in children and adults

There is an ongoing debate about whether children have more problems ignoring auditory distractors than adults. This is an important empirical question with direct implications for theories making predictions about the development of selective attention. In two experiments, the disruptive effect of to-be-ignored speech on short-term memory performance of third graders, fourth graders, fifth graders, younger adults, and older adults was examined. Three auditory conditions were compared: (a) steady state sequences in which the same distractor was repeated, (b) changing state sequences in which different distractors were presented, and (c) auditory deviant sequences in which a deviant distractor was presented in a sequence of repeated distractors. According to the attentional resource view, children should exhibit larger disruption by changing and deviant sounds due to their poorer attentional control abilities compared with adults. The duplex-mechanism account proposes that the auditory deviant effect is under attentional control, whereas the changing state effect is not, and thus predicts that children should be more susceptible to auditory deviants than adults but equally disrupted by changing state sequences. According to the renewed view of age-related distraction, there should be no age differences in cross-modal auditory distraction because some of the irrelevant auditory information can be filtered out early in the processing stream. Children and adults were equally disrupted by changing and deviant speech sounds regardless of whether task difficulty was equated between age groups or not. These results are consistent with the renewed view of age-related distraction.

Emotion Regulating Attentional Control Abnormalities In Major Depressive Disorder: An Event-Related Potential Study

Major depressive disorders (MDD) exhibit cognitive dysfunction with respect to attention. The deficiencies in cognitive control of emotional information are associated with MDD as compared to healthy controls (HC). However, the brain mechanism underlying emotion that influences the attentional control in MDD necessitates further research. The present study explores the emotion-regulated cognitive competence in MDD at a dynamic attentional stage. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 35 clinical MDD outpatients and matched HCs by applying a modified affective priming dot-probe paradigm, which consisted of various emotional facial expression pairs. From a dynamic perspective, ERPs combined with sLORETA results showed significant differences among the groups. In compared to HC, 100 ms MDD group exhibited a greater interior-prefrontal N100, sensitive to negative-neutral faces. 200 ms MDD showed an activated parietal-occipital P200 linked to sad face, suggesting that the attentional control ability concentrated on sad mood-congruent cognition. 300 ms, a distinct P300 was observed at dorsolateral parietal cortex, representing a sustained attentional control. Our findings suggested that a negatively sad emotion influenced cognitive attentional control in MDD in the early and late attentional stages of cognition. P200 and P300 might be predictors of potential neurocognitive mechanism underlying the dysregulated attentional control of MDD.

Measuring Attention Control Abilities with a Gaze-Following Antisaccade Paradigm

Measuring Attention Control Abilities with a Gaze-Following Antisaccade Paradigm

Human interaction with robotic systems: performance and workload evaluations

We first tested the effect of differing tactile informational forms (i.e. directional cues vs. static cues vs. dynamic cues) on objective performance and perceived workload in a collaborative human–robot task. A second experiment evaluated the influence of task load and informational message type (i.e. single words vs. grouped phrases) on that same collaborative task. In both experiments, the relationship of personal characteristics (attentional control and spatial ability) to performance and workload was also measured. In addition to objective performance and self-report of cognitive load, we evaluated different physiological responses in each experiment. Results showed a performance–workload association for directional cues, message type and task load. EEG measures however, proved generally insensitive to such task load manipulations. Where significant EEG effects were observed, right hemisphere amplitude differences predominated, although unexpectedly these latter relationships were negative. Although EEG measures were partially associated with performance, they appear to possess limited utility as measures of workload in association with tactile displays.Practitioner Summary: As practitioners look to take advantage of innovative tactile displays in complex operational realms like human–robotic interaction, associated performance effects are mediated by cognitive workload. Despite some patterns of association, reliable reflections of operator state can be difficult to discern and employ as the number, complexity and sophistication of these respective measures themselves increase.

Measuring Attentional Control Ability or Beliefs? Evaluation of the Factor Structure and Convergent Validity of the Attentional Control Scale

The Attentional Control Scale (ACS; Derryberry and Reed 2002) has been widely used to measure individual differences in attentional control capacity, yet limited data exists on the factor structure and psychometric properties of the scale. Using confirmatory factor analysis with a sample of 125 undergraduate students, the present study evaluated and compared two different factor structures for the ACS reported in the literature. The convergent validity of the ACS was also explored by testing its associations with a behavioural measure of attentional control (the antisaccade task) and measures of working memory capacity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a correlated two-factor model reflecting “focusing” and “shifting” subscales that eliminated several underperforming items from each subscale. Contrary to predictions, there were no statistically significant correlations between the ACS and its subscales and the working memory and antisaccade task indices. In addition, it was found that the ACS and its subscales were negatively related to symptoms of anxiety and depression, whereas performance on the working memory and antisaccade tasks was unrelated to anxiety or depression. These findings suggest that the ACS may be a better measure of beliefs about attentional control capacity than ability per se, a possibility that requires further investigation.

Effect of Age on Attentional Control in Dual-Tasking

Background/Study Context: The age-related differences in divided attention and attentional control have been associated with several negative outcomes later in life. However, numerous questions remain unanswered regarding the nature of these age differences and the role of attentional control abilities in dual-tasking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sources for age differences in dual-tasking and more specifically: (1) whether they occur because of differences in attentional control skills, or (2) whether the age-related decrement in dual-tasking is due to a general resource reduction that would affect the ability to complete any demanding task.Methods: In two experiments, young and older adults were required to combine an auditory digit span task and a visuospatial tracking task, for which performance was individually adjusted on each task. In Experiment 1, attentional control skills were measured by instructing participants to deliberately vary attentional priority between the two tasks. In Experiment 2, resource availability was measured by varying the level of difficulty of the visuospatial tracking task in a parametric manner by increasing the speed of the target to be tracked.Results: Both experiments confirmed the presence of a larger dual-task cost in older adults than in young adults. In Experiment 1, older participants were unable to vary their performance according to task instructions compared with younger adults. Experiment 2 showed that the age-related difference in dual-task cost was not amplified by a variation in difficulty.Conclusion: A marked age-related difference was found in the ability to control attentional focus in response to task instructions. However, increasing resource demand in a parametric manner does not increase the age-related differences in dual-tasking, suggesting that the difficulties experienced by older adults cannot be entirely accounted for by an increased competition for resources. A reduction in attentional control skills is proposed to account for the divided attention deficit reported in aging.

Mindfulness Training for Healthy Aging: Impact on Attention, Well-Being, and Inflammation.

The growing interest in mindfulness interventions for use in aging samples has been met with promising evidence of cognitive, emotional, and physiological benefits. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the impact of mindfulness training on three areas of functioning in older adults: behavioral and neural correlates of attentional performance, psychological well-being, and systemic inflammation. We have previously proposed that mindfulness training is uniquely suited as a rehabilitative tool for conferring both cognitive and emotional benefits for older adults. Specifically, mindfulness training's promotion of focused attention may mitigate the decline of attentional control abilities across late development and allow older adults to capitalize on their preserved emotion regulation abilities. Existing evidence points to some improvements in facets of attentional control in older adults, although some studies have shown no benefits in performance. Further, there is evidence of enhancements in both psychological and physical aspects of well-being, and accompanying improvements in systemic inflammation, following mindfulness training. The scientific investigation of mindfulness training is still relatively nascent, with only a limited number of studies, particularly randomized controlled trials utilizing active comparison conditions. It will be important for future research to incorporate placebo-controlled comparison groups to clearly establish the causal role of mindfulness practices in promoting holistic health in older adults.

A culture of striving augments use of working memory? Implications for attention control.

Critically, a culture of striving was credited with a positive influence on a range of issues relevant to elite sports performance, including performance under pressure. Of the six athletes who did not reveal a culture of striving, five reported the greatest difficulty performing in high-pressure situations. We suspect that a culture of striving facilitates the development of attention control ability, which subsequently assists performance under pressure. We discuss attention control from the perspective of working memory and hypothesize that a culture of striving trains individuals to maximize their working memory capacity.

Automaticity of Attentional Bias to Threat in High and Low Worriers

Individuals with high levels of worry are more likely than others to attend to possible threats, although the extent of top-down attentional control processes on this bias is unknown. We compared the performance of high (n = 26) and low worriers (n = 26) on a probe discrimination task designed to assess attention to threat cues, under cognitive load or no-load conditions. The expected difference between groups was confirmed, with high worriers being more likely to attend to threat cues than low worriers. Importantly however, there were no significant effects involving condition (cognitive load vs. no-load), nor any significant association with self-perceived attentional control ability. These results suggest that pathological worriers are more likely to attend to threat than are individuals with low levels of worry, regardless of task demands on limited cognitive control resources. This finding is consistent with the dominance of habitual bottom-up influences over top-down control processes in biased attention to threat.

Acoustic Detail But Not Predictability of Task-Irrelevant Speech Disrupts Working Memory.

Attended speech is comprehended better not only if more acoustic detail is available, but also if it is semantically highly predictable. But can more acoustic detail or higher predictability turn into disadvantages and distract a listener if the speech signal is to be ignored? Also, does the degree of distraction increase for older listeners who typically show a decline in attentional control ability? Adopting the irrelevant-speech paradigm, we tested whether younger (age 23–33 years) and older (60–78 years) listeners’ working memory for the serial order of spoken digits would be disrupted by the presentation of task-irrelevant speech varying in its acoustic detail (using noise-vocoding) and its semantic predictability (of sentence endings). More acoustic detail, but not higher predictability, of task-irrelevant speech aggravated memory interference. This pattern of results did not differ between younger and older listeners, despite generally lower performance in older listeners. Our findings suggest that the focus of attention determines how acoustics and predictability affect the processing of speech: first, as more acoustic detail is known to enhance speech comprehension and memory for speech, we here demonstrate that more acoustic detail of ignored speech enhances the degree of distraction. Second, while higher predictability of attended speech is known to also enhance speech comprehension under acoustically adverse conditions, higher predictability of ignored speech is unable to exert any distracting effect upon working memory performance in younger or older listeners. These findings suggest that features that make attended speech easier to comprehend do not necessarily enhance distraction by ignored speech.

Bilingualism enhances attentional control in non-verbal conflict tasks – evidence from ex-Gaussian analyses

Bilinguals have been found to possess cognitive advantages. But the nature of this advantage is unclear. While some evidence suggests that bilinguals have developed enhanced inhibitory control abilities, other evidence suggests that they possess enhanced attentional control abilities. In the current study, English monolingual and English–Chinese bilingual young adults were tested in three non-verbal conflict tasks (Flanker task, Spatial Stroop task and Simon task). Ex-Gaussian analyses were utilized to inspect response time distributions. The two participant groups showed comparable effects of stimulus-response congruency on the Gaussian part of response distributions (μ), but different effects on the distribution tails (τ), with reduced tails for bilingual speakers particularly in the more demanding incongruent condition. These results suggest that bilingual advantage emerges from better sustained attention and attentional monitoring rather than inhibition. We also discuss the usefulness of ex-Gaussian analyses.

Changes in frontal EEG coherence across infancy predict cognitive abilities at age 3: The mediating role of attentional control.

Theoretical perspectives of cognitive development have maintained that functional integration of the prefrontal cortex across infancy underlies the emergence of attentional control and higher cognitive abilities in early childhood. To investigate these proposed relations, we tested whether functional integration of prefrontal regions across the second half of the first year predicted observed cognitive performance in early childhood 1 year prior indirectly through observed attentional control (N = 300). Results indicated that greater change in left-but not right-frontal EEG coherence between 5 and 10 months was positively associated with attentional control, cognitive flexibility, receptive language, and behavioral inhibitory control. Specifically, a larger increase in coherence between left frontal regions was positively associated with accuracy on a visual search task at Age 2, and visual search accuracy was positively associated with receptive vocabulary, performance on a set-shifting task (DCCS), and delay of gratification at Age 3. Finally, the indirect effects from the change in left frontal EEG coherence to 3-year cognitive flexibility, receptive language, and behavioral inhibitory control were significant, suggesting that internally controlled attention is a mechanism through which early neural maturation influences children's cognitive development. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differential Contributions of GABA Concentration in Frontal and Parietal Regions to Individual Differences in Attentional Blink.

Selective attention plays an important role in identifying transient objects in a complex visual scene. Attentional control ability varies with observers. However, it is unclear what neural mechanisms are responsible for individual differences in attentional control ability. The present study used the following attentional blink paradigm: when two targets are to be identified in rapid serial visual presentation, the processing of the first target interrupts the identification of the second one appearing within 500 ms after the first-target onset. It has been assumed that the reduction of the second-target accuracy is mainly due to a transient inhibition of attentional reorienting from the first to the second target, which is modulated by the GABA system. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we investigated whether individual variation of attentional blink magnitude is associated with GABA concentrations in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC), right posterior-parietal cortex (PPC), and visual cortex (VC) of humans. GABA concentrations in the PFC were related negatively to attentional blink magnitude and positively to the first-target accuracy. GABA concentrations in the PPC were positively correlated with attentional blink magnitude. However, GABA concentrations in the VC did not contribute to attentional blink magnitude and first-target accuracy. Our results suggest that frontoparietal inhibitory mechanisms are closely linked with individual differences in attentional processing and that functional roles of the GABAergic system in selective attention differ between the PFC and PPC. Selective attention is the process of picking up task-relevant information in the environment. Attentional blink reflects time constraints of visual attention. It has been assumed that attentional blink is induced by the inhibition of attentional reorienting to other objects. This study used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to noninvasively measure concentrations of GABA, the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter, in the human brain. We show that a neural interaction between GABA concentrations in the prefrontal and posterior parietal regions accounts for the interindividual variability of attentional blink magnitude. Our results provide direct evidence that the GABAergic system in the frontoparietal networks is responsible for temporal aspects of attentional control ability.

An Investigation of Attention Control Ability in Monolinguals, Bilinguals and Trilinguals

<p style="margin: 12pt 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; -ms-text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Cognitive characteristics of people are not in the same level, and facing with some situations and experiences may cause change to these features, although they may not be changed because of some factors. Here an attempt has been made to investigate one of these cognitive charactristics_ attention control ability, variations, if any, in the scope of native, second and foreign language. This study was a quantitative correlational study. A sample of 90 Iranian people (monolinguals, bilinguals, and trilinguals) was drawn from different universities and foreign language institutes . Quantitative data were collected through a valid questionnaire (attention control scale). The finding revealed that there is no significant difference between these three groups of people in terms of attention control ability. </span></p>

Attention and Interpretation Biases and Attention Control in Youth with Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with threat-related attention and interpretation biases. Recent research suggests that attention control abilities moderate these associations. The current study examines threat-related attentional engagement and disengagement biases, negative interpretation bias, and attention control among youth with SAD (n=71) and non-anxious youth (n=42). We further explore interactions between cognitive biases, and between these biases and attention control, in predicting SAD. Relative to non-anxious youth, youth with SAD had poorer attention control, p=.001, greater difficulty disengaging from angry faces, p=.05, and a negative biased interpretation of ambiguous social scenarios, p =.01. However, no interactions were found among these factors in relation to SAD diagnosis or symptoms. The present results add to research on cognitive biases in anxious children, emphasizing a distinct contribution of each of these cognitive mechanisms, rather than their interactional influences. Findings are discussed in relation to cognitive developmental models of anxiety.

Unique contributions of attentional control and visuomotor integration on concurrent teacher-reported classroom functioning in early elementary students

In a diverse sample of 278 kindergarten and first grade students from two U.S. states, this study explored the concurrent associations between directly assessed cognitive processes linked to children’s development and learning—attentional control and visuomotor integration—and two teacher-reported classroom functioning outcomes: self-regulation and problem behaviors. In addition, we examined the relative contribution of attentional control and visuomotor integration to teacher-reported classroom functioning outcomes. After controlling for the effects of child characteristics including age, gender, preschool attendance, ethnicity, free/reduced lunch status, and fine motor coordination abilities, results indicated that attentional control and visuomotor integration were each directly related to teachers’ ratings of classroom self-regulation, but not to classroom problem behaviors. Even after accounting for children’s attentional control abilities and teachers’ ratings of problem behaviors, visuomotor integration was a strong and unique concurrent predictor of children’s classroom self-regulation, as reported by their teachers. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.