Different Types Of Attention Research Articles

Pattern of Attentional Task Impairment in Schizophrenic Patients: A Study Report

The present study attempted to find out the relationship between positive and negative clinical symptoms and various attentional task impairment in a group of schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Fifty schizophrenic patients were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) by a trained psychiatrist (TKA) who was blind to attentional test measures and two groups, each of 25 positive symptom and 25 negative symptom schizophrenic patients, were formed. On these 50 patients with schizophrenia and 15 normal control groups, various attentional test measures were applied by a clinical psychologist (SS) who remained blind to the PANSS score. RESULTS: It was found that schizophrenic patients were deficient in performing simple auditory and visual attentional tasks in comparison to normal subjects. The results of this study are inconsistent with the assumption that deficits in attention are uniquely associated with negative symptoms. The findings clearly support the hypothesis of a relationship between type of attentional processing and “dimensions” of schizophrenic symptomatology. The positive symptoms patients seem to be associated with attentional dysfunction especially selective attention and short term recall, whereas negative symptoms patients seem to be associated with different types of attentional deficits, e.g., sustained attention and visual attention. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study are consistent with the existing literature that schizophrenic patients in general perform poorly on various measures of attentional tasks. Positive and negative symptoms schizophrenics have some correlation with distinct attentional deficits.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jucms.v1i2.8402 Journal of Universal College of Medical Sciences Vol.1(2) 2013: 1-7

The time course of attentional deployment in contextual cueing

The time course of attention is a major characteristic on which different types of attention diverge. In addition to explicit goals and salient stimuli, spatial attention is influenced by past experience. In contextual cueing, behaviorally relevant stimuli are more quickly found when they appear in a spatial context that has previously been encountered than when they appear in a new context. In this study, we investigated the time that it takes for contextual cueing to develop following the onset of search layout cues. In three experiments, participants searched for a T target in an array of Ls. Each array was consistently associated with a single target location. In a testing phase, we manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the repeated spatial layout and the search display. Contextual cueing was equivalent for a wide range of SOAs between 0 and 1,000 ms. The lack of an increase in contextual cueing with increasing cue durations suggests that as an implicit learning mechanism, contextual cueing cannot be effectively used until search begins.

Fast Task-Irrelevant Learning: How different types of attention and task-relevance impact memorization of rapidly presented images.

Fast Task-Irrelevant Learning: How different types of attention and task-relevance impact memorization of rapidly presented images.

Role of Attention in Complex Decisions: Further Explorations of Unconscious Thought Theory

According to Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) there are two modes of thought: Conscious and Unconscious. Unconscious Thought is defined as thought without attention or with attention directed elsewhere. More participants made better decisions following unconscious thought. According to UTT, unconscious thought does not have capacity limitations and takes in consideration all information which results in better decision. Studies on Unconscious Thought have not explored how much information is exactly processed during unconscious thought. It is possible that unconscious thought also focuses on a subset of attributes. To test this possibility and to further explore how attribute information is combined, computer simulations were performed on datasets used by previous researchers. The simulations showed that considering a small subset (3–4) of attributes, yields results comparable to previous studies. There is no need to posit infinite capacity in the unconscious thought condition. The results also suggest that weight information is used for attribute selection that could potentially explain the difficulties in replicating the deliberation-without-attention effect. UTT also tends to treat attention as a unitary mechanism and defines unconscious thought depending on whether attention is absent/not directed. Attention literature suggests that different types of attention (focused and distributed) affects cognitive processes differently. In another study, attention was manipulated during unconscious thought using a global-local task to explore whether it differently affects decisions. Strength of preference for the choice and memory of recall were both significantly higher in the global task group. Even quality of choice was better in the global-group but failed to reach significance. These results also suggest that unconscious Thought is neither purely online nor purely offline.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of early spatial and category-specific attentional modulations

Different attention types select and focus brain resources on relevant sensory information. However, key questions remain unresolved: when and where cortical visual processing is first modulated by different types of attention? How do such modulatory effects spread thereafter? Here, we address these issues for spatial and category-specific types of attention using magnetoencephalography (MEG). First we identified the dynamics of visual attention-independent sensory processing to serve as a baseline framework for the attentional modulations of interest. We found that visual information is processed through the entire hierarchy of visual areas in at least two phases, in the 40-130 ms and 130-230 ms periods respectively. Spatial attention modulations were identified from the beginning of the initial stimulus-evoked response in the primary visual cortex ~70 ms post-stimulus. Category-specific attention modulated face processing beginning from the first face-specific response in high-level object-related areas ~100 ms post-stimulus, substantially earlier than previously reported for face-directed attention. Thus both attention types modulated responses during the first processing phase, beginning at the earliest brain area capable of coding the attentional target. Thereafter attentional effects propagated through the visual cortex together with the stimulus-evoked activity. Category-specific attention did not affect the first-phase responses in low-level strongly retinotopic visual areas, while the second-phase responses were enhanced when the stimulus was the response target and reduced when it was a distractor. Responses during both phases in high-level object-related areas were enhanced by category-specific attention independent of their target/distractor status. Spatial attention effects were stronger in low-level areas, whereas category-specific attention effects were stronger in high-level object-related areas.

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Music-based Attention Assessment for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

Impairments in attention are commonly seen in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). While visual attention assessment measurements have been rigorously developed and frequently used in cognitive neurorehabilitation, there is a paucity of auditory attention assessment measurements for patients with TBI. The purpose of this study was to field test a researcher-developed Music-based Attention Assessment (MAA), a melodic contour identification test designed to assess three different types of attention (i.e., sustained attention, selective attention, and divided attention), for patients with TBI. Additionally, this study aimed to evaluate the readability and comprehensibility of the test items and to examine the preliminary psychometric properties of the scale and test items. Fifteen patients diagnosed with TBI completed 3 different series of tasks in which they were required to identify melodic contours. The resulting data showed that (a) test items in each of the 3 subtests were found to have an easy to moderate level of item difficulty and an acceptable to high level of item discrimination, and (b) the musical characteristics (i.e., contour, congruence, and pitch interference) were found to be associated with the level of item difficulty, and (c) the internal consistency of the MAA as computed by Cronbach's alpha was .95. Subsequent studies using a larger sample of typical participants, along with individuals with TBI, are needed to confirm construct validity and internal consistency of the MAA. In addition, the authors recommend examination of criterion validity of the MAA as correlated with current neuropsychological attention assessment measurements.

Is attention necessary for perceiving gaze direction? It depends on how you look at it: Evidence from the locus-of-slack method

Several researchers have studied how we process and perceive gaze direction. However, it is still unclear at which perceptual stage of gaze processing (encoding or/and categorization), attention is required to judge gaze direction. We report a study in which we manipulated the difficulty of gaze perceptual judgements (easy vs. difficult) and used the locus-of-slack method to test the role of different types of attention (spatial and central) in the encoding and categorization of gaze direction. In Experiment 1 we used the spatial cueing paradigm to investigate if gaze direction judgements can be carried out while spatial attention is diverted. In Experiment 2 we used the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm to determine whether judgement of gaze direction involves central attention processes. The findings demonstrate that gaze judgements require input attention (both for the encoding and categorization stage) but not central attention. The implications of the results are discussed.

P02-154 - Intracebral functional (LORETA) connectivity during attention to bodily and mental processes and resting

ObjectivesAttention is hypothesized to increase the brain's functional connectivity measured as EEG coherence between brain areas. Is this true for different types of attention compared to no-task resting?MethodsIn 25 healthy, meditation-naïve, right-handed, male students 58-channel EEG was recorded during three conditions of 5 minutes each with closed eyes in randomized order: (1) resting [3 runs], (2) mental arithmetic [2 runs], and (3) breath counting, a meditation initiation technique [2 runs]. For the 8 EEG frequency bands, the artifacted EEG was recomputed into sLORETA intracerebral current densities. To avoid localization ambiguities, we computed EEG coherence between sLORETA areas. To avoid effects of volume conduction, we computed intracerebral `lagged coherence' connectivity between sLORETA current densities in 19 areas. Averaged resting runs were compared to those breath counting and arithmetic runs of which participants post-hoc reported that their concentration was best.ResultsPaired t-tests between conditions yielded differences of coherence at p< 0.1 (corrected for multiple testing) for 5 EEG frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha1, alpha2, beta3) [number of connections in brackets]: coherence was lower in breath counting than arithmetic (delta, beta3 [1,1]). Coherence was lower in resting than arithmetic (alpha2 [1]), but higher in resting than breath counting (theta, alpha1, alpha2, beta3 [2,1,1,1]).ConclusionsAttention to breath counting showed lowest, to arithmetic highest demands on intracerebral functional connectivity. Breath counting and mental arithmetic induce mental states whose inter-area connectivity differs in opposite directions from resting. The results do not support a global hypothesis of increased coherence during attention.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

The neurobiological basis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in tuberous sclerosis complex is still largely unknown. Cortical tubers may disrupt several brain networks that control different types of attention. Frontal lobe dysfunction due to seizures or epileptiform electroencephalographic discharges may perturb the development of brain systems that underpin attentional and hyperactive functions during a critical early stage of brain maturation. Comorbidity of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with mental retardation and autism spectrum disorders is frequent in children with tuberous sclerosis. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also reflect a direct effect of the abnormal genetic program. Treatment of children with tuberous sclerosis complex with combined symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy may represent a challenge for clinicians, because antiepileptic therapy and drugs used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may aggravate the clinical picture of each other.

The relationship between awareness and attention: Evidence from ERP responses

The relationship between attention and awareness is complex, because both concepts can be understood in different ways. Here we review our recent series of experiments which have tracked the independent contributions of different types of visual attention and awareness to electrophysiological brain responses, and then we report a new experiment focusing on spatial attention, nonspatial selection of objects, and visual consciousness at the same time. The results indicate that the earliest electrophysiological correlate of consciousness, assumed to correlate with "phenomenal consciousness", was dependent on spatial attention, suggesting that spatial attention is a prerequisite for the internal representations of space that provide the medium for phenomenal experience. The correlate of phenomenal consciousness emerged independent of nonspatial selection of objects, but its later part was modified by it. By contrast, the correlate of access to later conscious processing stages ("reflective consciousness") that take the selected contents of phenomenal consciousness as input for conceptual thought and working memory, was dependent on both spatial attention and nonspatial selection. These results imply that one should distinguish between different types of attention and different forms of awareness, when describing the relationship between attention and awareness.

EEG correlates of the states of visual and auditory attention in healthy subjects

In order to determine more accurately the EEG markers of different types of attention (AT) of a healthy adult, 14 young healthy subjects (aged 18–30 years) were subjected to spectral coherent analysis of the electrical activity of the brain in the baseline state and during activation of different forms of AT (the orienting response to the sound tone and opening of the eyes, involuntary and voluntary visual AT). In the last two cases, specially developed computer-aided techniques were used. The quantitative differences in the states were assessed on the basis of nonparametric (the Mann-Whitney test) and parametric (Student’s t test) statistics. In three subjects, EEG and fMRI comparisons of the brain response to opening of the eyes were made. It was shown that the activation of different forms of AT in healthy subjects is accompanied by considerable diffuse nonspecific changes in the EEG spectral coherent characteristics (a decrease in the average spectral frequency and power, as well as in coherence) in combination with more local, more often oppositely directed shifts in the region of the cortical representation of the working analyzer. Complex systemic rearrangements of the brain activity involving all components of the activating system, as well as the specifics of different forms of AT connected with the rearrangement of activity between its divisions, are reflected in the diffuse changes of intercentral interaction. For example, marked reactivity of the symmetrical frontopolar (Fp1-Fp2) and the anterotemporal (F7-F8) cortical areas with unidirectional maximum shifts during voluntary AT is likely to reflect the responses of the frontothalamic component of the activating system. The reciprocity of the behavior of interhemispheric frontopolar and temporal relationships seems to be determined by the activity of its different components: frontothalamic and hippocampal. The local component of the EEG response to opening of the eyes in the form of increased α coherence in the occipital areas is coupled with increased oxygenation of blood in the cortical representation of the visual analyzer (the +BOLD effect of the fMRI response).

Interhemisphere differences during tasks involving attention and selection of lateralized stimuli

The state of cortical activation in the parietal and temporal areas of the right and left hemispheres was evaluated using evoked potentials (EP) during tasks consisting of selection of visual stimuli lateralized in the right and left visual fields and needing three different types of attention: to stimulus shape, to stimulus position, and simultaneously to stimulus shape and position. EP were recorded in 15 young healthy experimental subjects using six cortical leads: P3, P4, T3, T4, T5, and T6; the following endogenous EP components (in standard terminology) were analyzed: contingent negative variation (CNV), N1, P3, and the N1-P3 complex. Asymmetry in evoked potentials was assessed in terms of differences to contra-and ipsilateral stimuli in the right and left hemispheres. EP asymmetry was detected in the right hemisphere in all types of selection of lateralized stimuli. The magnitude of asymmetry in the right hemisphere depended on the level (or intensity) of attention: the degree of asymmetry increased with increases in the need for attention to analyze the stimuli. There was a significant relationship between the magnitude of asymmetry and the latent periods of the subjects' responses. The functional significance of these data demonstrating asymmetry may be that it provides better spatial differentiation of visual signals in the right hemisphere, along with dominance of the right hemisphere in attention tasks.

Characteristics of activation in the parietal areas of the cortex in humans in different types of visual attention

The state of cortical activation in the parietal and temporal areas was assessed using evoked potentials (EP) during the tasks of selection of lateralized visual stimuli requiring three different types of attention: to stimulus shape, to stimulus position, and to both. Studies in 15 young, healthy subjects involved recording of EP in six cortical leads: P3, P4, T3, T4, T5, and T6, with analysis of the endogenous EP components CNV, N1, P3, and the EP complex [N1-P3] (according to standard terminology). Changes in EP components in response to the attended and non-attended stimulus features were compared. Differences between them were assessed using the index of selectivity of attention to one or another feature of the visual stimuli. In the parietal area, selectivity was seen in conditions of attention to stimulus position and attention to stimulus shape. In conditions of simultaneous attention, the indexes of selectivity were essentially equal to the sum of the indexes of selectivity of attention to shape and position. The most marked endogenous EP components (CNV, N1, and P3) in visual selection were seen in the parietal areas, with a greater gradient of increased activation of the parietal areas of the cortex as the need for attention increased, along with a lower threshold for the action of attention, and anticipatory development of the P3 wave in the parietal area as compared with the temporal area. These results suggest that the parietal cortex has priority in the visual attention system and that the magnocellular (M) pathway forms the most important visual input to the dorsal parietal area of the neocortex.

Attention in Athletes of High and Low Experience Engaged in Different Open Skill Sports

In this study were examined differences in attentional style of athletes engaged in two open skill sports requiring high reactivity (karate and volleyball) in groups with high or low experience. 42 healthy men, 24 volleyball players, 12 of High Experience (first division Italian League players whose M age was 28 yr. (SD=5) and 12 of Low Experience (prejunior Italian team athletes whose M age was 19 yr. (SD= 2). and 18 karateka, 9 of High Experience (3rd and 4th dan black belt athletes whose M age was 31 yr., SD=5) and 9 of Low Experience (1st and 2nd dan black belt karateka whose M age was 32 yr., SD=5). Tests involved different types of attention: Alert, Go/No-Go, Divided Attention, and Working Memory. For each one, the reaction time (RT), variability, change in RT, and number of errors were analysed. Karateka of High Experience reacted faster than those of Low Experience on the simple RT test, Alert (M RT: 204 vs 237 msec., p< .01), while on the Divided Attention test, the High Experience subjects performed more poorly and committed more errors (M errors: 4.89 vs 1.44, p <.003). Young volleyball players of Low Experience reacted faster than colleagues of High Experience on the Alert (M RT: 187 vs 210 msec., p<.01) and Divided Attention tests (M RT: 590 vs 688 msec., p<.001) but committed more errors (Divided Attention test, M errors: 6.50 vs 3.08, p<.007). For the Divided Attention and Working Memory tests, correlations were positive among errors, RT, and RT variability but only for volleyball athletes of High Experience, suggesting they showed higher attention and stability in complex reactions than the group with Low Experience. No significant correlations were noted for either group of karateka on complex reactions. Results suggested that the attentional resources were engaged in different ways in the two groups of athletes and, in each group, there were differences between persons of High and Low Experience.

Cognitive and physiological effects of Omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in healthy subjects

It has been reported that Omega-3 fatty acids may play a role in nervous system activity and that they improve cognitive development and reference memory-related learning, increase neuroplasticity of nerve membranes, contribute to synaptogenesis and are involved in synaptic transmission. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Omega-3 supplementation on some cognitive and physiological parameters in healthy subjects. Subjects were tested at the beginning of the experiment and after 35 days. In this period they were supplemented with Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. A group was supplemented with olive oil (placebo). Tests involving different types of attention were used, i.e. Alert, Go/No-Go, Choice and Sustained Attention. For each test, the reaction time, the event-related potentials by electroencephalogram (EEG) and the electromyography (EMG) of the forefinger flexor muscle were recorded. The Profile of Mood States test (POMS) was also administered. Blood analyses showed that after Omega-3 supplementation the arachidonic acid/eicosapentaenoic acid ratio (AA/EPA) was strongly reduced. The mood profile was improved after Omega-3 with increased vigour and reduced anger, anxiety and depression states. This was associated with an effect on reactivity with a reduction of reaction time in the Go/No-Go and Sustained Attention tests. The latency of EMG activation was concomitantly reduced in the same tests plus Choice. An EEG frequency shift towards the theta and alpha band were recorded in all the tests after Omega-3. Omega-3 supplementation is associated with an improvement of attentional and physiological functions, particularly those involving complex cortical processing. These findings are discussed in terms of the influence of Omega-3 on the central nervous system.

The structure of the relationship between attention and intelligence

The relationship between attention and general intelligence was investigated considering the different types of attention: alertness, sustained attention, focused attention, attentional switching, divided attention, attention according to the supervisory attentional system, attention as inhibition, spatial attention, attention as planning, interference, attention as arousal, and attention according to the assessment tradition. In a sample of 197 participants the relationship of attention and intelligence was investigated by means of structural equation modeling. The results revealed that each type of attention was substantially related to intelligence on the latent level. Furthermore, a high degree of overlap in predicting intelligence was observed for the various types of attention. Comprehensive models based on resources theory and Posner's dimensions were also investigated. The best model of the relationship between attention and intelligence included two first-order and one second-order latent variables of attention and one of intelligence. It predicted 32% of the variance of intelligence.

Endogenous Attention in 5-Month-Old Full-Term and Premature Infants

Recent research has demonstrated that a deficit of endogenous attention (EA) is a main and stable characteristic of the mental development in healthy extremely premature (HEP) infants from the age of 2 years. A study was made of the differences in EA (anticipatory attention) between full-term (FT) and HEP infants, both aged 5 months (the HEP infants’ ages were corrected for prematurity). The general psychomotor development of the HEP infants was comparable to that of the age-matched FT infants. However, the HEP infants significantly differed from the FT infants in the ability to keep the attention on an object absent in the visual field. Unlike the HEP infants, the FT infants demonstrated a predominance of EA over all other types of attention in the visual expectation paradigm, as confirmed by ANOVA with the factors Maturity and Attention Type. Comparison of the frequency of different types of attention between the two groups showed that the EA frequency in the HEP infants was significantly lower than that in the FT infants. The findings showed that HEP infants, even those with a low risk for abnormal psychomotor development, demonstrate the impairment of EA control as early as at the age of 5 months.

A symbolic model of human attentional networks

An increasing body of evidence has shown that attention is a multi-type and multilevel cognitive faculty. The dominant computational modeling approaches to attention have often focused on one specific type of attention at one specific level. In particular, various connectionist modeling techniques at the subsymbolic level have been widely adopted. In this paper, we report a symbolic computational model of the Attentional Network Test, which simultaneously involves different types of attention (alerting, orienting, and executive control), each subserved by distinctive attentional networks in the brain. The model was developed in ACT-R, a rule-based cognitive architecture. The results show that the model, by sequentially firing rules at a rate of about one every 40 ms, was able to capture the effect of each attentional network. The model implies that while the attentional networks can be distinguished at both neuroanatomical and behavioral levels, different attentional networks may adopt similar computational operations at least at a symbolic rule level.

An evaluation of the properties of attention as reinforcement for destructive and appropriate behavior.

The analogue functional analysis described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) identifies broad classes of variables (e.g., positive reinforcement) that maintain destructive behavior (Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, & Owen-DeSchryver, 1996). However, it is likely that some types of stimuli may be more effective reinforcers than others. In the current investigation, we identified 2 participants whose destructive behavior was maintained by attention. We used concurrent schedules of reinforcement to evaluate how different types of attention affected both destructive and appropriate behavior. We showed that for 1 participant praise was not an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were available; however, praise was an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were unavailable. For the 2nd participant, we identified a type of attention that effectively competed with verbal reprimands as reinforcement. We then used the information obtained from the assessments to develop effective treatments to reduce destructive behavior and increase an alternative communicative response.

Evaluation of the Attention Process Training Programme

This study evaluated the effectiveness of attention process training (APT), a training programme that provides practice in a variety of tasks requiring several different types of attention. The APT programme was administered to 23 traumatically brain-injured (TBI) participants. Training lasted about 40 hours, and typically consisted of 2-hour sessions spread out over 7 months. Results show that performance of the TBI participants improved after training on the primary outcome measures, but did not improve significantly more than the performance of a control group, given the outcome measures twice, but no training. We conclude that direct training does not improve the integrity of damaged attention functions, but does result in learning of specific skills.