Orienting Of Spatial Attention Research Articles

2317 Effects of cerebellar dentate nucleus inactivation on procedural memory in monkey

Task set has been shown to determine some important cognitive operations like conscious perception [Rafal, R. D., Ward, R., & Danziger, S. (2006). Selection for action and selection for awareness: Evidence from hemispatial neglect. Brain Research, 1080(1), 2–8], and the exogenous orienting of spatial attention [Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Johnston, J. C. (1992). Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18(4), 1030–1044; Lupiáñez, J., Ruz, M., Funes, M. J., & Milliken, B. (2007). The manifestation of attentional capture: Facilitation or IOR depending on task demands. Psychological Research, 71(1), 77–91]. In the present study we investigate whether endogenous attention would also be task-dependent. We use an illusion of movement, the illusory line motion [Hikosaka, O., Miyauchi, S., & Shimojo, S. (1993). Focal visual attention produces illusory temporal order and motion sensation. Vision Research, 33(9), 1219–1240] to explore this question. Our results revealed that endogenously attending to detect the appearance of a target produce different consequences in modulating the illusion of movement than endogenously attending to discriminate one of its features. We suggest that endogenous attention is implemented differently depending on the task at hand, producing different effects on perceptual integration.

Pharmacologically induced changes in arousal: effects on behavioral and electrophysiologic measures of alertness and attention

The relationships between the diffuse subcortical neurotransmitter systems and behavioral and physiologic measures of alertness and attention are not well understood. This study was designed to further understand these relationships. In this double-blind experiment, 23 subjects ingested methylphenidate, diphenhydramine or placebo on 3 different days and performed behavioral and cognitive tasks including covert orienting of spatial attention and visual search tasks. Subjective and physiologic measures of alertness included EEG frequency analysis, EEG event-related desynchronization, and amount of sleep and sleep onset time in the unstimulated eyes closed state. Performance on the cognitive tasks improved with MP and worsened with DPHA, but there were no specific attentional effects. The best measures of alertness were based on self-rated scales and on EEG recorded in the unstimulated eyes closed state. These observations suggest that methylphenidate and diphenhydramine primarily affected overall state and that healthy humans were able to partially compensate for the pharmacologically induced alertness changes during cognitive task performance.

Asymmetries in the covert orienting of visual spatial attention in schizophrenia

The presence of attentional asymmetries in patients with schizophrenia was investigated with particular emphasis on the effects of stage of disease, medication status and clinical symptom severity. A modified version of Posner's covert orienting of visual attention task (COVAT) which included both spatial and non-spatial cues was administered to six volunteer samples of subjects which consisted of (i) 15 unmedicated and acutely psychotic male subjects with schizophrenia, (ii) 15 male subjects with schizophrenia who had been receiving medication for 14–21 days, (iii) 10 chronic male schizophrenic subjects who had been receiving medication for at least two years, (iv) 10 acutely psychotic male subjects with non-schizophrenic psychoses, (v) 15 subjects with unilateral brain frontal lobe ( n = 6) or parietal lobe ( n = 9) lesions, (vi) and 15 male control subjects. Measures of saccadic and pursuit eye movements were also obtained from unmedicated and recently medicated subjects with schizophrenia. COVAT attentional asymmetries were present in unmedicated subjects with schizophrenia for the 150 msec stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). These asymmetries arose because reaction times (RTs) to right visual field targets were significantly slower than RTs to left visual field targets when targets followed invalid spatial or non-spatial cues. These asymmetries were qualitatively similar to those found in the patients with unilateral parietal lobe lesions. Attentional asymmetries partially resolved with brief periods of medication and completely resolved with long periods of medication. No asymmetries were found in controls nor in unmedicated subjects without schizophrenia. No asymmetries of ocular motor function were found. In schizophrenia, attentional asymmetries may reflect a deficit in the disengagement of visual attention from the right visual field and appear to be a stage marker for the disease. However this attentional deficit is dynamic and may reflect disruption to the neurocognitive network controlling attention at the level of the anterior cingulate cortex.

Asymmetries in the covert orienting of visual spatial attention to spatial and non-spatial cues in Alzheimer's disease.

The ability to direct covert visual spatial attention to the left (LVF) and right visual field (RVF) was examined in 15 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease and 15 age- and education-matched controls using the covert orienting of visual spatial attention task (COVAT) modified to include both spatial and non-spatial cues. Subjects responded with a button press when they detected a target at a location 8 degrees to either the left or right of fixation. On 70% of trials a spatial cue was flashed at the target location before the target appeared. On 15% of trials the spatial cue was flashed at the location contralateral to where it would appear and on the remaining 15% of trials non-spatial diffuse cue preceded targets. The cue to target interval (CTI) varied between 150 and 550 ms. Mean reaction times for each cuetype in the RVF and LVF were calculated. Compared with controls, the percentage of trials excluded because of very slow reaction times was significantly greater in the Alzheimer's disease group for the 550 ms CTI. Analysis of the symmetry of reaction times to LVF and RVF targets for the 150 ms CTI enabled us to classify Alzheimer's disease subjects into three subgroups based on the hemifield of abnormally slow attentional biases. The first subgroup showed a significant slowing of reaction time to all LVF targets, the second showed a significant slowing of reaction time to all RVF targets and the third showed a significant slowing of reaction time to both LVF and RVF targets. Patients with Alzheimer's disease who showed an abnormal attentional bias performed significantly better on neuropsychological tests of memory, language and executive function than Alzheimer's disease patients with no attentional bias. Eight of the Alzheimer's disease subjects were assessed serially on at least six occasions over a 12-month period. The initial classification of abnormal attentional bias or no attentional bias was reliable for seven Alzheimer's disease subjects. One Alzheimer's disease subject, initially classified as having a slowed rightward attentional bias, in subsequent testing over the 12-month period was more consistent with symmetrical COVAT performance. Control subjects showed no attentional biases over the 12-month period and the magnitude of asymmetric attentional slowing over the 12-month period was significantly more variable in individual Alzheimer's disease subjects than in controls. The presence of subgroups of patients with Alzheimer's disease with qualitatively different COVAT performance indicates a large between-subject variability in attentional deficits in Alzheimer's disease. The presence of asymmetric attentional slowing and milder neuropsychological deficits in a subgroup of patients with Alzheimer's disease suggests that in these patients there is functional impairment of attentional areas in only one hemisphere rather than an asymmetric impairment of both hemispheres and that the neurodegenerative disease process may have been less advanced or in an earlier stage than that present in Alzheimer's disease patients with symmetric attentional performance and bilateral COVAT impairment. The preservation of asymmetric attentional slowing over time, together with the increased intra-subject variability in the magnitude of these asymmetries, suggests that asymmetrical COVAT performance represents a reliable reflection of underlying hemispheric function in Alzheimer's disease, although designation of asymmetrical attentional biases should be made on the basis of two or more sequential testing sessions.

Orienting of auditory spatial attention: Effects of a lateralized tone cue

Mondor and Bryden [8] ( Neuropsychologia 29, 1179–1190, 1991) reported that the normal Right Ear Advantage for the identification of verbal material presented dichotically could be largely eliminated if subjects were cued to attend to and report from only one ear on each trial. In these experiments, the ear to be attended was cued by presentation of a tone to that ear only prior to each dichotic trial. The present series of studies were undertaken to determine whether this lateralized tone cue exerted its effect by orienting attention or by alerting the subject of the forthcoming trial. Results revealed that for both the right and left ears the facilitating effect of the cue was dependent on the accuracy of the location information it conveyed. Thus, the precueing technique originally employed by Mondor and Bryden as a means of controlling the contribution of attention to ear advantages was validated. It is concluded that the precuing technique provides a powerful means for specification of the extent to which attentional factors and hemispheric functional capabilities contribute to ear asymmetries.

Effects of goal-related motivational states on the orienting of spatial attention

Three experiments are presented indicating that motivational processes arising from incentive and feedback signals exert specific effects on the orienting of visual spatial attention. Subjects played a video game in which targets were presented in one of two peripheral locations. Pre-target cues were employed to orient attention to a location where points could be gained (positive incentive cue), to a location where points could be lost (negative incentive cue) or to neither location (neutral cue). Cost-benefit analyses were used to assess the consequences of such orienting. Although there was no evidence of general attentional biases favoring positive over negative incentives, all three experiments demonstrated an interaction between the incentive value of the current trial and the outcome of the previous trial. Following unsuccessful outcomes, attentional costs were greater for positive than negative incentives, whereas following successful outcomes, costs were larger for negative than positive cues. This pattern was evident for tasks involving detection, perceptual discrimination and memory scanning. These findings are discussed in light of contemporary models of motivation and the control of attention.

Progressive supranuclear palsy: functional analysis of the response to methysergide and antiparkinsonian agents.

Twelve patients with progressive supranuclear palsy were treated with methysergide; the response was monitored with videotaped examination, electrooculography, and psychometric assessment. Used alone and with antiparkinsonian agents, methysergide improved the quality of life in eight patients for 6 months to 2 years. Benefits were especially dramatic in four patients with severe dysphagia. The disorder of visually guided behavior included abnormal orienting responses, visuosocial expression and regard, and visual search. Mesencephalic visuomotor centers appear to be important not only in control of ocular motility but also in the elaboration of visually guided behavior and the orienting of spatial attention.