Peripheral Attention Research Articles

Paying attention.

Intentional eye movements depend on where peripheral attention is voluntarily deployed beforehand, but they can be directed elsewhere shortly afterwards.

A case for stronger integration of physical landscape processes in conservation science and practice.

I argue that the dynamic nature of contemporary, landscape-shaping (geomorphic) processes deserves more consideration in conservation science and practice. In an analysis of a sample of fundamental terms related to geomorphology and area-based conservation in the Web of Science, I found that the terms co-occurred in <2% of the analyzed entries (titles, abstracts, and keywords) from 2000 to 2020. This result is indicative of the rather peripheral attention that, more broadly, landscape-shaping processes seem to receive in the conservation literature. Among conservation scientists and practitioners, landforms that define the physical structure of habitat are often perceived as largely static, whereas the consideration of their dynamic adjustments to geomorphic processes is often limited to extreme events. I use examples derived from river-floodplain environments to illustrate strong, multifaceted, and reciprocal interactions between biota and various erosional and depositional processes. These ubiquitous interdependencies clearly demonstrate that geomorphic processes are an integral part of ecosystem dynamics at time scales relevant for conservation. Crucially, erosional and depositional processes modulate many environmental impacts of past and current anthropogenic activities. I conclude that the absence of a more explicit and widespread consideration of geomorphic processes in conservation science and practice is surprising and detrimental to their effectiveness. I call for bolstered efforts among the conservation and geoscience communities to better integrate landscape dynamics within the field of conservation. The rise of the ecosystem-based and social-ecological systems approaches to conservation and the growth of interdisciplinary geoscience branches (e.g., biogeomorphology, ecohydraulics, and geoconservation) will facilitate such an integration.

Central and Peripheral Attention in Virtual Reality: Test of Visual Efficiency for Concussion Detection

Central and Peripheral Attention in Virtual Reality: Test of Visual Efficiency for Concussion Detection

Semenya v. Switzerland (European Court of Human Rights), No. 10934/21, July 11 2023

The issue of how to accommodate non-binary athletes in female sport whilst maintaining a sense of fair competition is something that many sports have struggled with in recent years. Whilst there has been debate about ethical and scientific justifications for imposing eligibility restrictions on athletes with sex variations, the potential impact of human rights norms on the policies of sport governing bodies in this area has received only peripheral attention. However, the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Semenya v Switzerland, seems to have changed that narrative. In accepting jurisdiction and then finding Switzerland had failed to adequately protect Miss Semenya in relation to human rights concerns over eligibility restrictions imposed by World Athletics, the relevance and importance of substantive human rights in sport has been recognised, at least within a European context. This article reviews the most important aspects of the Court’s decision and argues that the consequences of the judgment are potentially far more significant than one set of eligibility restrictions in Athletics. In particular, the judg-ment would seem to lay down significant limits to the cherished ideal of sporting autonomy and, also, demand more rationally transparent decision making by sport governing bodies and those arbitrating on disputes in sport that involve human rights concerns.

Neurophysiology of predictable unpleasant event processing in pre-adolescents and early adolescents, part II: Reflex and event-related potential markers of defensive reactivity and peripheral attention modulation.

The ability to anticipate and process predictable unpleasant events, while also regulating emotional reactivity, is an adaptive skill. The current article and a companion in this issue test for potential changes in predictable event processing across the childhood-to-adolescence transition, a key developmental period for biological systems that support cognitive/ emotional abilities. While the companion article focuses on neurophysiology of predictable event processing itself, the present article examines peripheral emotional response regulation and attention modulation that coincides with event processing. A total of 315 third-, sixth-, or ninth-grade individuals saw 5-s cues predicting "scary," "every day," or uncertain pictures, and here, blink reflexes and brain event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by peripheral noise probes are analyzed. During the cue, blink reflexes and probe ERP (P200) amplitudes were increased when the cue predicted scary, compared to everyday, content. After picture onset, reflex enhancement by scary content then disappeared for predictable images, whereas ERP modulation was similar regardless of predictability. Patterns are similar to those in adults and suggest (1) sustained defensive response priming and enhancement of peripheral attention during aversive anticipation, and (2) an ability, even in pre-adolescents, to downregulate defensive priming while maintaining attentional modulation once an awaited predictable aversive event occurs.

Neurophysiology of predictable unpleasant event processing in preadolescents and early adolescents, part I: Event-related potential markers of unpleasant image anticipation and processing.

The ability to anticipate and process predictable unpleasant events, while also regulating emotional reactivity, is an adaptive skill. The current article and a companion in this issue test for potential changes in predictable event processing across the childhood-to-adolescence transition, a key developmental period for biological systems that support cognitive/emotional abilities. While the companion article focuses on emotion regulation and peripheral attention modulation in predictable unpleasant contexts, the current paper presents neurophysiological markers of predictable event processing itself. 315 third-, sixth-, or ninth-grade individuals saw 5-s cues predicting "scary," "every day," or uncertain image content; in this paper, cue- and picture-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) are analyzed. During the cue, early ERP positivities were increased and later slow-wave negativities were reduced when predicted content was scary as compared with mundane. After picture onset, a picture processing-related positivity was then increased for scary compared with everyday images regardless of predictability. Cue-interval data suggest enhanced processing of scary cues and reduced anticipatory processing of scary images-opposite to adults. After event onset, meanwhile, emotional ERP enhancement regardless of predictability is similar to adults and suggests that even preadolescent individuals maintain preferential engagement with unpleasant events when they are predictable.

Restricting the distribution of visual attention reduces cybersickness

This study investigated whether increased attention to the central or peripheral visual field can reduce motion sickness in virtual reality (VR). A recent study found that increased attention to the periphery during vection was correlated with lower self-reported motion sickness susceptibility, which suggests that peripheral attention might be beneficial for avoiding cybersickness. We tested this experimentally by manipulating visual attention to central vs. peripheral fields during VR exposure. We also measured attention to the periphery during vection and motion sickness susceptibility to attempt to replicate the previous results. In Experiment 1, task-relevant cues to target locations were provided in the central or peripheral field during navigation in VR, and we found no differences in motion sickness. In Experiment 2, attention to the center or periphery was manipulated with a dot-probe task during passive VR exposure, and we found that motion sickness was greater in the condition that required attention to the periphery. In both experiments, there was no correlation between baseline attentional allocation and self-reported motion sickness susceptibility. Our results demonstrate that restricting attention to the central visual field can decrease cybersickness, which is consistent with previous findings that cybersickness is greater with large FOV.

Examining the role of attention during feature binding in visuospatial working memory.

The current experiments address the enduring debate regarding the role of attention in feature binding in visuospatial working memory by considering the nature of the to-be-bound features, i.e., whether they are intrinsic (integrated within the object, such as its color and shape) or extrinsic (not part of the object, such as its spatial location). Specifically, arrays of different-colored shapes in different locations were followed by probed recall: One feature of the probed object prompted recall of one of its remaining two features (e.g., a shape probe prompts recall of color, with the probe displayed at the center of the screen (i.e., without spatial information)) to test the retention of intrinsic (shape, color) and extrinsic (location) features. During the retention interval, we manipulated attention via disruption (Experiment 1) and retro-cues (Experiment 2) to determine their impacts on binding errors, as estimated from a three-parameter mixture model fit to recall error (i.e., the distance between the target and response). Disrupting central versus peripheral attention in Experiment 1 did not respectively increase extrinsic and intrinsic binding errors as predicted, but disrupting central attention reduced target memory of the extrinsic feature relative to a no-disruption baseline. Guiding attention via extrinsic and intrinsic retro-cues in Experiment 2 did not respectively reduce extrinsic and intrinsic binding errors as predicted, but we observed retro-cue benefits to target memory that did not distinguish between extrinsic and intrinsic features. Thus, this work highlights that attentional resources aid target memory, with no consistent distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic features.

Russian travel technological startups in 2020–2023: The adaptation to challenges and development perspectives

Goal: the analysis of the Russian travel technological startups’ managerial practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical situation of 2022-2023. Methodology: the empirical research was based on the case-study method. Two series of the in-depth interviews with the startups founders focusing on the reaction of the startups on the COVID-19 and geopolitical situation in 2022-2023 were carried. Findings: the results demonstrate the significant changes in the startups behavior in 2023 in comparison to the pandemic COVID-19 period. So far during the pandemic the startups made the deliberated strategic decisions on the products development paying much attention to HR practices aiming at building solid teams. After March 2022, the ad-hoc decision focusing on the markets (including geographical) identification prevail; organization managerial practices moved to the peripheral attention. Originality and contribution of the authors: the information technologies have recently dramatically affected the tourism industry. Despite the fact the Russian travel technological startups, being the notable players of the travel industry, offer a wide range of the technological solutions, there is still a lack of research on the startups’ managerial practices. The current paper is the first one that analyzes the Russian travel technological startups’ managerial practices during the dramatic transformation of the Russian tourism industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation in 2022-2023.

A dynamic 1/f noise protocol to assess visual attention without biasing perceptual processing.

Psychophysical paradigms measure visual attention via localized test items to which observers must react or whose features have to be discriminated. These items, however, potentially interfere with the intended measurement, as they bias observers' spatial and temporal attention to their location and presentation time. Furthermore, visual sensitivity for conventional test items naturally decreases with retinal eccentricity, which prevents direct comparison of central and peripheral attention assessments. We developed a stimulus that overcomes these limitations. A brief oriented discrimination signal is seamlessly embedded into a continuously changing 1/f noise field, such that observers cannot anticipate potential test locations or times. Using our new protocol, we demonstrate that local orientation discrimination accuracy for 1/f filtered signals is largely independent of retinal eccentricity. Moreover, we show that items present in the visual field indeed shape the distribution of visual attention, suggesting that classical studies investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics of visual attention via localized test items may have obtained a biased measure. We recommend our protocol as an efficient method to evaluate the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of attentional orienting across space and time.

Designing transformative learning experiences for managerial transition to integrative CSR

Business leaders have increasingly committed to redefining corporate purpose in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The challenge now is to enact this commitment. This article argues that to do so, managers must adopt a new cognitive frame (or mental lens). Specifically, managers must disengage from their existing instrumental frames, under which they consider CSR only instrumentally as a means to drive profit and pay only peripheral attention to external stakeholder goals, and instead engage with an integrative frame, in which CSR goals are intrinsic to business plans and are considered equivalent to, and simultaneously with, the firm’s financial goals. To enable managerial transition from the established instrumental frame to a novel, challenging, integrative frame, this article presents a transformative learning experience (TLE). In the TLE, managers first are immersed in a business initiative explicitly designed to expose the inadequacies of the instrumental frame for the redefined corporate purpose. This activates disorienting dilemmas in which the instrumental frame no longer applies but a new frame is not yet apparent. In the second phase, firms provide managers with heuristics such as metaphorical reasoning to enable experimentation with an integrative frame. This article provides guidelines for the structure in which this process should be embedded, how this process can be activated, and the process and learning outcomes to measure.

Effect of a hypnosis session before hysterectomy on pre- and postoperative anxiety.

Several studies are in favor of utilizing immediate preoperative hypnosis to prevent perioperative anxiety which increases the risk of postoperative complications [1, 2]. Medical hypnosis is defined by the American Psychological Association as "a state of consciousness including a focus of attention as well as diminished peripheral attention, characterized by an increased ability to respond to a suggestion."[3] To our knowledge, there is no study estimating the effectiveness of preoperative hypnosis on preoperative anxiety when dispensed several days in advance.The objectives of this pilot exploratory study are to describe the feasibility of a formal hypnosis session carried out a few days before a hysterectomy, and to obtain preliminary estimations of its effectiveness.

Debunking the Legacy of “Kaburu” Biblical Hermeneutics in Kenya Through a Postcolonial Reading of Socioeconomic Parables in Luke’s Gospel

Biblical interpretations in post-colonial Kenya and probable in other geopolitical spaces remain indebted to early western missionaries’ lensed biblical “optics,” still very steeply influential in the way the Bible is read and interpreted. Whereas their contributions to the presence and the growth of the church cannot be underestimated, the legacy and validity of their hermeneutics in post-colonial contexts (Kenya) remain questionable and wanting. This is so because of its failure to adequately address the dire existential and contextual concerns of communities of faith in their commitment to serve prophetically. Fostered during colonial era, the hermeneutics give peripheral attention to glaring social economic and political distresses affecting the majority of people while a few, mostly rich and powerful live in unmerited affluence. For recourse, this paper deems postcolonial frameworks of interpretation as appropriate for reading scriptures anew. To demonstrate its efficacy, it enjoins two socioeconomic parables from Luke’s gospel (12:16-21, 15:11-32) for exegetical review and whose goal is to demonstrate that biblical readings must of essence be proactively context sensitive, liberating and transforming. By calling for a debunking of the missionary hermeneutics in favour of postcolonial readings, this paper advocates for reception of the gospel not as a message of personal salvation from the world, but as the message of a world transfigured right down to its basic structure, the household (Oikos). Keywords: Bible, Postcolonial, “Kaburu Legacy,” Eurocentric, hermeneutics, Missionary DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/53-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2021

The Role of Peripheral Vision and Attention in Change Blindness

The Role of Peripheral Vision and Attention in Change Blindness

AB011. Reliance on central vs. peripheral vision for visual search in younger and older adults

Background: It has been suggested that older adults show a reduced attentional field compared to younger adults. This may be attributed to a poorer utilization of peripheral vision (i.e., peripheral attentional allocation) and a higher reliance on central vision compared to younger adults. To test this, we examined the importance of central, peri-foveal and near periphery information in younger and older adults by comparing their visual search performance while their central vision was blocked, in the presence of different sized artificial central scotomas. We tested participants in two versions of visual search, pop-out and serial search, because they require a different use of central and peripheral attention. Pop-out search relies on processing of the entire visual scene (i.e., global processing) whereas serial search requires processing of each feature serially (i.e., local processing).

On biodiplomacy: Negotiating life and plural modes of existence

This article examines the intersection of biopolitics with diplomacy and engages its dynamic re-envisioning as biodiplomacy. It revisits Michel Foucault’s peripheral attention to diplomacy and his framing of the concept in his writings on raison d’état and the government of the living. The article suggests that biodiplomacy can help us understand better the complexity of global biopolitical projects, moving us beyond governmentality and sensitizing us about the continuous negotiation of the meaning and materiality of particular ways of living vis-à-vis other ways of being. Specifically, the article addresses modes of existence peculiar to the postcolony or encompassing antithetical value systems and argues that biodiplomacy opens up a wider field of ethical and cosmopolitical possibilities by making visible the interconnected plurality of human and non-human forces.

Increased overt attention to objects in early deaf adults: An eye-tracking study of complex naturalistic scenes

The study of selective attention in people with profound deafness has repeatedly documented enhanced attention to the peripheral regions of the visual field compared to hearing controls. This finding emerged from covert attention studies (i.e., without eye-movements) involving extremely simplified visual scenes and comprising few visual items. In this study, we aimed to test whether this key finding extends also to overt attention, using a more ecologically valid experimental context in which complex naturalistic images were presented for 3 s. In Experiment 1 (N = 35), all images contained a single central object superimposed on a congruent naturalistic background (e.g., a tiger in the woods). At the end of the visual exploration phase, an incidental memory task probed the participants' recollection of the seen central objects and image backgrounds. Results showed that hearing controls explored and remembered the image backgrounds more than deaf participants, who lingered on the central object to a greater extent. In Experiment 2 we aimed to disentangle if this behaviour of deaf participants reflected a bias in overt space-based attention towards the centre of the image, or instead, enhanced object-centred attention. We tested new participants (N = 42) in the visual exploration task adding images with lateralized objects, as well as images with multiple object or images without any object. Results confirmed increased exploration of objects in deaf participants. Taken together our novel findings show limitations of the well-known peripheral attention bias of deaf people and suggest that visual object-centred attention may also change after prolonged auditory deprivation.

Hemispheric Asymmetries in Deaf and Hearing During Sustained Peripheral Selective Attention.

Previous studies have shown that compared to hearing individuals, early deaf individuals allocate relatively more attention to the periphery than central visual field. However, it is not clear whether these two groups also differ in their ability to selectively attend to specific peripheral locations. We examined deaf and hearing participants' selective attention using electroencephalography (EEG) and a frequency tagging paradigm, in which participants attended to one of two peripheral displays of moving dots that changed directions at different rates. Both participant groups showed similar amplifications and reductions in the EEG signal at the attended and unattended frequencies, indicating similar control over their peripheral attention for motion stimuli. However, for deaf participants these effects were larger in a right hemispheric region of interest (ROI), while for hearing participants these effects were larger in a left ROI. These results contribute to a growing body of evidence for a right hemispheric processing advantage in deaf populations when attending to motion.

Listening to People: Using Social Psychology to Spotlight an Overlooked Virtue

AbstractI offer a novel interdisciplinary approach to understanding the communicative task of listening, which is under-theorised compared to its more conspicuous counterpart, speech. By correlating a Rylean view of mental actions with a virtue ethical framework, I show listeners’ internal activity as a morally relevant feature of how they treat people. The listener employs a policy of responsiveness in managing the extent to which they allow a speaker's voice to be centred within their more effortful, engaged attention. A just listener's policy of responsiveness avoids unwarrantedly dismissing speakers’ messages on the basis of peripheral attention alone.

Importance of Position in Highly Talented Soccer Players: Peripheral Perception, Selective Attention and Reaction Abilities

Importance of Position in Highly Talented Soccer Players: Peripheral Perception, Selective Attention and Reaction Abilities