Poor Attentional Control Research Articles

Mediating attentional control between depression and problematic Internet use in female adolescents: the role of attentional focusing and shifting.

Female adolescents are more prone to depression compared with male adolescents, and depression is often associated with poor attentional control and problematic internet use (PIU). Attentional control includes both focusing and shifting functions. Focusing refers to the ability to direct attention to a task despite distractions. Shifting refers to the ability to flexibly switch attention between different tasks. This study examines the mediating role of attentional focusing and shifting between depression and PIU. Female high school and college students (n = 476) in Taiwan participated in a survey administered at three time points over a seven-month period. The single- and two- mediator models examined their joint mediation effects. The results showed that the direct effect of depression on PIU was significant. The indirect effects also showed that attentional focusing was a negative partial mediator in the relationship between depression and PIU, while attentional shifting was not one. Informed by attentional theory and digital emotion regulation, addressing depression to mitigate its negative impact on attentional control and negative emotions is crucial. The potential impact, whether harmful or beneficial, of adolescents carefully selecting their online activities to reduce the risk of PIU remains contentious. Given the focus on Taiwanese adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic, further research is needed to extend the applicability of the theory to other periods without being affected by COVID-19.

Hyper-Binding: Older Adults Form Too Many Associations, Not Too Few

Associative memory declines with age, and this decline is thought to stem from a decreased ability to form new associations or bind information together. However, a growing body of work suggests that (a) the binding process itself remains relatively intact with age when tested implicitly and (b) older adults form excessive associations (or “hyper-bind”) because of a decreased ability to control attention. In this article, we review evidence for the hyper-binding hypothesis. This work shows that older adults form more nontarget associations than younger adults, which leads to increased interference at retrieval and forgetting, an effect that may extend to others with poor attentional control, such as children and people with attention-deficit disorder. We discuss why hyper-binding is apparent only under implicit test conditions and how it affects memory for everyday events. Although hyper-binding likely contributes to forgetting, it may also confer certain advantages when seemingly irrelevant associations later become relevant.

The impact of circumscribed interest distractors on attentional orienting in young children with autism: eye-tracking evidence from the remote distractor paradigm

ABSTRACT Studies from free-viewing tasks report that children with autism spectrum condition (ASC) exhibit an attentional bias for circumscribed interest (CI) objects (e.g., vehicles) over non-CI objects (e.g., furniture). This atypical preference has led researchers to hypothesise that ASC children would be more distracted by CI-related objects than non-CI-related objects. The current study aimed to explore this issue using a remote distractor paradigm. We found longer saccade latencies for centrally presented distractors in ASC, suggesting delayed endogenous disengagement. Additionally, higher error rates and fewer corrective saccades in ASC indicated poorer attentional control. Neither latencies nor errors were modulated by stimulus types but increased dwell time for CI-related objects over non-CI-related objects in ASC, demonstrated some support for the CI attentional bias reported in previous free-viewing studies. The findings are discussed in relation to how task demands in basic orienting paradigms might mask any CI-related preference bias in children with ASC.

Some young adults hyper-bind too: Attentional control relates to individual differences in hyper-binding.

Hyper-binding - the erroneous encoding of target and distractor information into associative pairs in memory - has been described as a unique age effect caused by declines in attentional control. Previous work has found that, on average, young adults do not hyper-bind. However, if hyper-binding is caused by reduced attentional control, then young adults with poor attention regulation should also show evidence of hyper-binding. We tested this question with an individual differences approach, using a battery of attentional control tasks and relating this to individual differences in hyper-binding. Participants (N = 121) completed an implicit associative memory test measuring memory for both target-distractor (i.e., hyper-binding) and target-target pairs, followed by a series of tasks measuring attentional control. Our results show that on average, young adults do not hyper-bind, but as predicted, those with poor attentional control show a larger hyper-binding effect than those with good attentional control. Exploratory analyses also suggest that individual differences in attentional control relate to susceptibility to interference at retrieval. These results support the hypothesis that hyper-binding in older adults is due to age-related declines in attentional control, and demonstrate that hyper-binding may be an issue for any individual with poor attentional control, regardless of age.

Leveraging Online Treatment to Re-examine the Association Between Alcohol Use and Disinhibition.

Cognitive disinhibition underpins alcohol and drug use problems. Although higher-risk substance use is consistently associated with poorer disinhibition, current findings may be limited by narrow recruitment methods, which over-represent individuals engaged in traditional treatment services with more severe presentations. We embedded a novel gamified disinhibition task (the Cognitive Impulsivity Suite; CIS) in a national online addiction support service ( https://www.counsellingonline.org.au/ ). Participants aged 18 to 64 ( N = 137; 109 women) completed the Alcohol-Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) along with the CIS, which measures three aspects of disinhibition (Attentional Control, Information-Sampling, and Feedback Monitoring/Shifting). The majority of the sample comprised people with alcohol use, and AUDIT scores were differentiated into ‘higher-risk’ or ‘lower-risk’ groups using latent-class analysis. These classes were then regressed against CIS performance measures. Compared to lower-risk, higher-risk alcohol use was associated with poorer attentional control and feedback monitoring/shifting. While higher-risk alcohol use was associated with slower information accumulation, this was only observed for older adults, who appeared to compensate with a more conservative response criterion. Our results reveal novel relationships between higher-risk alcohol use and specific aspects of disinhibition in participants who sought online addiction help services.

The impact of smartphone addiction on attention control and sleep in Egypt—an online survey

BackgroundThe widespread use of smartphones makes it imperative for researchers to study the adverse effect of smartphone addiction. We aimed to study the risk factors of smartphone addiction, insomnia, and attention deficit among smartphone users among a sample of Egyptian adolescents and adults.MethodsAn online survey was disseminated among Egyptian social media groups. Participants were requested to complete Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scale, and attention control scale (ACS).ResultsTwo-thousand seven-hundred sixteen responded to our survey with a mean age of 31.4 ± 10.3 years. Smartphone addiction was documented in 2386 (87.8%) participants, with a median daily time for smartphone use of 5 h (IQR: 3–7). A significant association was found between smartphone addiction and younger age, higher educational levels, and urban residency (unadjusted or adjusted). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the only factor affecting the probability of moderate to severe insomnia was the higher SAS-SV score, either unadjusted (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.08–1.1) or adjusted (OR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.08–1.11). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that higher scores on SAS-SV (P < 0.001) and ISI (P < 0.001), being female (P < 0.001), and being of rural residency (P = 0.025) were associated with lower total scores on ACS. On the other hand, older age (P < 0.001) and longer intervals between smartphone cessation and bedtime (P = 0.004) were found to increase the attention score.ConclusionSmartphone addiction is prevalent in Egypt, which deserves special concern as it may have negative consequences such as insomnia and poor attention control, particularly in younger age groups.

Depression Moderates the Relationship between Trait Anxiety, Worry and Attentional Control in Melanoma Survivors

Cancer survivors commonly contend with concurrent cognitive difficulties such as problems with attention and concentration, and psychological distress, including anxiety and depression. However, the associations between attentional and emotional difficulties within the specific context of melanoma survivors remain relatively unexplored. Premised on attentional control theory, the current study employed a cross-sectional design to explore the interplay among trait anxiety (dispositional) and situational anxiety (cancer-related worry), depression and attentional control (ability to inhibit distractors and flexibly shift within and between tasks) in a sample of 187 melanoma survivors aged 18 to 58 years (Mage = 36.83 years, SDage = 5.44 years; 93% female). Data were analyzed using a moderated multiple regression, with anxiety, cancer worry and depression as predictors, and attentional control as the criterion variable. After statistically controlling for the variance of chemotherapy, we found that individuals with higher trait anxiety and higher cancer-related worry reported greater attentional control at low levels of depression, yet poorer attentional control at high depression, relative to individuals with low anxiety. Our findings suggest that anxiety and depression are differentially related to attentional control in melanoma survivors. The results provide a marker for clinicians addressing anxiety and depression in this population. Implications for primary healthcare are discussed.

Elevated cognitive failures in trait anxiety

Previous research indicates that individuals with high levels of trait anxiety have poor attentional control as gauged by the Attentional Control Scale (ACS). However, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) is a measure of attentional control that has key advantages over the ACS, including predicting important real-world outcomes such as car crash risk. The present study assessed the relationships between trait anxiety, cognitive failures as gauged by the CFQ, and the Focusing and Shifting factors from the ACS in a large sample (N = 532) of adult participants. It was found that higher levels of trait anxiety were associated with increased cognitive failures, and CFQ scores explained unique variance in trait anxiety beyond that explained by either Focusing or Shifting. This means that trait anxious individuals experience problems with attentional control that manifest in important real-world domains such as driving. We discuss reasons why future research should employ the CFQ when investigating experiences of attentional control in relation to trait anxiety. Further, individual differences in the use of reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy did not account for the relationship between attentional control and trait anxiety. This informs theoretical models that seek to explain why these variables are related.

Early childhood sleep quantity, but not caregiver-reported sleep problems, predicts impulse control in children at age 8 years

ABSTRACT Short duration of sleep and poor sleep quality have been linked to poor attention and impulse control in children. We aimed to determine the longitudinal predictive value of sleep quantity and quality during early childhood on objective and caregiver-report measures of attention, impulse control, and executive function in children at age 8 years. We used data from the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, a pregnancy and birth cohort. Caregivers reported on their child’s sleep at ages 2, 2.5, 3, 4, and 5 years. Analysis included 410 participants. We used longitudinal growth curve models of early childhood sleep patterns to predict neurobehavioral functioning at age 8 years. Sleep problems did not predict any of our outcome measures at age 8 years. Sleep duration trended shorter as children matured, so predictive models examined both intercept and slope. Children with the least decline in sleep duration across early childhood had fewer impulsive errors at age 8 years on a continuous performance test (unadjusted p = .013; adjusted p = .013). Children with shorter duration of sleep across early childhood had worse caregiver-reported behavioral regulation at age 8 years (unadjusted p = .002; adjusted p = .043). Neither sleep duration slope nor intercept predicted inattention or metacognitive skills at age 8 years (p > .05). Total sleep time across early childhood predicts behavior regulation difficulties in school-aged children. Inadequate sleep during early childhood may be a marker for, or contribute to, poor development of a child’s self-regulatory skills.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex improves attentional control in chronically stressed adults.

Chronic stress is a long-term condition that negatively affects cognitive ability and mental health. Individuals who experience chronic stress show poor attentional control. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) modulates executive function domains. Therefore, it is beneficial to investigate whether tDCS of the DLPFC could improve attentional control and relieve stress in chronically stressed individuals. We assess the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with attentional control in individuals with chronic stress after the tDCS intervention. Forty individuals were randomly assigned to either the anodal tDCS group, which received 5 sessions of the 20 min tDCS over the DLPFC (2 mA; n = 20), or the sham tDCS (n = 20). Participants' stress levels, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and state affects were assessed and compared before and after the intervention. The ERP was collected through electroencephalography (EEG) technology during an attentional network test. After the anodal tDCS, we found a significant decrease in the perceived stress scale (PSS) scores (from an average score of 35.05 to 27.75), p = 0.01 as well as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores, p = 0.002. Better performance in the attentional network test, a significant reduction in the N2 amplitudes, and an enhancement in the P3 amplitudes (both cues and targets) were also found in the anodal tDCS group. Our study findings suggest that tDCS to the left DLPFC could effectively relieve chronic stress, potentially reflected by increased attentional control.

Neurocognitive and emotional factors predict pain-related healthcare utilization in children with sickle cell disease.

Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience increased rates of neurocognitive and emotional difficulties. Cross-sectional studies suggest neurocognitive and emotional functioning are associated with health outcomes in SCD. We investigated whether neurocognitive and emotional factors predicted future pain-related healthcare utilization in children with SCD. Total 112 youth with SCD between ages 7 and 16years reported sociodemographics and completed measures of neurocognitive functioning and emotional well-being. The number of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for pain 1 and 3years after enrollment were determined by chart review. The mean age of participants was 10.61years (standard deviation=2.91), with most being female (n=65; 58%). Eighty-three (74%) participants had either HbSS or HbSβ0 thalassemia. Regression analyses showed that attention significantly predicted ED visits and hospitalizations for pain at 1 and 3years after enrollment (all p-values≤.017), such that poorer attention was associated with higher healthcare utilization. Lower emotional quality of life also predicted more ED visits for pain at 3years (b=-.009, p=.013) and hospitalizations for pain at 3years (b=-.008, p=.020). Neurocognitive and emotional factors are associated with subsequent healthcare use in youth with SCD. Poor attentional control might limit implementation of strategies to distract from pain or could make disease self-management behaviors more challenging. Results also highlight the potential impact of stress on pain onset, perception, and management. Clinicians should consider neurocognitive and emotional factors when developing strategies to optimize pain-related outcomes in SCD.

Neural indicators of initial control rather than early maintenance of attention predict impaired visual attention in schizophrenia.

Attentional filtering has long been suggested to be a core deficit of schizophrenia. Recent work has emphasized the important distinction between attentional control, which involves the voluntary selection of a particular stimulus for focused processing, and implementation of selection, which involves the mechanisms that actually enhance the stimulus selected via filtering processes. We recorded electroencephalography data from people with schizophrenia (PSZ), their first-degree relatives (REL) and healthy controls (CTRL) during performance of a resistance to attentional capture task that tapped attentional control and implementation of selection measured during a brief period of attentional maintenance. Event-related potentials (ERPs) during attentional control and maintenance of attention revealed diminished neural responding in PSZ. ERPs during attentional control predicted performance on the visual attention task for PSZ, but not for REL and CTRL. Visual attention performance for CTRL was best predicted by ERPs during attentional maintenance. These results support the idea that poor initial voluntary attentional control is more central to attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia than difficulty implementing selection (e.g., maintaining attention). Nevertheless, weak neural modulations indicative of impaired early attentional maintenance in PSZ challenge notions of increased intensity of focus or "hyperfocusing" in the disorder. Improvement of the initial control of attention may be a productive target for cognitive remediation interventions for schizophrenia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Zen Meditative Consciousness and Brain's Default Mode Network

Meditation in Zen has received much attention in the scientific exploration of consciousness from metacognition and the social brain. Zen meditation provides effective clues to self-knowledge by providing awareness of “present self-being”. Our brains are thought to operate in dynamic equilibrium every day with two broad networks: the working memory network (WMN), which is oriented toward solving real problems (cognitive brain network), and the default mode network (DMN), which wanders in an internal imaginary and a creative world (social brain network). However, how these two cyclical networks operating in seesaw mode relate to meditation is not well understood. In this paper, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the process of meditation from a cognitive conflict situation in monks who had meditated in Rinzai Zen for over seven years and healthy adults who had not meditated before. The monks were asked to perform a Stroop task as a conflict task in the first half of the study, and were led to meditate in the second half. Behavioral experiments revealed that monks showed excellent performance under the Stroop task with fewer errors and shorter reaction times due to better control of attention, whereas healthy adults showed poor attentional control and were more affected by the conflicts. Two new findings about brain activity were found. First, it was suggested that the two networks were not in an anti-correlated relationship, as is usually claimed, on the time series, but were involved in a mutually cooperative manner. Second, in terms of functional connectivity, the monks' brains showed a strong inhibitory effect under meditation. As a result of years of Zen practice, the monks were found to be able to successfully deal with conflict situations in the DMN of the brain and maintain meditative awareness.

The role of performance beliefs in the difference between self-report and behavioural measures of attentional control and their relationship with anxiety

While empirical findings closely link poor attentional control with elevated anxiety, this relationship is more consistently evident and stronger when attentional control is measured through self-report than through behaviour. One possible explanation for these diverging findings is that people lack insight into their attentional control capabilities, and people with elevated anxiety hold more negative beliefs about their level of attentional control, resulting in lower self-reported levels of attentional control. In two studies, participants (N = 78 and N = 207) completed the attentional control scale, the attentional network test (ANT), a questionnaire measuring beliefs about attentional control in the ANT, and a measure of anxiety. In both studies, no significant associations were present between beliefs about attentional control in the ANT and participants' performance on the ANT, suggesting a lack of insight in attentional control capabilities. Both studies further demonstrated that only beliefs about attentional control but not performance in the ANT were related to self-reported attentional control and anxiety. We thus show that evidence supporting the relationship between self-reported attentional control and anxiety is driven by biased beliefs about ability to control attention in people with heightened anxiety, and not by behavioural indices of attentional control.

Cognitive processes predict worry and anxiety under different stressful situations

Worry, a stream of negative thoughts about the future, is maintained by poor attentional control, and the tendency to attend to negative information (attention bias) and interpret ambiguity negatively (interpretation bias). Memories that integrate negative interpretations (interpretation-memory) may also contribute to worry, but this remains unexplored. We aimed to investigate how these cognitive processes are associated with worry and anxiety cross-sectionally (Phase 1), and then explore which cognitive processes from Phase 1 would predict worry and anxiety during times of high stress, namely prior to examinations (Phase 2), and after the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Phase 3). Worry, anxiety, and cognitive processes were assessed in an undergraduate sample (N = 64). We found that whilst greater benign interpretation bias and benign interpretation-memory bias were associated with lower levels of concurrent worry and anxiety, only interpretation bias explained unique variance in worry and anxiety. No cognitive predictor significantly explained unique variance in prospective worry and anxiety prior to examinations. In relation to anxiety and worry during the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, both benign attention bias and benign interpretation-memory bias predicted decreased worry; only benign attention bias predicted decreased anxiety. Findings suggest that cognitive processes can predict changes in worry and anxiety during future stressful contexts.

Attention Control in Children With ADHD: An Investigation Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

ABSTRACT Attention problems are a predominant contributor to near- and far-term functional outcomes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, most interventions focus on improving the alerting attentional network, which has failed to translate into improved learning for a majority of children with ADHD. Comparatively less is known regarding the executive attentional network and its overarching attention control process, which governs the ability to maintain relevant information in a highly active, interference-free state, and is intrinsic to a broad range of cognitive functions. This is the first study to compare attention control abilities in children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children using the Visual Array Task (VAT) and to simultaneously measure hemodynamic functioning (oxyHb) using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Nineteen children with ADHD Combined type and 18 typically developing (TD) children aged 8 to 12 years were administered the VAT task while prefrontal activity was monitored using fNIRS. Results revealed that children with ADHD evinced large magnitude deficits in attention control and that oxyHb levels in the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) were significantly greater in children with ADHD relative to TD children. These findings suggest that poor attention control abilities in children with ADHD may be related to increased left dlPFC activation in response to an underdeveloped and/or inefficient right dlPFC. The need to design interventions that target and strengthen attention control and its corresponding neural network is discussed based on the likelihood that attention control serves as the potential quaesitum for understanding a wide array of ADHD-related deficits.

Disrupted Choline Clearance and Sustained Acetylcholine Release In Vivo by a Common Choline Transporter Coding Variant Associated with Poor Attentional Control in Humans.

Transport of choline via the neuronal high-affinity choline transporter (CHT; SLC5A7) is essential for cholinergic terminals to synthesize and release acetylcholine (ACh). In humans, we previously demonstrated an association between a common CHT coding substitution (rs1013940; Ile89Val) and reduced attentional control as well as attenuated frontal cortex activation. Here, we used a CRISPR/Cas9 approach to generate mice expressing the I89V substitution and assessed, in vivo, CHT-mediated choline transport, and ACh release. Relative to wild-type (WT) mice, CHT-mediated clearance of choline in male and female mice expressing one or two Val89 alleles was reduced by over 80% in cortex and over 50% in striatum. Choline clearance in CHT Val89 mice was further reduced by neuronal inactivation. Deficits in ACh release, 5 and 10 min after repeated depolarization at a low, behaviorally relevant frequency, support an attenuated reloading capacity of cholinergic neurons in mutant mice. The density of CHTs in total synaptosomal lysates and neuronal plasma-membrane-enriched fractions was not impacted by the Val89 variant, indicating a selective impact on CHT function. When challenged with a visual disruptor to reveal attentional control mechanisms, Val89 mice failed to adopt a more conservative response bias. Structural modeling revealed that Val89 may attenuate choline transport by altering conformational changes of CHT that support normal transport rates. Our findings support the view that diminished sustained cholinergic signaling capacity underlies perturbed attentional performance in individuals expressing CHT Val89. The CHT Val89 mouse serves as a valuable model to study heritable risk for cognitive disorders arising from cholinergic dysfunction.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Acetylcholine (ACh) signaling depends on the functional capacity of the neuronal choline transporter (CHT). Previous research demonstrated that humans expressing the common CHT coding variant Val89 exhibit attentional vulnerabilities and attenuated fronto-cortical activation during attention. Here, we find that mice engineered to express the Val89 variant exhibit reduced CHT-mediated choline clearance and a diminished capacity to sustain ACh release. Additionally, Val89 mice lack cognitive flexibility in response to an attentional challenge. These findings provide a mechanistic and cognitive framework for interpreting the attentional phenotype associated with the human Val89 variant and establish a model that permits a more invasive interrogation of CNS effects as well as the development of therapeutic strategies for those, including Val89 carriers, with presynaptic cholinergic perturbations.

Mental Health in Women Victims of Gender Violence: Descriptive and Multivariate Analysis of Neuropsychological Functions and Depressive Symptomatology.

Female victims of abuse, as well as suffering from psychopathological disorders such as depression, can have neuropsychological sequelae affecting memory and attention, with serious consequences, both physical and psychological, in their daily lives. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyse these sequelae that affect attention and memory, as well as the possible association of these sequelae to depression. A total of 68 women, victims of gender-based violence, between the ages of 15 and 62 participated in this study. The Luria DNA Battery (Neuropsychological Diagnosis of Adults) by Manga and Ramos (2000); and the Beck Depression Inventory (2011) were applied. It is shown that female victims of gender-based violence present poor short-term memory, attentional control, and score low on the Luria-DNA battery. Of these women, 60% suffer from some relevant type of depression. Through HJ-Biplot analysis, a direct relationship was found between memory and attentional control with the total score of the Luria battery. However, an inverse relationship was found between short-term memory and depression. In addition, three well-differentiated clusters of female victims of gender-based violence were identified. It is concluded that a lower rate of depression is observed in female victims of abuse when they have a more intact short-term memory.

The bright side and dark side of daydreaming predict creativity together through brain functional connectivity.

Daydreaming and creativity have similar cognitive processes and neural basis. However, few empirical studies have examined the relationship between daydreaming and creativity using cognitive neuroscience methods. The present study explored the relationship between different types of daydreaming and creativity and their common neural basis. The behavioral results revealed that positive constructive daydreaming is positively related to creativity, while poor attentional control is negatively related to it. Machine learning framework was adopted to examine the predictive effect of daydreaming‐related brain functional connectivity (FC) on creativity. The results demonstrated that task FCs related to positive constructive daydreaming and task FCs related to poor attentional control both predicted an individual's creativity score successfully. In addition, task FCs combining the positive constructive daydreaming and poor attentional control also had significant predictive effect on creativity score. Furthermore, predictive analysis based on resting‐state FCs showed similar patterns. Both of the subscale‐related FCs and combined FCs had significant predictive effect on creativity score. Further analysis showed the task and the resting‐state FCs both mainly located in the default mode network, central executive network, salience network, and attention network. These results showed that daydreaming was closely related to creativity, as they shared common FC basis.

Delayed Onset of Inhibition of Return in Visual Snow Syndrome.

Visual snow syndrome (VSS) is a complex, sensory processing disorder. We have previously shown that visual processing changes manifest in significantly faster eye movements toward a suddenly appearing visual stimulus and difficulty inhibiting an eye movement toward a non-target visual stimulus. We propose that these changes reflect poor attentional control and occur whether attention is directed exogenously by a suddenly appearing event, or endogenously as a function of manipulating expectation surrounding an upcoming event. Irrespective of how attention is captured, competing facilitatory and inhibitory processes prioritise sensory information that is important to us, filtering out that which is irrelevant. A well-known feature of this conflict is the alteration to behaviour that accompanies variation in the temporal relationship between competing sensory events that manipulate facilitatory and inhibitory processes. A classic example of this is the “Inhibition of Return” (IOR) phenomenon that describes the relative slowing of a response to a validly cued location compared to invalidly cued location with longer cue/target intervals. This study explored temporal changes in the allocation of attention using an ocular motor version of Posner's IOR paradigm, manipulating attention exogenously by varying the temporal relationship between a non-predictive visual cue and target stimulus. Forty participants with VSS (20 with migraine) and 20 controls participated. Saccades were generated to both validly cued and invalidly cued targets with 67, 150, 300, and 500 ms cue/target intervals. VSS participants demonstrated delayed onset of IOR. Unlike controls, who exhibited IOR with 300 and 500 ms cue/target intervals, VSS participants only exhibited IOR with 500 ms cue/target intervals. These findings provide further evidence that attention is impacted in VSS, manifesting in a distinct saccadic behavioural profile, and delayed onset of IOR. Whether IOR is perceived as the build-up of an inhibitory bias against returning attention to an already inspected location or a consequence of a stronger attentional orienting response elicited by the cue, our results are consistent with the proposal that in VSS, a shift of attention elicits a stronger increase in saccade-related activity than healthy controls. This work provides a more refined saccadic behavioural profile of VSS that can be interrogated further using sophisticated neuroimaging techniques and may, in combination with other saccadic markers, be used to monitor the efficacy of any future treatments.