Selective Attention Deficits Research Articles

Disruption of overshadowing and latent inhibition in high schizotypy individuals

Deficits in selective attention are seen in positively symptomatic schizophrenia sufferers, and in normal people displaying schizotypal traits. We investigated the relationship between selective attention and schizotypy in undergraduate students, by comparing participants’ performance in two models of selective attention, overshadowing and latent inhibition, with psychoticism scores derived from the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE). Using a novel within-subject overshadowing task, we showed that the unusual experiences dimension of schizotypy, but not the other three O-LIFE dimensions, was negatively related to overshadowing score. We also replicated findings that the unusual experiences dimension of schizotypy was negatively related to latent inhibition score. These experiments provide evidence that selective attention is disrupted in normal individuals showing traits relating to positive-like schizophrenic symptoms, and has implications for interpreting selective attention deficits measured in schizophrenia patients.

SAR110894, a potent histamine H3-receptor antagonist, displays procognitive effects in rodents

SAR110894 is a novel histamine H3-R ligand, displaying high and selective affinity for human, rat or mouse H3-Rs. SAR110894 is a potent H3-R antagonist at native receptors, reversing R-α-methylhistamine-induced inhibition of electrical field stimulation contraction in the guinea-pig ileum. Additionally, SAR110894 inhibited constitutive GTPγS binding at human H3-Rs demonstrating inverse agonist properties. In behavioral models addressing certain aspects of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), SAR110894 improved memory performances in several variants of the object recognition task in mice (0.3–3mg/kg, p.o.) or rats (0.3–1mg/kg, p.o.). Moreover, SAR110894 (1mg/kg, p.o.) reversed a deficit in working memory in the Y-maze test, following an acute low dose of phencyclidine (PCP) (0.5mg/kg, i.p.) in mice sensitized by repeated treatment with a high dose of PCP (10mg/kg, i.p.). In the latent inhibition (LI) model, SAR110894 potentiated LI in saline-treated rats (1 and 3mg/kg, i.p.) and reversed abnormally persistent LI induced by neonatal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition in rodents (0.3–3mg/kg, i.p.). In a social novelty discrimination task in rats, SAR110894 attenuated selective attention deficit induced by neonatal PCP treatment (3 and 10mg/kg, p.o.) or a parametric modification of the procedure (3 and 10mg/kg, p.o.). SAR110894 showed efficacy in several animal models related to the cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD). It prevented the occurrence of episodic memory deficit induced by scopolamine in rats (0.01–10mg/kg, p.o.) or by the central infusion of the toxic amyloid fragment β25–35 in the object recognition test in mice (1 and 3mg/kg, p.o.). Altogether, these findings suggest that SAR110894 may be of therapeutic interest for the treatment of the cognitive symptoms of AD, schizophrenia and certain aspects of ADHD.

Deficits in Selective Attention in Symptomatic Huntington Disease

Impaired selective attention in Huntington disease (HD) may manifest as difficulty in identifying a single target embedded among a series of distractors in rapid serial visual presentation tasks. We used an attentional blink (AB) paradigm to examine whether attentional control is impaired in symptomatic HD. Fourteen HD patients and 13 age-matched healthy controls performed a rapid serial visual presentation task in which 2 targets (T1 and T2) and numerous distractors were presented in rapid succession. We assessed the accuracy of T1 identification and the AB (impaired T2 detection after the correct identification of T1). Among the HD patients, identification of T1 was significantly impaired and AB was significantly larger but not longer. The HD patients also made significantly more random errors. Frontostriatal or frontoparietal dysfunction is likely to compromise attentional control in HD, such that well-masked and rapidly presented target stimuli are difficult to detect and identify, especially as the difficulty level increases. Although we previously reported no AB deficits in presymptomatic HD, with manifest disease we found that the progressive frontoparietal cortical changes compromise attentional control mechanisms.

Attention to Irrelevant Cues Is Related to Positive Symptoms in Schizophrenia

Many modern learning theories assume that the amount of attention to a cue depends on how well that cue predicted important events in the past. Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in attention and recent theories of psychosis have argued that positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations are related to a failure of selective attention. However, evidence demonstrating that attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia is lacking. We used a novel method of measuring attention to nonpredictive (and thus irrelevant) cues in a causal learning test (Le Pelley ME, McLaren IP. Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning. Q J Exp Psychol B. 2003;56:68–79) to assess whether healthy adults and people with schizophrenia discriminate previously predictive and nonpredictive cues. In a series of experiments with independent samples, we demonstrated: (1) when people with schizophrenia who had severe positive symptoms successfully distinguished between predictive and nonpredictive cues during training, they failed to discriminate between predictive and nonpredictive cues relative to healthy adults during subsequent testing and (2) learning about nonpredictive cues was correlated with more severe positive symptoms scores in schizophrenia. These results suggest that positive symptoms of schizophrenia are related to increased attention to nonpredictive cues during causal learning. This deficit in selective attention results in learning irrelevant causal associations and may be the basis of positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Selective attention deficits in early and moderate stage Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often show impaired performance on visuospatial attentional tasks. The objective of the study was to examine the attentional function of PD patients performing the attentional network test (ANT). We used the ANT to compare PD patients with healthy controls with respect to the efficiency of 3 anatomically defined attentional networks: the alerting, orienting, and executive control networks. We found that PD patients showed a selective abnormality in the orienting network. Although the alerting and executive control networks apparently remained unaffected, the efficiencies of these networks in patients with PD negatively correlated with the Hoehn–Yahr stage. The results supported the idea that the orienting processes may be more dynamic in PD than in non-PD individuals.

Electrophysiological evidence for attenuated auditory recovery cycles in children with specific language impairment

Previous research indicates that at least some children with specific language impairment (SLI) show a reduced neural response when non-linguistic tones were presented at rapid rates. However, this past research has examined older children, and it is unclear whether such deficits emerge earlier in development. It is also unclear whether atypical refractory effects differ for linguistic versus non-linguistic stimuli or can be explained by deficits in selective auditory attention reported among children with SLI. In the present study, auditory refractory periods were compared in a group of 24 young children with SLI (age 3–8years) and 24 matched control children. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded and compared to 100ms linguistic and non-linguistic probe stimuli presented at inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of 200, 500, or 1000ms. These probes were superimposed on story narratives when attended and ignored, permitting an experimental manipulation of selective attention within the same paradigm. Across participants, clear refractory effects were observed with this paradigm, evidenced as a reduced amplitude response from 100 to 200ms at shorter ISIs. Children with SLI showed reduced amplitude ERPs relative to the typically-developing group at only the shortest, 200ms, ISI and this difference was over the left-hemisphere for linguistic probes and over the right-hemisphere for non-linguistic probes. None of these effects was influenced by the direction of selective attention. Taken together, these findings suggest that deficits in the neural representation of rapidly presented auditory stimuli may be one risk factor for atypical language development.

Superselective anterior temporal resection in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

We report the case of a patient with pharmacoresistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy presenting psychomotor seizures with onset at early childhood. MRI showed a blurred internal structure of the right hippocampus and right mammillary body atrophy. Neuropsychological testing revealed deficits in selective attention and visual planning. Non-invasive recording was not sufficient to precisely detect the seizure onset zone. Invasive recording showed seizure onset in the temporo-polar neocortex, with spread to the amygdalum and hippocampus. A superselective resection of the temporal pole and amygdalum was performed with preservation of the hippocampus. Histology revealed the presence of focal cortical dysplasia (Palmini type Ib). Seizure frequency was reduced after surgery, and seizure freedom for two years was achieved with optimisation of the antiepileptic drug regime. Memory functions were preserved, and selective attention and visual planning improved following limited resection. This case suggests that, in selected cases, highly targeted resections with preservation of memory-relevant structures may be the best choice considering both seizure control and unimpaired cognitive functioning.

Auditory selective attention and processing in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Objective This study sought to better characterize the contributions of deficits in attention allocation and distracter inhibition to the poor performance on attention tasks often seen in children with ADHD. Methods Electrophysiological (Nd, P3b) and behavioral measures (speed and accuracy) were examined during an auditory selective attention task in children with ADHD, children with typical development (TD), and adults. Thirty children (15 ADHD; 13 females) between the ages of 7 and 13 and 16 adults (8 females) participated. Results Nd waveforms were elicited from adults and children with TD, but not from children with ADHD. Further, those with ADHD exhibited significantly smaller auditory responses at 100 ms (Ta). P3bs were elicited in all three groups by targets but not by unattended deviants. Performance was significantly poorer in children with ADHD than TD and RTs were more variable. Conclusions Children with ADHD evidenced poorer attention allocation, as measured by Nd and hits, but were not more distracted by unattended deviants, as measured by P3b and false alarms, than children with TD. Significance Findings for Nd, P3b, and Ta considered together suggest that deficits in auditory selective attention in children with ADHD may be attributable to reduced information early in the processing stream.

Use of the dichotic listening technique with learning disabilities

Dichotic listening (DL) techniques have been used extensively as a non-invasive procedure to assess language lateralization among children with and without learning disabilities (LD), and with individuals who have other auditory system related brain disorders. Results of studies using DL have indicated that language is lateralized in children with LD and that the lateralized language asymmetries do not develop after age 6 nor are they affected by gender. Observed differences in lateralized language processes between control children and those with LD were found not due to delayed cerebral dominance, but rather to deficits in selective attention. In addition, attention factors have a greater influence on auditory processing of verbal than nonverbal stimuli for children with LD, and children with LD exhibit a general processing bias to the same hemisphere unlike control children. Furthermore, employing directed attention conditions in DL experiments has played an important role in explaining learning disabled children’s performance on DL tasks. We conclude that auditory perceptual asymmetries as assessed by DL with children who experience LD are the result of the interaction of hemispheric capability and attention factors.

Selective attention deficits after circumscribed lesions in the human thalamus

Selective attention deficits after circumscribed lesions in the human thalamus

Examining attention and cognitive processing in participants with self-reported mild anomia

Background: People who report mild anomia following stroke often score near or within normal limits on traditional assessments of language. Based on evidence of cognitive influences on linguistic production in people with aphasia, this study examined non-linguistic, cognitive function and its potential influence on word retrieval in individuals with mild anomia. Aims: This study explored the following research questions: Do people with mild anomia have impaired performance on tasks which require (a) automatic vs controlled processing and/or (b) selective attention relative to neurologically typical controls? Methods & Procedures: A total of 14 participants with mild anomia and 9 neurologically typical controls were tested using Covert Orienting of Visuospatial Attention Test (COVAT), alone and with linguistic interference, at two interstimulus intervals (ISI) representing automatic and controlled processing. Outcomes & Results: Participants with anomia showed significantly slower responses on COVAT alone at 100 ms ISI (automatic processing) compared with controls. The groups did not differ significantly during COVAT alone at 800 ms ISI (controlled processing). Additionally, similar priming patterns were exhibited by both groups on COVAT alone during both interstimulus intervals, indicating an intact validity effect. However, participants with anomia demonstrated significantly delayed response times during the COVAT with linguistic interference, regardless of ISI. Conclusions: Overall, participants with mild anomia demonstrated impairments most notably when interfering stimuli were present, indicating deficits in automatic processing and selective attention. Study results support clinical evaluation of non-linguistic cognitive abilities in individuals reporting anomia who score near or within normal limits on language assessments.

Now you see it, now you don't: Evidence for age-dependent and age-independent cross-modal distraction.

Age-related deficits in selective attention have often been demonstrated in the visual modality and, to a lesser extent, in the auditory modality. In contrast, a mounting body of evidence has suggested that cross-modal selective attention is intact in aging, especially in visual tasks that require ignoring the auditory modality. Our goal in this study was to investigate age-related differences in the ability to ignore cross-modal auditory and visual distraction and to assess the role of cognitive control demands thereby. In a set of two experiments, 30 young (mean age = 23.3 years) and 30 older adults (mean age = 67.7 years) performed a visual and an auditory n-back task (0 ≤ n ≤ 2), with and without cross-modal distraction. The results show an asymmetry in cross-modal distraction as a function of sensory modality and age: Whereas auditory distraction did not disrupt performance on the visual task in either age group, visual distraction disrupted performance on the auditory task in both age groups. Most important, however, visual distraction was disproportionately larger in older adults. These results suggest that age-related distraction is modality dependent, such that suppression of cross-modal auditory distraction is preserved and suppression of cross-modal visual distraction is impaired in aging.

Common networks for selective auditory attention for sounds and words? An fMRI study with implications for attention rehabilitation

In an fMRI study the functional networks involved in auditory selective attention for sounds and words were investigated. 24 healthy volunteers (12 male, 12 female) had to respond to a category of targets (animal sounds vs. musical instruments, spoken names of instruments vs. animals; 6 targets, 12 nontargets) presented via headphones. Under both the sound and word condition besides left superior and middle temporal lobe activation there was bilateral activity in the superior frontal (including the anterior cingulate cortex ACC), middle and inferior frontal and inferior parietal lobes. Under both conditions we also found cerebellar activity. In general there was a high overlap of the related attention networks for both conditions. The activation patterns revealed a high overlap across stimulus conditions with only slight modulation caused by the quality of the auditory material. For rehabilitation of attention deficits after brain damage this implicates that a single training procedure might address a common network for selective attention deficits under different stimulus conditions.

Material Development for Language Intervention With Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

AbstractFew targeted resources exist for teaching speech and language to children with ADHD, despite the high prevalence of such deficits within this population. While these children can be challenging to teach given their deficits in selective and sustained attention, as well as their impulsivity and hyper-activity, success in learning improves when difficulties in processing physical, visual, and aural stimuli are addressed. This article will provide methods, strategies, and sample materials to support educational assistants, teachers, parents, and speech language pathologists in generating effective and motivating activities to optimize learning in children with ADHD.

Dual-task conditions modulate the efficiency of selective attention mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease

Given previous demonstrations of both selective and divided attention deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, understanding how declines in the integrity of component processes of selective attention in these patients interact with impairments to executive processes mediating dual-task performance has both theoretical and practical relevance. To address this issue, healthy elderly and AD patients performed computerized tasks of spatial orienting, Simon response interference, and visual search both in isolation and while simultaneously engaged in a visuomotor tracking task (i.e., maintaining car position within a simulated driving environment). Results from the single-task conditions confirmed previous demonstrations of selective attention deficits in AD. Dual-task conditions produced in AD patients (but not healthy elderly) a change in the efficiency of the selective attention mechanisms themselves, as reflected in differential effects on cue or display conditions within each task. Rather than exacerbating the selective attention deficits observed under single-task conditions, however, dual-task conditions produced an apparent diminution of these deficits. We suggest this diminution is due to the combination of deficient top-down inhibitory processes along with a decrease in the attention-capturing properties of cue information under dual-task conditions in AD patients. These findings not only increase our understanding of the nature of the attentional deficits in AD patients, but also have implications for understanding the processes mediating attention in neurologically intact individuals.

Dual-task conditions modulate the efficiency of selective attention mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease

Given previous demonstrations of both selective and divided attention deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, understanding how declines in the integrity of component processes of selective attention in these patients interact with impairments to executive processes mediating dual-task performance has both theoretical and practical relevance. To address this issue, healthy elderly and AD patients performed computerized tasks of spatial orienting, Simon response interference, and visual search both in isolation and while simultaneously engaged in a visuomotor tracking task (i.e., maintaining car position within a simulated driving environment). Results from the single-task conditions confirmed previous demonstrations of selective attention deficits in AD. Dual-task conditions produced in AD patients (but not healthy elderly) a change in the efficiency of the selective attention mechanisms themselves, as reflected in differential effects on cue or display conditions within each task. Rather than exacerbating the selective attention deficits observed under single-task conditions, however, dual-task conditions produced an apparent diminution of these deficits. We suggest this diminution is due to the combination of deficient top-down inhibitory processes along with a decrease in the attention-capturing properties of cue information under dual-task conditions in AD patients. These findings not only increase our understanding of the nature of the attentional deficits in AD patients, but also have implications for understanding the processes mediating attention in neurologically intact individuals.

Differential contributions of selective attention and sensory integration to the decline in driving skills in aging and early Alzheimer's disease

Deficits in selective attention have been associated with poorer driving ability in older drivers. Along with declines in selective attention, Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients also show deficits in effectively integrating stimulus features processed within distinct cortical areas due to the disruption of corticortical connections. This study examined the relative contribution of selective attention and sensory integration processes to on-road driving in healthy elderly and patients with very mild dementia. Forty-one healthy elderly and twenty-three early AD patients were administered two visual search tasks identical in selective attention demands but differing in demands placed on cross-cortical interactions: Subjects were required to integrate a target's motion with either a) its luminance contrast (black or white) or b) its isoluminant color (red or green). Because luminance and motion are both processed within the dorsal stream while color is processed within the ventral stream, motion/color integration places greater demands on cross-cortical interactions than motion/luminance integration. Step-wise regression analyses were performed separately for each group on task summary measures (slope, search accuracy, overall response time) as predictors of subjects' performance on a standardized road test. Road test error rates were higher in AD than healthy elderly drivers. While healthy elderly performed comparably on the two search tasks (indicating intact sensory binding), AD patients displayed a selective decrease in search accuracy in the motion/color task (indicating an additional decline in cross-cortical sensory binding). Slopes of both tasks and motion/luminance search accuracy were significant predictors of road test score for healthy elderly, whereas motion/color slope and search accuracy were significant predictors of road test score for AD patients. These results provide confirmation of a sensory binding deficit associated with neocortical disconnectivity in AD, and suggest that the relative contribution of selective attention and sensory integration deficits to driving performance differs across healthy elderly and AD patients: In healthy elderly, selective attention measures most strongly predicted driving performance, whereas cross-cortical binding measures were more sensitive driving predictors in AD patients. Computerized tasks designed to specifically assess these distinct processes may therefore prove particularly effective in differentially predicting driving risk in aging and AD.

Neurotrophin-3 gene, intelligence, and selective attention deficit in a Korean sample with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Objective Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with a strong genetic component. Neurotrophin-3 (NTF3), which participates in the differentiation and survival of dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurons, has been identified as a factor in the development of ADHD. We investigated the relationships between ADHD and NTF3 gene polymorphism. Methods We conducted a case–control analysis of 202 ADHD subjects and 159 controls, performed a transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) on 151 trios, and compared the intelligence quotient (IQ) and a continuous performance test (CPT) according to the genotype of two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs6332 and rs6489630) in the NTF3 gene. Results In the case–control and family-based analyses, NTF3 was not significantly associated with ADHD. However, in the ADHD probands, the subjects with AA genotype in the rs6332 SNP had significantly higher mean T-scores for commission errors on the CPT than did those with the AG genotypes ( p = 0.045). The mean IQ of the ADHD probands who had the CC genotype of the rs6489630 SNP were higher compared with those who had the CT or TT genotype ( p = 0.035). The mean T-score for response time on the CPT was higher in the subjects with TT genotype in the rs6489630 SNP compared to those with the CC or CT genotype, even after adjusting for the effect of IQ ( p = 0.021). Conclusions These results provide preliminary evidence of an association between NTF3 and the intelligence and selective attention deficit in the Korean population.

Influence of aversive visual stimulation on attention, working memory, and anxiety in university students

The present study investigated the influence of aversive visual stimulation on anxiety, working memory, and selective attention. The study was conducted with 366 participants of both sexes, divided into three groups: (i) no visual stimuli (n = 128), (ii) neutral visual stimuli (n = 114), and (iii) aversive visual stimuli (n = 124). Two DVD films, one containing aversive stimuli and one containing neutral stimuli, were used for the respective groups. Each visual stimulation had a duration of 1 minute and 22 seconds. After viewing the DVD, anxiety, working memory, and attention were assessed. Concomitant with the increase in anxiety were deficits in working memory and deficits in selective attention in the group that was exposed to the aversive scenes. No gender differences were observed. These results suggest that aversive visual stimuli increase anxiety and decrease attention and working memory performance in university students.

Visual search in children with ADHD: The influence of feedback on selective attention

There is an ongoing debate whether there is a primary deficit in visual selective attention in childhood attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We explored this question using a visual search paradigm, in which participants searched for a target that either 'popped out' of the display (a parallel search) or was difficult to find (a serial search). If visual selective attention is impaired in children with ADHD they should perform similarly to normally developing children in parallel search tasks, but should show poorer performance in serial search tasks. As motivation is an important influence on selective attention, particularly in children with ADHD, we also tested the hypothesis that children with ADHD can improve their performance in serial search tasks for a reward. We first developed and validated visual search tasks suitable for children with normally developing control participants. Children had to search for a pig wearing a blue hat and a green tie. We manipulated search type (feature or conjunction search tasks), set size, and feedback (correct/incorrect or reward). The results showed parallel search for feature search tasks and serial search for conjunction search tasks. We then compared children with ADHD with non-clinical controls using these new visual search tasks. Our results showed that children with ADHD and those in the control group were influenced similarly regarding RT and accuracy, by search type and set size, but differently by feedback. That is, children with ADHD and the control children did not differ in the reward feedback condition; however, in the correct/incorrect feedback condition children with ADHD were slower. Overall, these results suggest that children with ADHD show no specific deficits in selective attention but show poorer performance when external motivators are lacking. Therefore, our results support the hypothesis that self-regulation of effort may be the core deficit of children with ADHD.