Shifts Of Attention Research Articles

Semantic associations restore neural encoding mechanisms.

Lapses in attention can negatively impact later memory of an experience. Attention and encoding resources are thought to decline as more experiences are encountered in succession, accounting for the primacy effect in which memory is better for items encountered early compared to late in a study list. However, accessing prior knowledge during study can facilitate subsequent memory, suggesting a potential avenue to counteract this decline. Here, we investigated the extent to which semantic associations-shared meaning between experiences-can counteract declines in encoding resources. Our hypothesis is that semantic associations restore neural encoding mechanisms, which in turn improves memory. We recorded scalp electroencephalography (EEG) while male and female human participants performed a delayed free recall task. Half of the items from late in each study list were semantically associated with an item presented earlier in the list. We find that semantic associations improve memory specifically for late list items and selectively modulate the neural signals engaged during the study of late list items. Relative to other recalled items, late list items that are subsequently semantically clustered-recalled consecutively with their semantic associate-elicit increased high-frequency activity and decreased low-frequency activity, a hallmark of successful encoding. Our findings demonstrate that semantic associations restore neural encoding mechanisms and improve later memory. More broadly, these findings suggest that prior knowledge modulates the orientation of attention to influence encoding mechanisms.

Does Texting While Walking Affect Gait's Plantar Pressure Parameters?

This study aims to examine the possible effects of mobile phone use on plantar pressure and spatiotemporal parameters during walking. Thirty volunteers (18 males and 12 females) participated in the study. A 10-m walking path was prepared, and a messaging connection was established. They were asked to write three posts without word or character mistakes and participants walked on the path walk as much as they wanted on the trail to make sure they were walking at their own pace. The gait's spatiotemporal parameters and plantar pressure parameters were recorded while walking. A paired samples t-test was used to determine whether there was a difference between normal walking and walking while texting. While walking and writing a message, cadence, speed, and step length decreased significantly (P < 0.05). In the plantar pressure parameters, the fore- and midfoot load and pressure were significantly increased (P < 0.05). Compared to normal walking, the forces on the forefoot and midfoot and the pressure per unit area increased in walking while texting. It is thought that the pace of walking slows down, and focus and attention shift to the front of the body.

Sustaining Attention to Sustainability, Health, and Well-Being in Urban Regeneration

In urban regeneration projects, balancing environmental, social, and economic aspects is crucial but challenging, often leading to mission drift when team focus deviates from the original goals. Through a case study of regeneration projects at a large U.K. housing association, we explore decision makers’ attention to sustainability, health, and well-being as core elements of social mission. We combined qualitative analysis with an examination of structural complexities and system behaviors, adopting a systems thinking perspective. Analysis of attention patterns in regeneration meetings reveals that attention to the social missions was not sustained, with evident attention shifts toward financial costs and risks. Also, sustainability is prioritized less than health and well-being topics. We use a causal loop diagram to describe the underlying mechanisms that drive attention dynamics, highlighting how the structural complexities can undermine sustainable development in regeneration. Finally, we propose strategies to sustain attention toward sustainability, health, and well-being in regeneration.

Contextual uncertainty determines early attentional orienting in visual selection

ABSTRACT Our attention can be inadvertently captured by irrelevant or distracting stimuli. Past work has shown that knowledge about the search context in which targets and distractors occur, such as where distractors often occur, can greatly reduce attentional capture. In this study, we set out to show that uncertainty about this context (or contextual variability) is another critical determinant of attentional capture by physically salient distractors. Specifically, in three (preregistered) capture-probe experiments (n =288, n = 114, n = 114), we manipulated singleton distractor location and context uncertainty separately from set size. We found that rendering the distractor location less variable did not affect attentional capture. However, when contextual uncertainty was reduced, by keeping parts of the search display fixed across trials or by exposing participants to a restricted set of search configurations, attentional capture disappeared. Our findings support the notion that contextual uncertainty is a critical factor determining whether salient distractors capture attention.

The Irreducible Novelty of Chemistry in Natural History

The central metaphor of nature as a watch has colored the debate about natural theology since Paley and Darwin. However, a chemical interpretation of natural history will differ because chemical systems do not work like watches. Here, a natural history of chemical constraints proposed by R. J. P. Williams is interpreted through Joseph Earley's two modes of "chemical becoming" with classical realism and the philosophy of emergence. This interpretation shifts attention from a system's irreducible complexity to its irreducible novelty, focusing on its novel existence and its transcendental truth, goodness, and beauty. A view of natural history in which irreducible novelty evolves through chemistry has several advantages: it accommodates continuous change (giving direction to a gradual mechanism of evolution) and irreversible change (providing an important yet limited role for chance rather than denying its existence or overemphasizing its power). A chemical perspective perceives the inherent "makeability" and manifest order of the universe.

The Irreducible Novelty of Chemistry in Natural History

The central metaphor of nature as a watch has colored the debate about natural theology since Paley and Darwin. However, a chemical interpretation of natural history will differ because chemical systems do not work like watches. Here, a natural history of chemical constraints proposed by R. J. P. Williams is interpreted through Joseph Earley's two modes of "chemical becoming" with classical realism and the philosophy of emergence. This interpretation shifts attention from a system's irreducible complexity to its irreducible novelty, focusing on its novel existence and its transcendental truth, goodness, and beauty. A view of natural history in which irreducible novelty evolves through chemistry has several advantages: it accommodates continuous change (giving direction to a gradual mechanism of evolution) and irreversible change (providing an important yet limited role for chance rather than denying its existence or overemphasizing its power). A chemical perspective perceives the inherent "makeability" and manifest order of the universe.

Emotional Tears and Racial Stigma in Orson Welles's Othello and Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara

Abstract On the basis of two film adaptations of Shakespeare's Othello, Orson Welles's (1952/1955) Othello and Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara (2006), this article focuses on Othello's emotional tears, and how they mitigate, or not, the effects of racial stigmatization. The “Othello dilemma,” as I call it, refers to how Othello continues to be understood as an example of his race, rather than as an individual. How do the two films deal with this dilemma? This article draws on current research in cognitive neuroscience to underscore the pro-social function of emotional tears. Both films avoid direct views of Othello's tears but evoke lachrymal emotion to produce broader interpretations of the play, which is relevant to contemporary concerns. In black and white, Orson Welles uses Soviet montage to depict Othello's loneliness, which authenticates his grief, while Vishal Bhardwaj's colorful Bollywood film shifts attention to stigmatization on account of gender bias, invoking an array of culture-specific norms and values.

Reflecting on practice in sustainable education classrooms: COVID-19 tales of hope

Social and ecological issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainable development, inequality, and COVID-19 have changed and are changing the world. These realities have profoundly impacted peoples’ perspectives about the future and our human-nature relations. Adding to this mix of disruptions COVID-19 has changed student engagement with sustainability agendas. COVID-19 has increased sensitivity to borders, control, containment, personal health, and wellbeing. This shift in focus and attention to the individual moves against the sensibilities observed in sustainability education. It is at this juncture this paper offers reflections by three Australian sustainability educators who taught during COVID-19. We have come up with three provocations to think with disruption: phronesis, world views and entanglement. These themes, critical to the pedagogies of sustainability educators across the globe, allowed us to pivot around the implications and opportunities presented as we taught our way through this period.

Randomized Pacman maze generation algorithm

Pacman, a cultural icon since its debut in 1980, is celebrated for its captivating static maze design. This research explores innovative algorithms, including an improved version of Sidewinder, in the context of dynamic maze generation for Pacman. Traditional algorithms, constituting the initial focus, serve as counterexamples to highlight their unsuitability in creating Pacman mazes due to their generic design unrelated to the game's unique gameplay. By showcasing these limitations, the study emphasizes the necessity for tailored solutions that align with Pacman's dynamic environment. Subsequently, attention shifts to an innovative algorithm exhibiting promise for Pacman maze generation. An in-depth analysis, using the same rigorous criteria applied to traditional algorithms provides essential insights into its potential for enhancing the Pacman gaming experience.

Microsaccades reflect attention shifts: a mini review of 20 years of microsaccade research.

Microsaccades are small, involuntary eye movements that occur during fixation. Since the 1950s, researchers have conducted extensive research on the role of microsaccades in visual information processing, and found that they also play an important role in human advanced visual cognitive activities. Research over the past 20 years further suggested that there is a close relationship between microsaccades and visual attention, yet lacking a timely review. The current article aims to provide a state-of-the-art review and bring microsaccades studies into the sight of attention research. We firstly introduce basic characteristics about microsaccades, then summarized the empirical evidence supporting the view that microsaccades can reflect both external (perception) and internal (working memory) attention shifts. We finally conclude and highlight three promising avenues for future research.

Exploring the Impact of Body Position on Attentional Orienting

Attentional orienting is a crucial process in perceiving our environment and guiding human behavior. Recent studies have suggested a forward attentional bias, where faster reactions are observed to spatial cues indicating information appearing in the forward rather than the rear direction. This study investigated how the body position affects attentional orienting, using a modified version of the Posner cueing task within a virtual reality environment. Participants, seated at a 90° angle or reclined at 45°, followed arrows directing their attention to one of four spatial positions where a spaceship will appear, visible either through transparent windows (front space) or in mirrors (rear space). Their task was to promptly identify the spaceship’s color as red or blue. The results indicate that participants reacted more swiftly when the cue correctly indicated the target’s location (valid cues) and when targets appeared in the front rather than the rear. Moreover, the “validity effect”—the advantage of valid over invalid cues—on early eye movements, varied based on both the participant’s body position and the target’s location (front or rear). These findings suggest that the body position may modulate the forward attentional bias, highlighting its relevance in attentional orienting. This study’s implications are further discussed within contexts like aviation and space exploration, emphasizing the necessity for precise and swift responses to stimuli across diverse spatial environments.

Influence of Perceptual Load on Attentional Orienting in Post-Stroke Fatigue: A Study of Auditory Evoked Potentials

Objective Increasing perceptual load alters behavioral outcomes in post-stroke fatigue (PSF). While the effect of perceptual load on top-down attentional processing is known, here we investigate if increasing perceptual load modulates bottom-up attentional processing in a fatigue dependent manner. Methods In this cross-sectional observational study, in 29 first-time stroke survivors with no clinical depression, an auditory oddball task consisting of target, standard, and novel tones was performed in conditions of low and high perceptual load. Electroencephalography was used to measure auditory evoked potentials. Perceived effort was rated using the visual analog scale at regular intervals during the experiment. Fatigue was measured using the fatigue severity scale. The effect of fatigue and perceptual load on behavior (response time, accuracy, and effort rating) and auditory evoked potentials (amplitude and latency) was examined using mixed model ananlysis of variances (ANOVA). Results Response time was prolonged with greater perceptual load and fatigue. There was no effect of load or fatigue on accuracy. Greater effort was reported with higher perceptual load both in high and low fatigue. p300a amplitude of auditory evoked potentials (AEP) for novel stimuli was attenuated in high fatigue with increasing load when compared to low fatigue. Latency of p300a was longer in low fatigue with increasing load when compared to high fatigue. There were no effects on p300b components, with smaller N100 in high load conditions. Interpretation High fatigue specific modulation of p300a component of AEP with increasing load is indicative of distractor driven alteration in orienting response, suggestive of compromise in bottom-up selective attention in PSF.

A spatial-attentional mechanism underlies action-related distortions of time judgment

Temporal binding has been understood as an illusion in timing judgment. When an action triggers an outcome (e.g. a sound) after a brief delay, the action is reported to occur later than if the outcome does not occur, and the outcome is reported to occur earlier than a similar outcome not caused by an action. We show here that an attention mechanism underlies the seeming illusion of timing judgment. In one method, participants watch a rotating clock hand and report event times by noting the clock hand position when the event occurs. We find that visual spatial attention is critically involved in shaping event time reports made in this way. This occurs because action and outcome events result in shifts of attention around the clock rim, thereby biasing the perceived location of the clock hand. Using a probe detection task to measure attention, we show a difference in the distribution of visual spatial attention between a single-event condition (sound only or action only) and a two-event agency condition (action plus sound). Participants accordingly report the timing of the same event (the sound or the action) differently in the two conditions: spatial attentional shifts masquerading as temporal binding. Furthermore, computational modeling based on the attention measure can reproduce the temporal binding effect. Studies that use time judgment as an implicit marker of voluntary agency should first discount the artefactual changes in event timing reports that actually reflect differences in spatial attention. The study also has important implications for related results in mental chronometry obtained with the clock-like method since Wundt, as attention may well be a critical confounding factor in the interpretation of these studies.

A spatial-attentional mechanism underlies action-related distortions of time judgment.

Temporal binding has been understood as an illusion in timing judgment. When an action triggers an outcome (e.g. a sound) after a brief delay, the action is reported to occur later than if the outcome does not occur, and the outcome is reported to occur earlier than a similar outcome not caused by an action. We show here that an attention mechanism underlies the seeming illusion of timing judgment. In one method, participants watch a rotating clock hand and report event times by noting the clock hand position when the event occurs. We find that visual spatial attention is critically involved in shaping event time reports made in this way. This occurs because action and outcome events result in shifts of attention around the clock rim, thereby biasing the perceived location of the clock hand. Using a probe detection task to measure attention, we show a difference in the distribution of visual spatial attention between a single-event condition (sound only or action only) and a two-event agency condition (action plus sound). Participants accordingly report the timing of the same event (the sound or the action) differently in the two conditions: spatial attentional shifts masquerading as temporal binding. Furthermore, computational modeling based on the attention measure can reproduce the temporal binding effect. Studies that use time judgment as an implicit marker of voluntary agency should first discount the artefactual changes in event timing reports that actually reflect differences in spatial attention. The study also has important implications for related results in mental chronometry obtained with the clock-like method since Wundt, as attention may well be a critical confounding factor in the interpretation of these studies.

Consciously choosing and shaping what to comprehend: a mixed-methods approach to first-person aspects of mental agency in ambiguous speech perception

Speech perception plays a key role in many fields of human development and social life but is often impaired by ambiguities on various levels of processing. While these phenomena have been extensively researched in the cognitive (neuro-) sciences according to empirical paradigms that adhere to the third-person perspective of externally measurable behavior, their first-personal and agentive dimensions remain mostly elusive. However, particularly the latter should not be neglected as they can in principle not completely be mapped on quantitative data but are crucial for people in lifeworld situations. We explored this point in the contexts of cognitive penetrability and mental action and conducted a mixed-methods study with qualitative reports on speech perceptual reversal (N = 63) as part of a series of related studies on other modalities. Exposed to respective stimuli, one half of the participants was instructed to voluntarily change their verbal percept, while the other half were told to hold a deliberately chosen word. Qualitative data analysis revealed four typical forms of mental activity, various strategies, and accompanying forms of intention and metacognitive feelings. On the one hand, this activity structure replicates that found in already published studies on vision and non-linguistic audition and thus lends itself to refinement of Posner and Petersen’s (Annual Reviews in Neuroscience, 13, 25–42, 1990) classic model of attentional shift. On the other hand, statistical testing of the quantified data strengthened our hypotheses about mental activities across conditions and modalities, thus also arguing for a cultivable agentive attention awareness in speech perception that even penetrates early stages of speech processing.

New Evidence for Retrospectively Cued Perception.

Past research suggests a continuity between perception and memory, as reflected in influences of orienting of spatial attention by cues presented after a visual target offset (post-target cues) on target perception. Conducting two experiments, we tested and confirmed this claim. Our study revealed an elevated reliance on post-target cues for target detection with diminishing target visibility, leading to better performance in validly versus invalidly cued trials, indicative of contrast gain. We demonstrated this post-target cueing impact on target perception without a postcue response prompt, meaning that our results truly reflected a continuity between perception and memory rather than a task-specific impact of having to memorize the target due to a response prompt. While previous studies found an improvement in accuracy through valid compared to invalid cues using liminal targets, in Experiment 1, we further showed an influence of attention on participants' response time by the post-target cues with cues presented away from a clearly visible target. This suggests that visual interactions at the target location provided no better explanation of post-target cueing effects. Our results generalize prior research with liminal targets and confirm the view of a perception-memory continuum so that visual target processing is not shielded against visuospatial orienting of attention elicited by events following the offset of the visual target.

Presaccadic Attention Depends on Eye Movement Direction and Is Related to V1 Cortical Magnification.

With every saccadic eye movement, humans bring new information into their fovea to be processed with high visual acuity. Notably, perception is enhanced already before a relevant item is foveated: During saccade preparation, presaccadic attention shifts to the upcoming fixation location, which can be measured via behavioral correlates such as enhanced visual performance or modulations of sensory feature tuning. The coupling between saccadic eye movements and attention is assumed to be robust and mandatory and considered a mechanism facilitating the integration of pre- and postsaccadic information. However, until recently it had not been investigated as a function of saccade direction. Here, we measured contrast response functions during fixation and saccade preparation in male and female observers and found that the pronounced response gain benefit typically elicited by presaccadic attention is selectively lacking before upward saccades at the group level-some observers even showed a cost. Individual observer's sensitivity before upward saccades was negatively related to their amount of surface area in primary visual cortex representing the saccade target, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism that optimizes the use of the limited neural resources processing the upper vertical meridian. Our results raise the question of how perceptual continuity is achieved and how upward saccades can be accurately targeted despite the lack of-theoretically required-presaccadic attention.

Attentional bias to threat: an investigation of psychological predictors beyond trait anxiety

AbstractAttentional bias to threat (ABT) refers to the tendency to more rapidly orient attention to threatening stimuli, as compared to neutral or pleasant stimuli. Issues with the reliability of this phenomenon have been raised and little is currently known about individual differences that may contribute to ABT. This online study aimed to replicate ABT in trait anxiety and identify psychological predictors of ABT using both dot probe and flanker tasks comprising emotional images. Undergraduate students completed various psychological questionnaires, followed by the ABT tasks. Contrary to expectations, faster responses and enhanced accuracy for positive stimuli were found in a low trait anxiety sub-sample (n = 33) in the dot probe task, while overall slower performance among a high trait anxiety sub-sample (n = 34) was found in the flanker task. Higher ratings of state anxiety and stress and lower ratings of calmness were associated with greater flanker ABT scores in the overall sample (N = 111), while higher scores on facets of trait mindfulness and personality were associated with greater dot probe ABT scores. Trait anxiety was not associated with either ABT score. These findings highlight the difficulties replicating ABT in anxious individuals using behavioural tasks and indicate the importance of measuring state and trait psychological experiences when investigating ABT in experimental settings. Further replication of predictors is required.

Spatial Decoding for Gaze Independent Brain-Computer Interface Based on Covert Visual Attention Shift Using Electroencephalography.

The gaze-independent brain-computer interface (BCI) device is used to re-establish interaction for individuals who have abnormal eye movement. It may be possible to control the BCI by shifting your attention spatially. However, spatial attention is rarely employed to increase the effectiveness of target detection and is typically used to provide a simple "yes" or "no" response to the target recognition inquiry. To improve the effectiveness of detecting target, it is crucial to take advantage of the possible advantages of spatial attention. N2-posterior-contralateral (N2pc) component reflects correlates of visual spatial attention and is used to determine target position. In this study, a long-short-term memory (LSTM) network is used to answer "yes/no" questions by decoding covert spatial attention based on N2pc characteristics using EEG signals. The proposed LSTM-based model's average decoding accuracy is 92.79%. The target detection efficiency was successfully increased by about 4% when compared to conventional machine learning algorithms. The proposed model is tested on the independent dataset to validate its performance. The results of this work show that N2pc characteristics can be employed in gaze-independent BCIs for tracking covert attention shifts, which may help persons with poor eye mobility to connect with their environment.

Vision and microsaccades: Time to pay attention!

Visual perception of exceedingly small and highly detailed spatial regions depends on coordinated patterns of small shifts of the line of sight ('microsaccades') aided by pre-saccadic shifts of spatial attention directed precisely to the intended target of the saccade.