Spotlight Of Attention Research Articles

Attention spotlight in V1-based cortico-cortical interactions in human visual hierarchy

Attention is often viewed as a mental spotlight, which can be scaled like a zoom lens at specific spatial locations and features a center-surround gradient. Here, we demonstrate a neural signature of attention spotlight in signal transmission along the visual hierarchy. fMRI background connectivity analysis was performed between retinotopic V1 and downstream areas to characterize the spatial distribution of inter-areal interaction under two attentional states. We found that, compared to diffused attention, focal attention sharpened the spatial gradient in the strength of the background connectivity. Dynamic causal modeling analysis further revealed the effect of attention in both the feedback and feedforward connectivity between V1 and extrastriate cortex. In a context which induced a strong effect of crowding, the effect of attention in the background connectivity profile diminished. Our findings reveal a context-dependent attention prioritization in information transmission via modulating the recurrent processing across the early stages in human visual cortex.

Putting the Spotlight Back Onto the Flanker Task in Autism: Autistic Adults Show Increased Interference from Foils Compared with Non-autistic Adults.

Autistic people may have a less focused spotlight of spatial selective attention than non-autistic people, meaning that distracting stimuli are less effectively suppressed. Previous studies using the flanker task have supported this suggestion with observations of increased congruency effects in autistic participants. However, findings across studies have been mixed, mainly based on research in children and on response time measures, which may be influenced by differences in response strategy between autistic and non-autistic people rather than differences in selective attention. In this pre-registered study, 153 autistic and 147 non-autistic adults completed an online flanker task. The aims of this study were to test whether increased congruency effects replicate in autistic adults and to extend previous work by fitting a computational model of spatial selective attention on the flanker task to the data. Congruency effects were increased in the autistic group. The modelling revealed that the interference time from the foils was increased in the autistic group. This suggests that the activation of the foils was increased, meaning suppression was less effective for autistic participants. There were also differences in non-interference parameters between the groups. The estimate of response caution was increased in the autistic group and the estimate of perceptual efficiency was decreased. Together these findings suggest inefficient suppression, response strategy and perceptual processing all contribute to differences in performance on the flanker task between autistic and non-autistic people.

Is pitolisant safe for clinical use? A retrospective pharmacovigilance study focus on the post-marketing safety.

Pitolisant, a novel histamine H3-receptor antagonist, holds significant promise for treating narcolepsy. However, a petition, which highlighted that pitolisant was associated with deaths during clinical trials, has propelled it into the spotlight of widespread societal attention on April 3, 2023. Till now, the clinical safety of pitolisant remains a heatedly debated topic. This study aimed to offer a comprehensive assessment of the safety profile of pitolisant in real-world clinical settings. Adverse event reports where pitolisant was the primary suspect drug were extracted from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database. The clinical characteristics and concomitant drugs of the pitolisant-associated adverse events were analyzed. The potential adverse event signals of pitolisant were explored using four disproportionality analysis methods. Furthermore, the difference in pitolisant-associated adverse event signals was investigated concerning sex, age, weight, and dose. A total of 526 reports and 1695 adverse events with pitolisant as the primary suspected drug were identified. The most significant adverse event signals were generally mild and of short duration. The concomitant drugs of pitolisant were highly intricate, mainly included drugs for treating narcolepsy as well as antidepressants. Seven new significant adverse event signals emerged. The safety profile of pitolisant exhibited no significant differences across age and dose groups, although slight variations were observed in relation to sex and weight. The findings from reports of death and life-threatening outcomes underscore the importance of enhanced monitoring for cardiac and respiratory adverse reactions when utilizing pitolisant. This study provided a broader understanding of the safety profile of pitolisant.

Ultra-fine resolution of pre-saccadic attention in the fovea

Microsaccades, the tiny gaze relocations that occurr during fixation, have been linked to covert attention deployed degrees away from the center of gaze. However, the link between attention and microsaccades is deeper in that it also unfolds at the foveal scale. Here, we have examined the spatial grain of pre-microsaccadic attention across the 1° foveola. Through the use of high-precision eye-tracking and gaze-contingent display system that achieves arcminute precision in gaze localization, we have shown that the spotlight of attention at this scale can reach a strikingly high resolution, in the order of 0.17°. Further, when a microsaccade occurs, vision is modulated in a peculiar way across the foveola; whereas fine spatial vision is enhanced at the microsaccade goal location, it drops at the very center of gaze, where acuity is normally highest. Theseresults reveal the finesse of the visuomotor system and of the interplay between eye movements and attention.

Attention vs. accessibility: the role of different cue types for non-canonical sentence production in German

IntroductionThere is evidence of close links between the allocation of attention and the production of language. For instance, while speakers commonly produce active sentences when they describe an event with an agent acting on a patient, this preference can shift once the patient is in the spotlight of attention (e.g., by means of a brief attentional cue preceding the patient). In this case, speakers are more prone to produce non-canonical sentences such as passives. Critically, however, whereas attentional cueing is particularly effective for speakers of English, it has proven less effective for speakers of languages like German that differ from English in terms of case-marking and word order flexibility. This observation begs the question of how German speakers respond to alternative cue types that differ in the conceptual and lexical information they provide. In the current study, we address this question by directly comparing the effect of different cue types on sentence production.MethodsGerman-speaking participants were asked to describe transitive event scenes while their eye gaze was monitored via eye tracking. Prior to scene onset, participants saw one of three different cue types: a short attentional cue preceding the patient character, a long attentional cue, or a centrally presented pre-view of the patient (referential cue).Results and discussionOur results demonstrate that different cue types led to differences in speakers' propensity to produce passives. Critically, referential cueing was more effective than attentional cueing in increasing German speakers' rate of passive production, contra to what has previously been reported for English speakers. At the same time, the cues resulted in different viewing behavior, demonstrating that an increase in visual attention does not necessarily go hand in hand with an increase in passivization. Consequently, our findings show that a direct link between the allocation of attention and speakers' structural choices may not always be licensed.

A focus on the multiple interfaces between action and perception and their neural correlates.

Successful behaviour relies on the appropriate interplay between action and perception. The well-established dorsal and ventral stream theories depicted two distinct functional pathways for the processes of action and perception, respectively. In physiological conditions, the two pathways closely cooperate in order to produce successful adaptive behaviour.As the coupling between perception and action exists, this requires an interface that is responsible for a common reading of the two functions. Several studies have proposed different types of perception and action interfaces, suggesting their role in the creation of the shared interaction channel. In the present review, we describe three possible perception and action interfaces: i) the motor code, including common coding approaches, ii) attention, and iii) object affordance; we highlight their potential neural correlates. From this overview, a recurrent neural substrate that underlies all these interface functions appears to be crucial: the parieto-frontal circuit. This network is involved in the mirror mechanism which underlies the perception and action interfaces identified as common coding and motor code theories. The same network is also involved in the spotlight of attention and in the encoding of potential action towards objects; these are manifested in the perception and action interfaces for common attention and object affordance, respectively. Within this framework, most studies were dedicated to the description of the role of the inferior parietal lobule; growing evidence, however, suggests that the superior parietal lobule also plays a crucial role in the interplay between action and perception. The present review proposes a novel model that is inclusive of the superior parietal regions and their relative contribution to the different action and perception interfaces.

Innovative Quantification of Critical Quality Attributes.

Potency testing is an important part of the evaluation of cellular therapy products. In vitro quantification of identified quality-related biomarkers is a technique often used at the laboratory. Nonetheless, the limited stability of most cellular therapy products, the lot variability and the limited time within which to perform testing are currently hindering their widespread use. Fortunately, within the last two decades, the evolution of material technology and miniaturisation processes has enabled the research community to shift the spotlight of attention towards the Lab-on-Chip concept for diagnostic applications. Such devices enable portable, rapid, sensitive, automated and affordable biochemical analyses aiming to advance the healthcare services across a broad application spectrum. However, it could be argued that the aspirations on their affordability are far from being exceeded, mainly due to the lack of a practical manufacturing technology. The Lab-on-Printed Circuit Board (Lab-on-PCB) approach has demonstrated enormous potential for developing economical diagnostic platforms leveraging the advantage provided by economy of scale manufacturing of the long-standing PCB industry. The integration capabilities that the PCB platform introduces to the Lab-on-Chip concept concerning the electronics and microfluidics seem to be unique. In this chapter, we will be reviewing the progress of Lab-on-PCB prototypes quantifying within miniaturised microchips a range of critical quality attributes with potential in potency testing. We will focus on their technology and applications whilst addressing the potential of this approach in practical use and commercialisation.

The Flickering Spotlight of Visual Attention: Characterizing Abnormal Object-Based Attention in Schizophrenia

The Flickering Spotlight of Visual Attention: Characterizing Abnormal Object-Based Attention in Schizophrenia

Curating the international profile of contemporary Chinese ink medium art: The Third Chengdu Biennale (2007) and The Met’s Ink Art (2013–14)

This article aims to shed light on a curatorial momentum that was generated at the turn of the 2010s in the broader international art world, allowing contemporary Chinese ink works for the first time within the context of the new century to have a more geographically widespread spotlight of attention under a dual label of the Indigenous and the international. Indeed, in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the curatorial approach to ink art in both China and North America and Europe began to change, emphasizing not only ink’s cultural uniqueness but also its transcultural applicability. The pioneering event to do this was the Third Chengdu Biennale in China, following which there was a noticeable escalation in similar exhibitions across countries like the United States or the United Kingdom. These ranged from the ground-breaking Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China (2013–14) at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) to exhibitions at international auction houses and commercial galleries, such as Christie’s or the London-based Saatchi Gallery. By focusing on the Third Chengdu Biennale and The Met’s Ink Art exhibition as the two case-study examples, this article elucidates in what specific ways present-day Chinese ink works were framed by these two significant internationally oriented exhibitions, as well as what kind of critical reception this attracted. Drawing from this analysis, the article also provides a reflection on this curatorial momentum’s both achievements and limitations, suggesting that altogether they present an important foundation for present-day curators to devise new constructive ways of positioning Chinese ink as the global contemporary medium of artistic expression.

Threat Perception, Emotions and Social Trust of Global Bat Experts before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Speculations about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 have catapulted bats into the spotlight of scientific and societal attention, with unforeseen consequences for bat conservation. In two global surveys with bat experts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we assessed their (i) threat perceptions, emotions towards bats and social trust in decision makers and (ii) the predictive potential of emotions, social trust and socio-demographic variables on threat perceptions. We also discuss (iii) the potential influence of the pandemic on threat perception and antecedents (emotions and social trust). We received 495 responses from 65 countries in September 2019 and 320 responses in June 2020 from 77 countries. We identified three major threat categories (indirect, direct and prejudice). Comparing threat perception, emotions and social trust between both surveys, we found that indirect threats (e.g., habitat modification) were considered as crucial, yet less so during the pandemic. During the pandemic, experts rated indirect threats lower and the perceived threat through prejudice (e.g., myths) higher than before the pandemic. During the pandemic, bat experts also expressed more compassion and sadness related to bats and trust in researchers and NGOs, but less trust in laypeople than before the pandemic. Emotions were particularly important predictors for threats through prejudice besides social trust. Socio-demographic variables (e.g., cultural and professional background) had predictive potential predominantly for direct threats (e.g., hunting and trade, wind turbines) and threats through prejudice. Our study highlights the role of emotions and social trust on threat perception among bat experts who remained relatively invisible during the pandemic despite their key role for bat conservation. More importantly, we echo previous calls to be more attentive to ecological grief also within the scientific community; especially as discussions around zoonotic spillover with valued study animals intensify.

The flickering spotlight of visual attention: Characterizing abnormal object-based attention in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in both object perception and visual attention. However, few studies in schizophrenia have investigated object-based attention, which is dissociable from other forms of visuospatial attention. Recent research in healthy populations has shown that the ‘spotlight’ of sustained visual attention flickers in a rhythmic, oscillatory fashion at specific frequencies in the 4-12 Hz range. In healthy samples, this oscillatory signature has been used to investigate spatiotemporal dynamics of object-based attention, showing that the attentional spotlight spreads to uncued locations within cued objects, and also periodically alternates focus between cued and uncued objects. In this study, we adapted a performance-based visual object cueing task to investigate object-based attention in individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis and healthy controls. In controls, spatiotemporal patterns of object-based attention closely resembled those reported in previous studies of healthy individuals. In the schizophrenia group, the oscillatory signature of attention also appeared in the location of the cue and on uncued objects, similar to the effects in controls. Indeed, the oscillatory signature of attention at the spatial location of the cue was stronger in the schizophrenia group than in controls. However, attention did not spread across the cued object in schizophrenia; rather, attention appeared to remain hyperfocused at the spatial location of the cue. These findings provide the first evidence that visual attention has oscillatory characteristics in schizophrenia, as in the general population. The results also show that the fundamental process of attentional spreading which underlies object-based attention is abnormal in schizophrenia.

Integration and expression: The complementary functions of self-reflection.

No construct is more central to personality than the person's self-concept. Higher-order domains of self-assessment, including self-perceived skills, traits, and values, are expressed in action and provide frames of reference for deciding whether to accept or reject personally relevant social feedback. To perform these functions in a consistent manner, the domains of self-concept need to achieve coherence, with the components of each domain sufficiently integrated to provide an unequivocal platform for decision making and behavior. This depiction implies two functions of self-reflection-one focused on forging coherence in self-concept and the other focusing on the expression of domains that have achieved coherence. We refer to these two modes of self-reflection, respectively, as integration and expression. Both modes can be understood in terms of a spotlight of attention that focuses on different regions of the self-structure. In the integration mode, the spotlight converges on incoherent regions of self-concept to eliminate inconsistencies among the lower-level components. In the expression mode, the spotlight converges on coherent regions of self-concept that can provide an unequivocal platform for decision making and effective action. Using agent-based modeling, we illustrate the operation of both modes, discuss the conditions that differentially activate them, and develop their implications for personality dynamics.

How previous treatment changes the metabolomic profile in patients with metastatic breast cancer

PurposeMetabolites are in the spotlight of attention as promising novel breast cancer biomarkers. However, no study has been conducted concerning changes in the metabolomics profile of metastatic breast cancer patients according to previous therapy.MethodsWe performed a retrospective, single-center, nonrandomized, partially blinded, treatment-based study. Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients were enrolled between 03/2010 and 09/2016 at the beginning of a new systemic therapy. The endogenous metabolites in the plasma samples were analyzed using the AbsoluteIDQ® p180 Kit (Biocrates Life Sciences AG, Innsbruck) a targeted, quality and quantitative-controlled metabolomics approach. The statistical analysis was performed using R package, version 3.3.1. ANOVA was used to statistically assess age differences within groups. Furthermore, we analyzed the CTC status of the patients using the CellSearch™ assay.ResultsWe included 178 patients in our study. Upon dividing the study population according to therapy before study inclusion, we found the following: 4 patients had received no therapy, 165 chemotherapy, and 135 anti-hormonal therapy, 30 with anti-Her2 therapy and 38 had received treatment with bevacizumab. Two metabolites were found to be significantly different, depending on the further therapy of the patients: methionine and serine. Whereas methionine levels were higher in the blood of patients who received an anti-Her2-therapy, serine was lower in patients with endocrine therapy only.ConclusionWe identified two metabolites for which concentrations differed significantly depending on previous therapies, which could help to choose the next therapy in patients who have already received numerous different treatments.

A spatiotemporal mechanism of visual attention: Superdiffusive motion and theta oscillations of neural population activity patterns

Recent evidence has demonstrated that during visual spatial attention sampling, neural activity and behavioral performance exhibit large fluctuations. To understand the origin of these fluctuations and their functional role, here, we introduce a mechanism based on the dynamical activity pattern (attention spotlight) emerging from neural circuit models in the transition regime between different dynamical states. This attention activity pattern with rich spatiotemporal dynamics flexibly samples from different stimulus locations, explaining many key aspects of temporal fluctuations such as variable theta oscillations of visual spatial attention. Moreover, the mechanism expands our understanding of how visual attention exploits spatially complex fluctuations characterized by superdiffusive motion in space and makes experimentally testable predictions. We further illustrate that attention sampling based on such spatiotemporal fluctuations provides profound functional advantages such as adaptive switching between exploitation and exploration activities and is particularly efficient at sampling natural scenes with multiple salient objects.

Alpha suppression indexes a spotlight of visual-spatial attention that can shine on both perceptual and memory representations.

Although researchers have been recording the human electroencephalogram (EEG) for almost a century, we still do not completely understand what cognitive processes are measured by the activity of different frequency bands. The 8- to 12-Hz activity in the alpha band has long been a focus of this research, but our understanding of its links to cognitive mechanisms has been rapidly evolving recently. Here, we review and discuss the existing evidence for two competing perspectives about alpha activity. One view proposes that the suppression of alpha-band power following the onset of a stimulus array measures attentional selection. The competing view is that this same activity measures the buffering of the task-relevant representations in working memory. We conclude that alpha-band activity following the presentation of stimuli appears to be due to the operation of an attentional selection mechanism, with characteristics that mirror the classic views of attention as selecting both perceptual inputs and representations already stored in memory.

The attention schema theory in a neural network agent: Controlling visuospatial attention using a descriptive model of attention

In the attention schema theory (AST), the brain constructs a model of attention, the attention schema, to aid in the endogenous control of attention. Growing behavioral evidence appears to support the presence of a model of attention. However, a central question remains: does a controller of attention actually benefit by having access to an attention schema? We constructed an artificial deep Q-learning neural network agent that was trained to control a simple form of visuospatial attention, tracking a stimulus with an attention spotlight in order to solve a catch task. The agent was tested with and without access to an attention schema. In both conditions, the agent received sufficient information such that it should, theoretically, be able to learn the task. We found that with an attention schema present, the agent learned to control its attention spotlight and learned the catch task. Once the agent learned, if the attention schema was then disabled, the agent's performance was greatly reduced. If the attention schema was removed before learning began, the agent was impaired at learning. The results show how the presence of even a simple attention schema can provide a profound benefit to a controller of attention. We interpret these results as supporting the central argument of AST: the brain contains an attention schema because of its practical benefit in the endogenous control of attention.

Covid-19 Risk and Obesity

Warnings about the increased risk of contracting and suffering severe COVID-19 among fat people has been in the spotlight of public discourse and media attention since the pandemic began. Added to this has been widespread anxiety about the risks of weight gain that were predicted to follow public health restrictions that compelled Canadians to work and learn from home. Critical scholars assert that obesity and the problematization of the fat body are discursively constructed through the deployment of biopedagogies--instructive lessons about what it means to eat and live right. By framing and deploying lessons in right living, biopedagogies exert social control over individual and collective bodies, including by making the fat body problematic. In this article, the authors present a discourse analysis of the ways that Canadian news media have reported on the connection between COVID-19 and obesity and draws on biopedagogies as a theoretical framework to elucidate how fat phobia is promulgated by such reporting. The authors call for guidelines to curb fat phobic language and the scientifically inaccurate, discursive constructions of bodies, body weight, and health in news media.

Swarm Differential Privacy for Purpose-Driven Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom Architecture

Privacy protection has recently been in the spotlight of attention to both academia and industry. Society protects individual data privacy through complex legal frameworks. The increasing number of applications of data science and artificial intelligence has resulted in a higher demand for the ubiquitous application of the data. The privacy protection of the broad Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) landscape, the next generation of information organization, has taken a secondary role. In this paper, we will explore DIKW architecture through the applications of the popular swarm intelligence and differential privacy. As differential privacy proved to be an effective data privacy approach, we will look at it from a DIKW domain perspective. Swarm intelligence can effectively optimize and reduce the number of items in DIKW used in differential privacy, thus accelerating both the effectiveness and the efficiency of differential privacy for crossing multiple modals of conceptual DIKW. The proposed approach is demonstrated through the application of personalized data that is based on the open-source IRIS dataset. This experiment demonstrates the efficiency of swarm intelligence in reducing computing complexity.

The episodic flanker effect: Memory retrieval as attention turned inward.

This article tests the conjecture that memory retrieval is attention turned inward by developing an episodic flanker task that is analogous to the well-known perceptual flanker task and by developing models of the spotlight of attention focused on a memory list. Participants were presented with a list to remember (ABCDEF) followed by a probe in which one letter was cued (# # C # # #). The task was to indicate whether the cued letter matched the letter in the cued position in the memory list. The data showed classic results from the perceptual flanker task. Response time and accuracy were affected by the distance between the cued letter in the probe and the memory list (# # D # # # was worse than # # E # # #) and by the compatibility of the uncued letters in the probe and the memory list (ABCDEF was better than STCRVX). There were six experiments. The first four established distance and compatibility effects. The fifth generalized the results to sequential presentation of memory lists, and the sixth tested the boundary conditions of distance and flanker effects with an item recognition task. The data were fitted with three families of models that apply space-based, object-based, and template-based theories of attention to the problem of focusing attention on the cued item in memory. The models accounted for the distance and compatibility effects, providing measures of the sharpness of the focus of attention on memory and the ability to ignore distraction from uncued items. Together, the data and theory support the conjecture that memory retrieval is attention turned inward and motivate further research on the topic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

In the spotlight: Rethinking NGO accountability in the #MeToo era

Emphasising the need to rethink accountability in the light of the #MeToo movement, this study examines how public discourses on sexual misconduct in the non-profit sector have transformed societal perceptions of NGO accountability. The study contributes to research debates about the underlying principles of the NGO social contract, the intellectual problematics of accountability and the role of ‘the Other’ in accountability conduct. The analysis of social media and investigations related to sexual scandals in thirteen organisations reveals how access to social media and hashtag activism in the midst of the social movement provided visibility to the cases of misconduct, gave rise to accountability forums and empowered calls to hold organisations to account. The study shows how the spotlight of public attention has gradually shifted the perception of sexual misconduct as an occasional, but inevitable, sectoral malfunction towards a widening debate over the moral basis of NGO activism and the impacts on the lives of vulnerable NGO beneficiaries. This development has then amplified the escalated demand to transform approaches to NGO accountability from pragmatic procedures of increased control and demonstrable measures of quality assurance to more reflective methods of intellectual accountability and critical self-assessment, emphasising the behavioural consciousness of accountable actors. Finally, the study reflects on how the lessons learned from the #MeToo movement impact NGOs in their capacity to exercise holistic accountability.