Spotlight Of Attention Research Articles

α-Band activity tracks a two-dimensional spotlight of attention during spatial working memory maintenance.

Covert spatial attention is thought to facilitate the maintenance of locations in working memory, and EEG α-band activity (8-12 Hz) is proposed to track the focus of covert attention. Recent work has shown that multivariate patterns of α-band activity track the polar angle of remembered locations relative to fixation. However, a defining feature of covert spatial attention is that it facilitates processing in a specific region of the visual field, and prior work has not determined whether patterns of α-band activity track the two-dimensional (2-D) coordinates of remembered stimuli within a visual hemifield or are instead maximally sensitive to the polar angle of remembered locations around fixation. Here, we used a lateralized spatial estimation task, in which observers remembered the location of one or two target dots presented to one side of fixation, to test this question. By applying a linear discriminant classifier to the topography of α-band activity, we found that we were able to decode the location of remembered stimuli. Critically, model comparison revealed that the pattern of classifier choices observed across remembered positions was best explained by a model assuming that α-band activity tracks the 2-D coordinates of remembered locations rather than a model assuming that α-band activity tracks the polar angle of remembered locations relative to fixation. These results support the hypothesis that this α-band activity is involved in the spotlight of attention, and arises from mid- to lower-level visual areas involved in maintaining spatial locations in working memory.NEW & NOTEWORTHY A substantial body of work has shown that patterns of EEG α-band activity track the angular coordinates of attended and remembered stimuli around fixation, but whether these patterns track the two-dimensional coordinates of stimuli presented within a visual hemifield remains an open question. Here, we demonstrate that α-band activity tracks the two-dimensional coordinates of remembered stimuli within a hemifield, showing that α-band activity reflects a spotlight of attention focused on locations maintained in working memory.

THE FALL OF A CHINESE BUDDHIST MONK: LAW AND STATE GOVERNANCE OF BUDDHISM IN POST-IMPERIAL CHINA

AbstractIn August 2018, revelations of the sexual, financial, and administrative misconduct of a high-profile Chinese Buddhist monk named Xuecheng 學誠 were in the spotlight of domestic and international attention. The validity of the allegations and their social and religious impact have been widely debated, and this article focuses on the legal procedures used in handling the allegations and traces their source back to the Republican era (1911–1949). The state's governance of Buddhism and the efficacy of the Buddhist clergy's jurisdictional self-governance operating in Xuecheng's case in China today are significantly older than the People's Republic of China. As early as 1929, ordained Buddhists collectively denounced personal clerical privileges, in exchange for the state law's protection on monastic properties. Then, while protesting against unfavorable articles in the Charter of the Buddhist Association of China (Zhongguo fojiaohui zhang cheng中國佛教會章程) proposed by the Nationalist government in 1936, the Buddhist clergy lost their legal jurisdiction over adjudicating internal disputes among ordained Buddhists. These two events have come to define the relationship between the state and the Buddhist establishment in contemporary China, where state law is harsh on religion while enforcement through legal practice is lax.

The neural bases of spatial attention and perceptual rhythms.

Attentional processes allow the brain to overcome its processing capacities limitations by enhancing relevant visual information and suppressing irrelevant information. Thus attention plays a critical role, shaping our perception of the world. Several models have been proposed to describe the neuronal bases of attention and its mechanistic underlyings. Recent electrophysiological evidence show that attentional processes rely on oscillatory brain activities that correlate with rhythmic changes in cognitive performance. In the present review, we first take a historical perspective on how attention is viewed, from the initial spotlight theory of attention to the recent dynamic view of attention selection and we review their supporting psychophysical evidence. Based on recent prefrontal electrophysiological evidence, we refine the most recent models of attention sampling by proposing a rhythmic and continuous model of attentional sampling. In particular, we show that attention involves a continuous exploration of space, shifting within and across visual hemifield at specific alpha and theta rhythms, independently of the current attentional load. In addition, we show that this prefrontal attentional spotlight implements conjointly selection and suppression mechanisms, and is captured by salient incoming items. Last, we argue that this attention spotlight implements a highly flexible alternation of attentional exploration and exploitation epochs, depending on ongoing task contingencies. In a last part, we review the local and network oscillatory mechanisms that correlate with rhythmic attentional sampling, describing multiple rhythmic generators and complex network interactions.

Bitcoins in literature Review

Abstract: In recent years, cryptocurrencies have been in the spotlight of attention in financial markets all over the world. bitcoin, which was the first currency of this technology to be invented, still remains the most popular digital currency; however, other alternatives such as Ethereum and Ripple are gaining pace. Bitcoin, introduced in October 2008 by Nakamoto , is a decentralized cryptocurrency. It has received increasing attention by business companies, organizations and governments since it is launched. Over the last decade that bitcoin has been traded, many alterations have taken place from exchanges to the likelihood of closure. Nevertheless, the bitcoin has unique default benefits and properties by its structure. It is fully decentralized and depends on a sophisticated cryptographic protocol that it is difficult to counterfeit. In this research the researcher clarified the nature , characteristics , pros and cons , and also how the bitcoin system works , through reviewing number of papers , accounting academic journals , professional publications .

Cortical Distance but Not Physical Distance Modulates Attentional Rhythms.

It has been well documented that the spotlight of attention is intrinsically rhythmic and oscillates by discretely sampling either single or multiple objects. However, the neural site of attentional rhythms remains poorly understood. Considering the topography of visual cortical areas, we modulated the cortical distances of two gratings while fixing the corresponding retinal distance by setting the gratings on different sides (cortically far, Experiment 1) or on the same side (cortically near, Experiment 2) of the vertical median, to investigate the interhemispheric divide effect in attentional rhythms. The cue-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) varied from 0.1 s to 1.08 s in 20-ms increments, allowing fluctuations below 50 Hz to be examined. The results showed that when the two stimuli were on opposite sides of the vertical meridian, attentional rhythms were observed at theta and alpha frequencies, consistent with the results reported in previous studies. However, when the two stimuli were located on the same side of the vertical meridian, attentional rhythms were not observed. This study indicates that attentional rhythms are modulated by cortical distance but not by physical distance.

Zooming in on the cognitive neuroscience of visual narrative

Visual narratives like comics and films often shift between showing full scenes and close, zoomed-in viewpoints. These zooms are similar to the “spotlight of attention” cast across a visual scene in perception. We here measured ERPs to visual narratives (comic strips) that used zoomed-in and full-scene panels either throughout the whole sequence context or at specific critical panels. Zoomed-in panels were automatically generated on the basis of fixations from prior participants’ eye movements to the crucial content of panels (Foulsham & Cohn, 2020). We found that these fixation panels evoked a smaller N300 than full-scenes, indicative of reduced cost for object identification, but that they also evoked a slightly larger amplitude N400 response, suggesting a greater cost for accessing semantic memory with constrained content. Panels in sequences where fixation panels persisted across all positions of the sequence also evoked larger posterior P600s, implying that constrained views required more updating or revision processes throughout the sequence. Altogether, these findings suggest that constraining a visual scene to its crucial parts triggers various processes related not only to the density of its information but also to its integration into a sequential context.

Electrocortical responses associated with attention bias to fearful facial expressions and auditory distress signals

Understanding how emotional stimuli across auditory and visual sensory domains interact and influence multimodal attentional mechanisms is important to understanding how humans prioritize and isolate emotionally-laden stimuli in a continual stream of sensory information that occurs in everyday life. While multimodal emotional human-relevant stimuli have been used in the past, this study is one of the first to look at how human-generated threat-related sounds (e.g., screams) interact with human-generated visual cues of threat (fearful facial expressions) to determine whether these converging sources of threat are represented by either combined or isolated enhancements of visual attention as measured with event-related potential (ERP) components related to attention: the N170, N2, and N2pc. Using the dot-probe task, this study demonstrates that converging sources of multimodal audiovisual threat interact to modulate the N170 ERP component such that auditory distress signals widen the spotlight of attention beyond the contralateral enhancement elicited by the fearful face cue. Multimodal facilitation was neither observed on the N2pc nor the anterior N2. Rather, separate unimodal effects were observed on these ERP components.

Small Interfering RNAs and RNA Therapeutics in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is being exploited and understood in its many aspects of function and structure for development of valuable tools in the therapeutics of various diseases such as cardiovascular etc. The expanded knowledge regarding function of RNA in the genomics and inside the cell has dramatically changed the therapeutic strategies in the past few years. RNA has become a spotlight of attention for developing novel therapeutic schemes and hence variety of therapeutic strategies is being coming into the picture that includes RNA interference, use of aptamers, role of microRNA (miRNA) that can alter the complex gene expression patterns. It is due to the fact that RNA offers various advantages in disease management as it can be edited and modified in its various forms such as secondary and tertiary structures. Although scientists are in process of manufacturing RNA-targeting therapies using variety of endogenous gene silencing regulators, Small interfering RNAs (Si RNAs), aptamers and microRNA for cardiovascular diseases yet the development of a novel, risk free therapeutic strategy is a major challenge and need of the hour in cardiovascular medicine. In this regard these agents are required to overcome pleothra of barriers such as stability of drug targets, immunogenicity, adequate binding, targeted delivery etc. to become effective drugs. Recent years have witnessed the progress of RNA therapeutic strategies in cardiovascular diseases that are likely to significantly expand the cardiovascular therapeutic repertoire within the next decade. The present manuscript has been compiled to summarize various approaches of siRNA based therapies in cardiovascular diseases along with the advantages, outcomes and limitations if any in this regard. In addition, the future prospects of RNA therapeutic modalities in cardiovascular diseases are summarized.

Future Communication Trends toward Internet of Things Services and Applications

As networks have continued to gain popularity throughout the 1980s and well into today, communication technologies have taken a critical number of major t wists and turns, with a wide variety of wireless technologies, protocols, services, and configurations developed and deployed. There have been murmurs of network functions virtualization and software-defined networking in the past 10 years, but these technologies have been caught in the spotlight of attention in recent years. Today, network functions (e.g., firewalls) reside in the cloud to increase network agility and scalability while also enabling effective use of net work resources. Similarly, mobility has advanced from an employee’s former luxury to today ’s business necessity. Mobile devices and smartphones have not only transformed personal communicat ions but also increased business productivity and revolutionized society. Consonantly, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been dominating the technological landscape, from autonomous connected vehicles to wearable devices.

Two Spatially Distinct Posterior Alpha Sources Fulfill Different Functional Roles in Attention.

Directing attention helps to extract relevant information and suppress distracters. Alpha brain oscillations (8-12 Hz) are crucial for this process, with power decreases facilitating processing of important information and power increases inhibiting brain regions processing irrelevant information. Evidence for this phenomenon arises from visual attention studies (Worden et al., 2000); however, the effect also exists in other modalities, including the somatosensory system (Haegens et al., 2011) and intersensory attention tasks (Foxe and Snyder, 2011). We investigated in human participants (10 females, 10 males) the role of alpha oscillations in focused (0/100%) versus divided (40/60%) attention, both across modalities (visual/somatosensory; Experiment 1) and within the same modality (visual domain: across hemifields; Experiment 2) while recording EEG over 128 scalp electrodes. In Experiment 1, participants divided their attention between visual and somatosensory modality to determine the temporal/spatial frequency of a target stimulus (vibrotactile stimulus/Gabor grating). In Experiment 2, participants divided attention between two visual hemifields to identify the orientation of a Gabor grating. In both experiments, prestimulus alpha power in visual areas decreased linearly with increasing attention to visual stimuli. In contrast, prestimulus alpha power in parietal areas was lower when attention was divided between modalities/hemifields compared with focused attention. These results suggest there are two alpha sources, one of which reflects the "visual spotlight of attention" and the other reflects attentional effort. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that attention recruits two spatially distinct alpha sources in occipital and parietal brain regions, acting simultaneously but serving different functions in attention.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention to one spatial location/sensory modality leads to power changes of alpha oscillations (∼10 Hz) with decreased power over regions processing relevant information and power increases to actively inhibit areas processing "to-be-ignored" information. Here, we used detailed source modeling to investigate EEG data recorded during separate unimodal (visual) and multimodal (visual and somatosensory) attention tasks. Participants either focused their attention on one modality/spatial location or directed it to both. We show for the first time two distinct alpha sources are active simultaneously but play different roles. A sensory (visual) alpha source was linearly modulated by attention representing the "visual spotlight of attention." By contrast, a parietal alpha source was modulated by attentional effort, showing lowest alpha power when attention was divided.

Host Plants and Climate Structure Habitat Associations of the Western Monarch Butterfly

The monarch butterfly is one of the most easily recognized and frequently studied insects in the world, and has recently come into the spotlight of public attention and conservation concern because of declining numbers of individuals associated with both the eastern and western migrations. Historically, the larger eastern migration has received the most scientific attention, but this has been changing in recent years, and here we report the largest-ever attempt to map and characterize non-overwintering habitat for the western monarch butterfly. Across the environmentally and topographically-complex western landscape, we include 8,427 observations of adults and juvenile monarchs as well as 20,696 records from thirteen milkweed host plant species. We find high heterogeneity of suitable habitat across the geographic range, with extensive concentrations in the California floristic province in particular. We also find habitat suitability for the butterfly to be structured primarily by host plant habitat associations, which are in turn structured by a diverse suite of climatic variables. These results add to our knowledge of range and occupancy determinants for migratory species and provide a tool that can be used by conservation biologists and researchers interested in interactions among climate, hosts and host-specific animals, and by managers for prioritizing future conservation actions at regional to watershed scales.

Is there a shape to the attention spotlight? Computing saliency over proto-objects predicts fixations during scene viewing.

Attention controls the selective routing of visual inputs for classification. This "spotlight" of attention has been assumed to be a Gaussian, but here we propose that this routing occurs in the form of a shape. We show that a model of attention control that spatially averages saliency values over proto-objects (POs), fragments of feature-similar visual space, is better able to predict the fixation density maps and scanpaths made during the free viewing of 384 natural scenes by 12 participants than comparable saliency models that do not consider shape. We further show that this image-computable PO model is nearly as good in predicting fixations (density and scanpaths) as a model of fixation prediction that uses hand-segmented object labels. We interpret these results as suggesting that the spotlight of attention has a shape, and that these shapes can be quantified as regions of space that we refer to as POs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of compliance for organisational change

PurposeFuelled by the latest scandals at Siemens, VW or Walmart, there is a lively debate on the role of compliance and ethics programmes. Unlike large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) arguably tend to underestimate their significance and lag behind. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to shed light on the process of introducing compliance codes and its effects on employee acceptance and performance.Design/methodology/approachIn line with the qualitative methodology, the authors conducted 12 in-depth interviews with German SME employees which the authors evaluated with the qualitative content analysis.FindingsAs for the major contribution, results indicate the emergence of a lack of understanding, anger, anxiety and operational performance losses – both at the individual and the corporate level – especially when employees feel uninvolved in the initial introduction stadium.Originality/valuePracticing managers may benefit from the recommendation to facilitate staff involvement at earlier stages. As for theory advancement, the authors draw on Kotter’s (2007) long surviving “Eight Steps Change Management Model” and find significant support for shifting the spotlight of attention towards the first four phases. The authors discuss the original value of the research, admit limitations and illuminate some promising future research trajectories.

Enabling Sustainable Cyber Physical Security Systems through Neuromorphic Computing

As the novel paradigm in the field of machine learning, reservoir computing possesses exceptional performance, e.g., energy efficiency, in tasks in which the traditional von Neumann computing systems cannot incorporate. This makes reservoir computing an ideal candidate to enable the sustainable development of cyber-physical systems (CPS). In the realm of CPS, the tight interaction among physical objects places security threats under the spotlight of attention. For such systems, especially the power grid network, false data injection could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences such as blackouts in large geographical areas. In this paper, we will introduce a reservoir computing architecture, the delayed feedback system, and apply the reservoir computing architecture for anomaly detection. To be specific, detailed design of the three imperative components in the delayed feedback system will be discussed and the corresponding energy efficiency performance will be analyzed. The application of the reservoir computing architecture to anomaly detection in a smart grid network will be introduced.

Differences in change blindness to real-life scenes in adults with autism spectrum conditions

People often fail to detect large changes to visual scenes following a brief interruption, an effect known as ‘change blindness’. People with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have superior attention to detail and better discrimination of targets, and often notice small details that are missed by others. Together these predict people with autism should show enhanced perception of changes in simple change detection paradigms, including reduced change blindness. However, change blindness studies to date have reported mixed results in ASC, which have sometimes included no differences to controls or even enhanced change blindness. Attenuated change blindness has only been reported to date in ASC in children and adolescents, with no study reporting reduced change blindness in adults with ASC. The present study used a change blindness flicker task to investigate the detection of changes in images of everyday life in adults with ASC (n = 22) and controls (n = 22) using a simple change detection task design and full range of original scenes as stimuli. Results showed the adults with ASC had reduced change blindness compared to adult controls for changes to items of marginal interest in scenes, with no group difference for changes to items of central interest. There were no group differences in overall response latencies to correctly detect changes nor in the overall number of missed detections in the experiment. However, the ASC group showed greater missed changes for marginal interest changes of location, showing some evidence of greater change blindness as well. These findings show both reduced change blindness to marginal interest changes in ASC, based on response latencies, as well as greater change blindness to changes of location of marginal interest items, based on detection rates. The findings of reduced change blindness are consistent with clinical reports that people with ASC often notice small changes to less salient items within their environment, and are in-line with theories of enhanced local processing and greater attention to detail in ASC. The findings of lower detection rates for one of the marginal interest conditions may be related to problems in shifting attention or an overly focused attention spotlight.

Behavioral Oscillations in Visual Attention Modulated by Task Difficulty.

The spotlight of attention is full of discrete moments and operates periodically. Recently, it has been well-documented there were behavioral oscillations in visual attention, however, different periodicities were demonstrated. Task difficulty may be an important factor causing disagreement in attentional periodic patterns. The present study examined behavioral oscillations in visual attention during difficult and easy tasks. A modified high temporal resolution cue-target paradigm in which the cue-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOAs) varied from 0.1 to 1.08 s in steps of 20 ms was used. The target was detected with the accuracy of 65% in the difficult condition and 75% in the easy condition. Oscillatory patterns were analyzed and observed in behavioral performance. A theta rhythm was visible in the difficult version. However, attention oscillation increased to a higher frequency in the easy version. Task difficulty was negatively related to power for all bands. Our findings suggest that the attention spotlight switched faster when the task was easy, while, it switched much more slowly when the task was difficult in order to obtain more information. A flexible mechanism for attention spotlight was demonstrated, and task demand modulated attention oscillations.

Pendidikan Karakter Berbasis Al-Quran

This article discusses the problem of character education. Character education into the spotlight of attention lately because of the decline, which resulted in the decline of morals. In the Qur'an, the characters use the term "akhlaq" who interpreted the will of the conditioned. Will and habit give rise to power. In the habit of producing a good deed is called akhlakul karimah. Character education is a deliberate effort to help character development with optimal. Character education can't just transfer knowledge or train a certain skill. Character education need to process, examples of exemplary, and conditioning or pembudayaan in the environment of the learners in the school environment, family, or community environment. Character education in the Qur'an need to pay attention to the importance of the cultivation of the moral dimensions of commendable (akhlakul karimah).

JOKOWI MEMBANGUN SOLO: STUDI KASUS ATAS GAYA KEPEMIMPINAN WALIKOTA SOLO DALAM PROSES RELOKASI PEDAGANG KAKI LIMA MONUMEN ’45 BANJARSARI, SURAKARTA

ABSTRACT Implementation of relocation of street vendors (PKL) has now become the spotlight of public attention. Frequent clashes in various cities in Indonesia between government officials are generally represented by the Pramong Satuan Polisi Praja (Satpol PP) with street vendors. However, this did not happen in Solo, Central Java during the reign of Governor Joko Widodo in 2006. This study aims to find an answer to how Joko Widodo's leadership style (also known as Jokowi) as Mayor of Surakarta to approach the street vendors In Monument '45 Banjarsari Surakarta so they can move without risk or resistance effectively. To understand the concept of leadership style used in the relocation process done by Jokowi in Solo, the researcher conducted a qualitative analysis to develop typology and found five main interpretations of his leadership style from the point of view of street vendors. Leadership style is: populist, sembodo (consistent), nguwongke (appreciate), ngemong (care) and visionary. The results show that street vendors with a background in Solo need a psychological and cultural approach to conduct relocation without resistance. Keywords: street vendors, relocation, leadership style, cultural influences

Corporate Social Responsibility in Agribusiness: Literature Review and Future Research Directions

Changes in social framework conditions, accelerated by globalization or political inventions, have created new societal demands and requirements on companies. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often considered a potential tool for meeting societal demands and criticism as a company voluntarily takes responsibility for society. The spotlight of public attention has only recently come to focus on agribusiness-related aspects of CSR. It is therefore the objective of this paper to provide an overview and a critical examination of the current state of research into CSR in agribusiness from different perspectives. Upon that this paper goals to define CSR special cases in agribusiness and derive implications for further research. CSR in agribusiness is a multi-dimensional and complex concept, which is sensitive to ongoing exchange processes between companies and stakeholders. We conclude with the special position of CSR in agribusiness and that future research should focus on adding value to industry-specific CSR aspects in the general CSR framework borrowed from management literature. Explorative fieldwork such as expert interviews with different stakeholders might be suitable for gaining insights into agribusiness-specific aspects of CSR in firms.

Opening Holes in the Blanket of Inhibition: Localized Lateral Disinhibition by VIP Interneurons.

Most inhibitory interneurons have axons restricted to a nearby area and target excitatory neighbors indiscriminately, raising the issue of how neuronal activity can propagate through cortical circuits. Vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing interneurons (VIPs) disinhibit cortical pyramidal cells through inhibition of other inhibitory interneurons, and they have very focused, "narrow" axons. By optogenetically activating single VIPs in live mice while recording the activity of nearby neurons, we find that VIPs break open a hole in blanket inhibition with an effective range of ∼120 μm in lateral cortical space where excitatory activity can propagate.