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Current Opinion in Psychology Oct 2019Humans possess a primitive memory system for attention deployments that allows quick reorientation of visual attention to stimuli that are relevant to behavior at any... (Review)
Review
Humans possess a primitive memory system for attention deployments that allows quick reorientation of visual attention to stimuli that are relevant to behavior at any given moment. We review recent evidence regarding such attentional priming effects from a number of different perspectives. We discuss recent findings on the time course and duration of such effects, the potential interaction of priming and top-down attentional guidance; how priming can be used to probe the nature of visual representations and attentional templates; findings on the basic nature of priming effects and recent relevant findings on so-called serial dependencies that share many characteristics with attentional priming. Our discussion shows that priming effects are strong and occur on many levels of perceptual processing, and that these effects cannot and should not be thought of as reflecting the operation of any single type of mechanism. Additionally, our overview shows the utility of these paradigms in answering questions about how we represent statistical regularities of stimuli in our environment.
Topics: Attention; Humans; Memory; Visual Perception
PubMed: 30553136
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.11.013 -
Cognitive Neuroscience 2016Although there is strong evidence that human decision-making is frequently self-biased, it remains unclear whether self-biases mediate attention. Here we review evidence... (Review)
Review
Although there is strong evidence that human decision-making is frequently self-biased, it remains unclear whether self-biases mediate attention. Here we review evidence on the relations between self-bias effects in decision-making and attention. We ask: Does self-related information capture attention? Do self-biases modulate pre-attentive processes or do they depend on attentional resources being available? We review work on (1) own-name effects, (2) own-face effects, and (3) self-biases in associative matching. We argue that self-related information does have a differential impact on the allocation of attention and that it can alter the saliency of a stimulus in a manner that mimics the effects of perceptual-saliency. However, there is also evidence that self-biases depend on the availability of attentional resources and attentional expectancies for upcoming stimuli. We propose a new processing framework, the Self-Attention Network (SAN), in which neural circuits responding to self-related stimuli interact with circuits supporting attentional control, to determine our emergent behavior. We also discuss how these-bias effects may extend beyond the self to be modulated by the broader social context-for example, by cultural experience, by an in-group as opposed to an out-group stimulus, and by whether we are engaged in joint actions. Self-biases on attention are modulated by social context.
Topics: Attention; Decision Making; Ego; Executive Function; Humans; Nerve Net
PubMed: 25945926
DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2015.1044427 -
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Jun 2024In recent decades, a growing body of evidence has confirmed the existence of rhythmic fluctuations in attention, but the effect of inter-individual variations in these...
In recent decades, a growing body of evidence has confirmed the existence of rhythmic fluctuations in attention, but the effect of inter-individual variations in these attentional rhythms has yet to be investigated. The aim of this review is to identify trends in the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) literature that could be indicative of between-subject differences in rhythmic attention. A narrative review of the rhythmic attention and electrophysiological ADHD research literature was conducted, and the commonly-reported difference in slow-wave power between ADHD subjects and controls was found to have the most relevance to an understanding of rhythmic attention. A systematic review of the literature examining electrophysiological power differences in ADHD was then conducted to identify studies with conditions similar to those utilised in the rhythmic attention research literature. Fifteen relevant studies were identified and reviewed. The most consistent finding in the studies reviewed was for no spectral power differences between ADHD subjects and controls. However, the strongest trend in the studies reporting power differences was for higher power in the delta and theta frequency bands and lower power in the alpha band. In the context of rhythmic attention, this trend is suggestive of a slowing in the frequency and/or increase in the amplitude of the attentional oscillation in a subgroup of ADHD subjects. It is suggested that this characteristic electrophysiological modulation could be indicative of a global slowing of the attentional rhythm and/or an increase in the rhythmic recruitment of neurons in frontal attention networks in individuals with ADHD.
Topics: Humans; Attention; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Electroencephalography; Periodicity
PubMed: 38198019
DOI: 10.1007/s10484-023-09618-x -
Psychological Bulletin Oct 2016This article presents a comprehensive survey of research concerning interactions between associative learning and attention in humans. Four main findings are described.... (Review)
Review
This article presents a comprehensive survey of research concerning interactions between associative learning and attention in humans. Four main findings are described. First, attention is biased toward stimuli that predict their consequences reliably (). This finding is consistent with the approach taken by Mackintosh (1975) in his attentional model of associative learning in nonhuman animals. Second, the strength of this attentional bias is modulated by the value of the outcome (). That is, predictors of high-value outcomes receive especially high levels of attention. Third, the related but opposing idea that may result in increased attention to stimuli (Pearce & Hall, 1980), receives less support. This suggests that hybrid models of associative learning, incorporating the mechanisms of both the Mackintosh and Pearce-Hall theories, may not be required to explain data from human participants. Rather, a simpler model, in which attention to stimuli is determined by how strongly they are associated with significant outcomes, goes a long way to account for the data on human attentional learning. The last main finding, and an exciting area for future research and theorizing, is that and modulate both deliberate attentional focus, and more automatic attentional capture. The automatic influence of learning on attention does not appear to fit the traditional view of attention as being either or . Rather, it suggests a new kind of “derived” attention.
Topics: Association Learning; Attention; Humans
PubMed: 27504933
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000064 -
Trends in Neurosciences Aug 2022The course of pupillary constriction and dilation provides an easy-to-access, inexpensive, and noninvasive readout of brain activity. We propose a new taxonomy of... (Review)
Review
The course of pupillary constriction and dilation provides an easy-to-access, inexpensive, and noninvasive readout of brain activity. We propose a new taxonomy of factors affecting the pupil and link these to associated neural underpinnings in an ascending hierarchy. In addition to two well-established low-level factors (light level and focal distance), we suggest two further intermediate-level factors, alerting and orienting, and a higher-level factor, executive functioning. Alerting, orienting, and executive functioning - including their respective underlying neural circuitries - overlap with the three principal attentional networks, making pupil size an integrated readout of distinct states of attention. As a now widespread technique, pupillometry is ready to provide meaningful applications and constitutes a viable part of the psychophysiological toolbox.
Topics: Attention; Executive Function; Humans; Pupil
PubMed: 35662511
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.05.003 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Aug 2022Subitizing is the fast and accurate enumeration of small sets. Whether attention is necessary for subitizing remains controversial considering (1) subitizing is claimed... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Subitizing is the fast and accurate enumeration of small sets. Whether attention is necessary for subitizing remains controversial considering (1) subitizing is claimed to be "pre-attentive", and (2) existing experimental methods and results are inconsistent. To determine whether manipulations to attention demonstratively affect subitizing, the current study comprises a systematic review and meta-analysis. Results from fourteen studies (22 experiments, 35 comparisons) suggest that changes to attentional demands interferes with enumeration of small sets; leading to slower response times, lower accuracy, and poorer Weber acuity (p < .010; p < .001; p < .001; respectively)-notwithstanding a potential publication bias. A unifying framework is proposed to explain the role of attention in visual enumeration, with progressively greater attentional involvement from estimation to subitizing to counting. Our findings suggest attention is integral for subitizing and highlights the need to emphasise attentional mechanisms into neurocognitive models of numerosity processing. We also discuss the possible role of attention in numerical processing difficulties (e.g., dyscalculia).
Topics: Attention; Humans; Mathematics; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Reaction Time
PubMed: 35772633
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104753 -
Physiology & Behavior Jul 2022Numerous studies have shown that perception of emotion and emotional memory vary across the menstrual cycle. However, most of these studies used stimuli that contained...
Numerous studies have shown that perception of emotion and emotional memory vary across the menstrual cycle. However, most of these studies used stimuli that contained not only emotional but also social elements. Importantly, the social cognitive abilities of individuals are as crucial as emotional abilities for danger avoidance and recruitment of allies. Therefore, the issue that natural hormonal fluctuations may affect emotion processing should be revisited. To investigate whether the effects of the menstrual cycle are emotion-specific or can also be attributed to social information processing, the present study examined social attention across the menstrual cycle in three tasks-visual search, memory, and memory-guided orienting-with a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking measures. We used images of people standing upright with neutral emotion as social distractors and everyday objects with physical properties matched as non-social distractors. Thirty-six healthy women without hormone use and with stable menstrual cycles of 26 - 30 days participated in the three tasks in the late follicular phase (FP) and mid-luteal phase (LP), respectively. During visual search, participants were asked to search for targets accompanied by social or non-social distractors in complex scenes. Social attentional bias, as evidenced by longer search times and shorter gaze behaviors for targets with social distractors, was found in the FP but not in the LP. In the following memory task, memory accuracy for targets was higher in the FP than in the LP, and the memory for targets with social distractors was more precise in both phases. Finally, in the orienting task, targets in social scenes were detected more slowly than in non-social scenes in LP. Taken together, these findings point to the interplay between social attention, memory, and memory-oriented attention and reveal the distinct processing pathways for social information in the FP and LP. The underlying mechanisms from an evolutionary perspective and from behavioral and neural basis were discussed.
Topics: Attention; Attentional Bias; Cognition; Emotions; Female; Humans; Menstrual Cycle
PubMed: 35421422
DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113808 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Nov 2022Many models of attention assume that categorization (the individuation of events based on the feature dimension relevant for response selection) occurs only after an...
Many models of attention assume that categorization (the individuation of events based on the feature dimension relevant for response selection) occurs only after an object has been selected and encoded in working memory (WM). In contrast, we propose that the match between an item and the currently activated set of possible response features (categorization template) already modulates selective perceptual processing prior to WM encoding. To test this proposal, we measured electrophysiological markers of attentional engagement (N2pc components) and behavioral interference effects from posttarget distractors (PTDs) as a function of whether these distractors matched the categorization template. Participants were presented with rapid serial visual presentations (RSVPs) of digits and letters and had to identify a target indicated by a surrounding shape in these RSVP streams. Targets were drawn from a subset of items within an alphanumeric category. Accuracy was highest when the PTD belonged to the irrelevant alphanumeric category, lower when the PTD matched the target's alphanumeric category but not the categorization template, and lowest when the PTD matched the categorization template. On trials with template-matching PTDs, target-elicited N2pc components were temporally extended, indicative of additional attentional amplification triggered by these PTDs. We propose that this amplification produces increased competition between targets and PTDs, resulting in performance costs. These results provide new evidence for the continuous nature of evidence accumulation and attentional modulations during perceptual processing. They show that attentional selectivity is not exclusively mediated by search templates, but that categorization templates also play an important and often overlooked role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Electroencephalography; Attention; Memory, Short-Term; Visual Perception
PubMed: 36107663
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001058 -
Neuropsychologia Nov 2016In humans and non-human primates, the parietal lobe plays a key role in spatial attention - the ability to extract information from regions of space. This role is... (Review)
Review
In humans and non-human primates, the parietal lobe plays a key role in spatial attention - the ability to extract information from regions of space. This role is thought to be mediated by "priority" maps that highlight attention-worthy locations, and provide top-down feedback for motor orienting and attentional allocation. Traditionally, priority signals within the parietal cortex have been characterized as being purely spatial, i.e., encoding the desired locus of gaze or attention regardless of the context in which the brain generates that selection. Here, we highlight evidence from human behavior and neuroimaging as well as monkey physiology, to argue that non-spatial responses are critical to the establishment of priority maps in parietal cortex. This review offers an integrative view of the role that parietal cortex plays in attentional selection, providing evidence that priority maps reflect spatial and non-spatial priorities that ultimately act on sensory information in a spatial way.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Humans; Parietal Lobe; Space Perception
PubMed: 27256592
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.05.021 -
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine Mar 2019In daily life, it is critical that we are able to direct our visual attention to information that is important for our tasks while avoiding distracting information. To... (Review)
Review
In daily life, it is critical that we are able to direct our visual attention to information that is important for our tasks while avoiding distracting information. To control our attention, we engage "attentional templates" that reconfigure how incoming visual signals are processed in our brains. But what are these attentional templates and how do they work? Much of our understanding of the nature of attentional templates has been driven by the proposed mechanism linking attentional templates and working memory from the biased competition model [1] (Desimone and Duncan, 1995). Over the past 20 years, research inspired by this proposal has vastly increased our understanding of attentional control. This work has highlighted flexibility in attentional control, with multiple sources of control and flexible enhancement or suppression based on task demands.
Topics: Attention; Humans; Medicine; Task Performance and Analysis; Visual Perception
PubMed: 30923477
DOI: No ID Found