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The Journal of Nervous and Mental... Mar 2021People with schizophrenia often experience attentional impairments that hinder learning during psychological interventions. Attention shaping is a behavioral technique...
People with schizophrenia often experience attentional impairments that hinder learning during psychological interventions. Attention shaping is a behavioral technique that improves attentiveness in this population. Because reinforcement learning (RL) is thought to be the mechanism by which attention shaping operates, we investigated if preshaping RL performance predicted level of response to attention shaping in people with schizophrenia. Contrary to hypotheses, a steeper attentiveness growth curve was predicted by less intact pretreatment RL ability and lower baseline attentiveness, accounting for 59% of the variance. Moreover, baseline attentiveness accounted for over 13 times more variance in response to attention shaping than did RL ability. Results suggest attention shaping is most effective for lower-functioning patients, and those high in RL ability may already be close to ceiling in terms of their response to reinforcers. Attention shaping may not be a primarily RL-driven intervention, and other mechanisms of its effects should be considered.
Topics: Adult; Attention; Cognition; Female; Humans; Intelligence; Male; Reinforcement, Psychology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenic Psychology
PubMed: 33315800
DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001286 -
Neuroscience Feb 2023Dominance of the left hemisphere for language processing is a prominent feature of brain organisation. Whereas structural models clarify the functional asymmetry due to...
Dominance of the left hemisphere for language processing is a prominent feature of brain organisation. Whereas structural models clarify the functional asymmetry due to direct access to local language circuits, dynamic models propose functional states of intrahemispheric activation and interhemispheric inhibition that are coupled with attentional processes. Real word settings often require modulations of lateralised neural processing and further express individual heterogeneity. In this research, we tested left- and right-handers, and used a behavioural paradigm with presentation of lateralised cue-target pairs to the same or opposite visual field. We observed that handedness distinctly affected word processing in the left hemisphere following contralateral cueing. Moreover, left-hemispheric dominance strengthened for right-handers vs abolished for left-handers, influencing behavioural efficiency. In combination with eye dominance recordings, these data suggest that attentional biases guided the processing strategies of both groups and in turn their achievements. Therefore, hand and eye dominance are both essential factors with a functional role in directing the communication of visual information between both hemispheres. Overall, the findings underline the importance of interacting hand-eye control systems in contributing to interhemispheric patterns in the context of language processing.
Topics: Functional Laterality; Brain; Language; Dominance, Ocular; Attention; Dominance, Cerebral
PubMed: 36521590
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.12.006 -
Medicine Nov 2022Behavioral and neurophysiological experiments have demonstrated that distinct and common cognitive processes and associated neural substrates maintain allocentric and... (Review)
Review
Behavioral and neurophysiological experiments have demonstrated that distinct and common cognitive processes and associated neural substrates maintain allocentric and egocentric spatial representations. This review aimed to provide evidence from previous behavioral and neurophysiological studies on collating cognitive processes and associated neural substrates and linking them to the state of visuospatial representations in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Even though MCI patients showed impaired visuospatial attentional processing and working memory, previous neuropsychological experiments in MCI largely emphasized memory impairment and lacked substantiating evidence of whether memory impairment could be associated with how patients with MCI encode objects in space. The present review suggests that impaired memory capacity is linked to impaired allocentric representation in MCI patients. This review indicates that further research is needed to examine how the decline in visuospatial attentional resources during allocentric coding of space could be linked to working memory impairment.
Topics: Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Cognitive Dysfunction; Memory, Short-Term; Memory Disorders; Attention
PubMed: 36343037
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000031462 -
Journal of Vision Aug 2021Attentional processes are generally assumed to be involved in multiple object tracking (MOT). The attentional capture paradigm is regularly used to study conditions of...
Attentional processes are generally assumed to be involved in multiple object tracking (MOT). The attentional capture paradigm is regularly used to study conditions of attentional control. It has up to now not been used to assess influences of sudden onset distractor stimuli in MOT. We investigated whether attentional capture does occur in MOT: Are onset distractors processed at all in dynamic attentional tasks? We found that sudden onset distractors were effective in lowering probe detection, thus demonstrating attentional capture. Tracking performance as dependent measure was not affected. The attentional capture effect persisted in conditions of higher tracking load (Experiment 2) and was dramatically increased in lower presentation frequency of the onset distractor (Experiment 3). Tracking performance was shown to suffer only when onset distractors were presented serially with very short time gaps in between, thus effectively disturbing re-engaging attention on the tracking set (Experiment 4). We discuss that rapid dis- and re-engagement of the attention process on target objects and an additional more basic process that continuously provides location information allow managing strong disruptions of attention during tracking.
Topics: Attention; Humans
PubMed: 34379083
DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.8.16 -
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) Jun 2024Biological systems must allocate limited perceptual resources to relevant elements in their environment. This often requires simultaneous selection of multiple elements...
Biological systems must allocate limited perceptual resources to relevant elements in their environment. This often requires simultaneous selection of multiple elements from the same feature dimension (e.g. color). To establish the determinants of divided attentional selection of color, we conducted an experiment that used multicolored displays with four overlapping random dot kinematograms that differed only in hue. We manipulated (i) requirement to focus attention to a single color or divide it between two colors; (ii) distances of distractor hues from target hues in a perceptual color space. We conducted a behavioral and an electroencephalographic experiment, in which each color was tagged by a specific flicker frequency and driving its own steady-state visual evoked potential. Behavioral and neural indices of attention showed several major consistencies. Concurrent selection halved the neural signature of target enhancement observed for single targets, consistent with an approximately equal division of limited resources between two hue-selective foci. Distractors interfered with behavioral performance in a context-dependent fashion but their effects were asymmetric, indicating that perceptual distance did not adequately capture attentional distance. These asymmetries point towards an important role of higher-level mechanisms such as categorization and grouping-by-color in determining the efficiency of attentional allocation in complex, multicolored scenes.
Topics: Humans; Attention; Color Perception; Male; Female; Adult; Evoked Potentials, Visual; Electroencephalography; Young Adult; Photic Stimulation; Reaction Time; Color
PubMed: 38858841
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae240 -
Vision Research Oct 2020Visual attention can be tuned to specific features to aid in visual search. The way in which these search strategies are established and maintained is flexible,...
Visual attention can be tuned to specific features to aid in visual search. The way in which these search strategies are established and maintained is flexible, reflecting goal-directed attentional control, but can exert a persistent effect on selection that remains even when these strategies are no longer advantageous, reflecting an attentional bias driven by selection history. Apart from feature-specific search, recent studies have shown that attention can be tuned to target-nontarget relationships. Here we tested whether a relational search strategy continues to bias attention in a subsequent task, where the relationally better color and former target color both serve as distractors (Experiment 1) or as potential targets (Experiment 2). We demonstrate that a relational bias can persist in a subsequent task in which color serves as a task-irrelevant feature, both impairing and facilitating visual search performance. Our findings extend our understanding of the relational account of attentional control and the nature of selection history effects on attention.
Topics: Attentional Bias; Color Perception; Humans; Motivation; Reaction Time
PubMed: 32663647
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.06.004 -
Journal of Neurophysiology May 2021People's eyes are directed at objects of interest with the aim of acquiring visual information. However, processing this information is constrained in capacity,... (Review)
Review
People's eyes are directed at objects of interest with the aim of acquiring visual information. However, processing this information is constrained in capacity, requiring task-driven and salience-driven attentional mechanisms to select few among the many available objects. A wealth of behavioral and neurophysiological evidence has demonstrated that visual selection and the motor selection of saccade targets rely on shared mechanisms. This coupling supports the premotor theory of visual attention put forth more than 30 years ago, postulating visual selection as a necessary stage in motor selection. In this review, we examine to which extent the coupling of visual and motor selection observed with saccades is replicated during ocular tracking. Ocular tracking combines catch-up saccades and smooth pursuit to foveate a moving object. We find evidence that ocular tracking requires visual selection of the speed and direction of the moving target, but the position of the motion signal may not coincide with the position of the pursuit target. Further, visual and motor selection can be spatially decoupled when pursuit is initiated (open-loop pursuit). We propose that a main function of coupled visual and motor selection is to serve the coordination of catch-up saccades and pursuit eye movements. A simple race-to-threshold model is proposed to explain the variable coupling of visual selection during pursuit, catch-up and regular saccades, while generating testable predictions. We discuss pending issues, such as disentangling visual selection from preattentive visual processing and response selection, and the pinpointing of visual selection mechanisms, which have begun to be addressed in the neurophysiological literature.
Topics: Attention; Eye-Tracking Technology; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Saccades; Visual Perception
PubMed: 33730516
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00145.2019 -
Human Factors Aug 2023The aim of this review is to identify how visual occlusion contributes to our understanding of attentional demand and spare visual capacity in driving and the strengths... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this review is to identify how visual occlusion contributes to our understanding of attentional demand and spare visual capacity in driving and the strengths and limitations of the method.
BACKGROUND
The occlusion technique was developed by John W. Senders to evaluate the attentional demand of driving. Despite its utility, it has been used infrequently in driver attention/inattention research.
METHOD
Visual occlusion studies in driving published between 1967 and 2020 were reviewed. The focus was on original studies in which the forward visual field was intermittently occluded while the participant was driving.
RESULTS
Occlusion studies have shown that attentional demand varies across situations and drivers and have indicated environmental, situational, and inter-individual factors behind the variability. The occlusion technique complements eye tracking in being able to indicate the temporal requirements for and redundancy in visual information sampling. The proper selection of occlusion settings depends on the target of the research.
CONCLUSION
Although there are a number of occlusion studies looking at various aspects of attentional demand, we are still only beginning to understand how these demands vary, interact, and covary in naturalistic driving.
APPLICATION
The findings of this review have methodological and theoretical implications for human factors research and for the development of distraction monitoring and in-vehicle system testing. Distraction detection algorithms and testing guidelines should consider the variability in drivers' situational and individual spare visual capacity.
Topics: Humans; Automobile Driving; Attention; Visual Fields; Algorithms
PubMed: 33908809
DOI: 10.1177/00187208211010953 -
Journal of Vision Sep 2022Variability in the detection and discrimination of weak visual stimuli has been linked to oscillatory neural activity. In particular, the amplitude of activity in the...
Variability in the detection and discrimination of weak visual stimuli has been linked to oscillatory neural activity. In particular, the amplitude of activity in the alpha-band (8-12 Hz) has been shown to impact the objective likelihood of stimulus detection, as well as measures of subjective visibility, attention, and decision confidence. Here we investigate how preparatory alpha in a cued pretarget interval influences performance and phenomenology, by recording simultaneous subjective measures of attention and confidence (experiment 1) or attention and visibility (experiment 2) on a trial-by-trial basis in a visual detection task. Across both experiments, alpha amplitude was negatively and linearly correlated with the intensity of subjective attention. In contrast with this linear relationship, we observed a quadratic relationship between the strength of alpha oscillations and subjective ratings of confidence and visibility. We find that this same quadratic relationship links alpha amplitude with the strength of stimulus-evoked responses. Visibility and confidence judgments also corresponded with the strength of evoked responses, but confidence, uniquely, incorporated information about attentional state. As such, our findings reveal distinct psychological and neural correlates of metacognitive judgments of attentional state, stimulus visibility, and decision confidence when these judgments are preceded by a cued target interval.
Topics: Attention; Cues; Electroencephalography; Humans; Photic Stimulation; Visual Perception
PubMed: 36166234
DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.10.20 -
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor,... Dec 2020Previously reward-associated stimuli persistently capture attention. We attempted to extinguish this attentional bias through a reversal learning procedure where the...
Previously reward-associated stimuli persistently capture attention. We attempted to extinguish this attentional bias through a reversal learning procedure where the high-value color changed unexpectedly. Attentional priority shifted during training in favor of the currently high-value color, although a residual bias toward the original high-value color was still evident. Importantly, during a subsequent test phase, attention was initially more strongly biased toward the original high-value color, counter to the attentional priorities evident at the end of training. Our results show that value-based attentional biases do not quickly update with new learning and lag behind the reshaping of strategic attentional priorities by reward.
Topics: Attention; Color Perception; Female; Humans; Male; Motivation; Photic Stimulation; Reaction Time; Reward; Young Adult
PubMed: 33199473
DOI: 10.1101/lm.052027.120