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La Tunisie Medicale Oct 2009Attention is a complex function which matches environment's information to the needs of the organism. (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Attention is a complex function which matches environment's information to the needs of the organism.
AIMS
describe the different variety of attention, the attentionnel tests and attentional disorders in the psychiatric pathology.
METHODS
review of literature on PUBMED.
RESULTS
There are several types of attention such as selective attention, sustained attention and the divided attentions. Besides these different varieties of attention, we find the pre attentive phenomena: alertness and orientation which leads to preparing the attention. The investigation of attention requires different tools of measures such as the Stroop test, the Continuous performance test or the "test de Barrage de zazzo" and a few years ago the visual detection task of Posner and the attentional network test that explores the three attentional networks independently. In psychiatric illness, the attentional disorders are not specific although certain abnormalities are more suggestive of some pathology like the disengagement deficit in schizophrenia and the attention deficit and hyperactivity of children.
CONCLUSION
There are several types of attention and pre attentive phenomena which investigation require specific cognitive tests.
Topics: Attention; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Cognition; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 20187357
DOI: No ID Found -
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 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Jun 2021We propose a novel phenomenon, defined as the spread of attentive (or inattentive) states among members of a group. We examined attention contagion in a learning...
We propose a novel phenomenon, defined as the spread of attentive (or inattentive) states among members of a group. We examined attention contagion in a learning environment in which pairs of undergraduate students watched a lecture video. Each pair consisted of a participant and a confederate trained to exhibit attentive behaviors (e.g., leaning forward) or inattentive behaviors (e.g., slouching). In Experiment 1, confederates sat in front of participants and could be seen. Relative to participants who watched the lecture with an inattentive confederate, participants with an attentive confederate: (a) self-reported higher levels of attentiveness, (b) behaved more attentively (e.g., took more notes), and (c) had better memory for lecture content. In Experiment 2, confederates sat behind participants. Despite confederates not being visible, participants were still aware of whether confederates were acting attentively or inattentively, and participants were still susceptible to attention contagion. Our findings suggest that distraction is one factor that contributes to the spread of inattentiveness (Experiment 1), but this phenomenon apparently can still occur in the absence of distraction (Experiment 2). We propose an account of how (in)attentiveness spreads across students and discuss practical implications regarding how learning is affected in the classroom. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Attention; Cognition; Humans; Learning; Students
PubMed: 33705196
DOI: 10.1037/xap0000341 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 1992Research in the field of selective visual attention has recently seen substantial progress in several areas. Neuroimaging and electrical recording results have indicated... (Review)
Review
Research in the field of selective visual attention has recently seen substantial progress in several areas. Neuroimaging and electrical recording results have indicated that selective attention amplifies neural activity in prestriate areas concerned with basic visual processing. Imaging and cellular studies are delineating the networks of anatomical areas that serve as the source of attentional modulation and have suggested that these networks are anatomically distinct from the sites of the resulting amplifications. Cognitive studies of visual search have explored the role of these amplified computations in the integration of visual features into objects. Attentional effects in normal subjects, and their disruption following brain injury, have revealed the mental representations upon which attention operates.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Humans; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena
PubMed: 1638148
DOI: 10.1016/0959-4388(92)90006-7 -
Progress in Neurobiology Nov 2003An engineering control approach is developed for the movement of attention, based on several features: experimental data indicating separate sites for attention... (Review)
Review
An engineering control approach is developed for the movement of attention, based on several features: experimental data indicating separate sites for attention modulation and for the creation of that modulation; the resulting analogy with motor control, to which an engineering approach has been applied; simulation and qualitative results supporting the presence of several of the necessary modules. These features are reviewed in the paper and a control model developed for the movement of attention. The engineering control framework is extended to the attended learning of motor control, again with description of support arising from simulations and qualitative analysis of several paradigms. The framework is even further extended to analyze how consciousness could arise during attentive processing, using the COrollary Discharge of Attention Movement (CODAM) model. This model is extended to encompass the temporal development of activity in various brain sites. Particular signals of the CODAM model are described and related to paradigms such as the attentional blink (AB) and features of simultaneous experience in neglect. A program of future explorations of the CODAM model and a set of open questions conclude the paper.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Brain; Consciousness; Humans; Models, Neurological; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 14698766
DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2003.10.002 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Sep 1992Two "attentive" tracking tasks reveal the existence of an attention-based motion process. In the first task, oppositely rotating luminance and color gratings were...
Two "attentive" tracking tasks reveal the existence of an attention-based motion process. In the first task, oppositely rotating luminance and color gratings were superimposed. Because of masking from the color grating, the bars of the luminance grating were not visible; nevertheless, their motion was visible and it determined the perceived direction of the stimulus rotation. On the other hand, the bars of the color grating were visible but they could only be seen to move (in the opposite direction to the overall stimulus rotation) when they were tracked with attention. In a second task, the perceived velocity of a color grating, typically slow at equiluminance, speeded up when individual bars were attentively tracked. These findings demonstrate two independent motion processes: one that is "low-level" or automatic in that it signals motion even in the absence of attention to the stimulus, and one that is mediated by attention to visible features and provides accurate velocity judgments independently of the features being tracked.
Topics: Attention; Color Perception; Humans; Motion Perception; Photic Stimulation; Vision, Ocular
PubMed: 1523411
DOI: 10.1126/science.1523411 -
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Dec 2008Aging is a condition characterized by a general decline in many types of physical and psychological performance, but its effects on various cognitive functions are still...
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Aging is a condition characterized by a general decline in many types of physical and psychological performance, but its effects on various cognitive functions are still controversial. When viewed along a time-course, several abilities clearly differ in their stability or decline with aging. Among psychological functioning in the elderly, changes in attention are not fully understood. The aim of our research was to analyze attentive performance in a sample of subjects aged 55-65, evaluating various aspects of attentive functioning with respect to the gender variable and to verify if aging affects all attentive functions equally.
METHODS
The sample included 80 subjects (44 men, 36 women) of 55-65 years of age. Attentional abilities were evaluated by means of multitask computerized assessment. The test involved seven tasks assessing simple reaction times and choice reaction times, visual, visual-spatial and auditory selectivity, digit span, divided attention, resistance to distraction, and attentive shifting.
RESULTS
Significant differences related to gender were found in attention shifting. To test possible decline in attentive function with age, performances among two age groups (55-59 and 60-65 yrs) were compared. Significant differences were shown in simple immediate attention span, selectivity, capacity to inhibit interference of non-pertinent signals, and attentive shifting.
CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates an age-related reduction in attentive efficiency but, notably, this decline does not involve all components of attention. Subjects over 60 years of age show progressive slowing in processing of complex tasks and a reduced capacity to inhibit irrelevant stimuli.
Topics: Aged; Aging; Attention; Cognition; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neural Inhibition; Reaction Time; Sex Factors
PubMed: 19179843
DOI: 10.1007/BF03324887 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Jan 2015Staying attentive is challenging enough when carrying out everyday tasks, such as reading or sitting through a lecture, and failures to do so can be frustrating and... (Review)
Review
Staying attentive is challenging enough when carrying out everyday tasks, such as reading or sitting through a lecture, and failures to do so can be frustrating and inconvenient. However, such lapses may even be life threatening, for example, if a pilot fails to monitor an oil-pressure gauge or if a long-haul truck driver fails to notice a car in his or her blind spot. Here, we explore two explanations of sustained-attention lapses. By one account, task monotony leads to an increasing preoccupation with internal thought (i.e., mind wandering). By another, task demands result in the depletion of information-processing resources that are needed to perform the task. A review of the sustained-attention literature suggests that neither theory, on its own, adequately explains the full range of findings. We propose a novel framework to explain why attention lapses as a function of time-on-task by combining aspects of two different theories of mind wandering: attentional resource (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) and control failure (McVay & Kane, 2010). We then use our "resource-control" theory to explain performance decrements in sustained-attention tasks. We end by making some explicit predictions regarding mind wandering in general and sustained-attention performance in particular.
Topics: Attention; Humans; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 25910383
DOI: 10.1177/1745691614556681 -
Human Movement Science Dec 2020Psychomotor studies have identified a key role for attention in skill performance and acquisition. However, the neural mechanisms that underpin attention's role in motor...
Psychomotor studies have identified a key role for attention in skill performance and acquisition. However, the neural mechanisms that underpin attention's role in motor control are not well understood. The current study investigated the differential effects of focus of attention upon short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI). SAI was chosen as it is positively correlated with the amount of sensory afference reaching the cortex. SAI is also sensitive to cholinergic influence, the same neurotransmitter involved in regulating attention, and is known to interact with other intracortical networks in the motor cortex. SAI in the first dorsal interosseous muscle was assessed while two separate groups produced the same physical sequential skill represented as a series of response key colors (external focus) or response fingers (internal focus). SAI was assessed at rest, immediately preceding, one element before or two elements before an index finger response. Compared to rest, both attention focus groups demonstrated a reduction in first dorsal interosseous SAI across the three sequence elements. However, the relative magnitude of SAI was greater under an internal focus of attention as an index finger response approached. This pattern indicates an attentional enhancement of somatosensory afference when attention is directed to a bodily dimension that counters the typical movement-related suppression of SAI. The current results support contemporary theories of attention's role in motor control, where an external focus of attention promotes a cortical state that maximizes effector coordination to maximize motor outcome.
Topics: Attention; Color; Female; Fingers; Humans; Male; Motor Cortex; Motor Skills; Nerve Net; Neural Inhibition; Neurotransmitter Agents; Parasympathetic Nervous System; Psychomotor Performance; Rest; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Young Adult
PubMed: 33202315
DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2020.102716 -
Behavioural Pharmacology Oct 2018Studies manipulating neural activity acutely with optogenetic or chemogenetic intervention in behaving rodents have increased considerably in recent years. More often,... (Review)
Review
Studies manipulating neural activity acutely with optogenetic or chemogenetic intervention in behaving rodents have increased considerably in recent years. More often, these circuit-level neural manipulations are tested within an existing framework of behavioural testing that strives to model complex executive functions or symptomologies relevant to multidimensional psychiatric disorders in humans, such as attentional control deficits, impulsivity or behavioural (in)flexibility. This methods perspective argues in favour of carefully implementing these acute circuit-based approaches to better understand and model cognitive symptomologies or their similar isomorphic animal behaviours, which often arise and persist in overlapping brain circuitries. First, we offer some practical considerations for combining long-term, behavioural paradigms with optogenetic or chemogenetic interventions. Next, we examine how cell-type or projection-specific manipulations to the ascending neuromodulatory systems, local brain region or descending cortical glutamatergic projections influence aspects of cognitive control. For this, we primarily focus on the influence exerted on attentional and motor impulsivity performance in the (3-choice or) 5-choice serial reaction time task, and impulsive, risky or inflexible choice biases during alternative preference, reward discounting or reversal learning tasks.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Behavior, Animal; Designer Drugs; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Optogenetics; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; Rodentia
PubMed: 30169376
DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000425