Distinguishing different strategies of across-dimension attentional selection

Selective attention in multidimensional displays has usually been examined using search tasks requiring the detection of a single target. We examined the ability to perceive a spatial structure in multi-item subsets of a display that were defined either conjunctively or disjunctively. Observers saw two adjacent displays and indicated whether the to-be-selected items within the two displays matched in terms of their spatial structure (the identity of the corresponding items within these subsets was not relevant to the task). The observers in our study could readily perceive conjunctively defined subsets, but had great difficulty with disjunctively defined subsets. The results pose a challenge to the popular idea that attention is guided by a "priority map" that sums bottom-up and top-down factors, whereas they are directly predicted by Boolean map theory of visual attention.     

The different roles of category- and feature-specific attentional control settings on attentional enhancement and inhibition

Contingent attentional capture suggests that top-down attentional control settings (ACS) can enhance attentional processing of task-relevant properties and inhibit attentional processing of task-irrelevant properties. However, it remains unclear how ACS operates when a distractor has both task-relevant and task-irrelevant characteristics. In the present study, two lateralized ERP components, N2pc and distractor positivity (Pd), were employed as markers of attentional enhancement and inhibition, respectively. The degree of matching between a distractor and a conjunctively defined target was manipulated to illustrate attentional guidance by category-specific ACS (cACS) and feature-specific ACS (fACS), and the relative position between the distractor and the target was manipulated to isolate the processing of the distractor and the target. Experiment 1 showed that, with a long display duration for searching, a reliable N2pc component was elicited by a distractor that was feature-matched but category-mismatched (C-F+) relative to the target-defined properties, suggesting an enhancing effect of fACS. In contrast, Experiment 2 demonstrated that, with a short display duration, a Pd component was elicited by a distractor that was feature-mismatched but category-matched (C+F-) relative to the target-defined properties, suggesting an inhibitory effect of fACS. Moreover, both attentional enhancement and inhibition were only triggered by fACS but not by cACS. In summary, ACS can enhance target-relevant properties or inhibit target-irrelevant properties in response to the display duration, and fACS affects both enhancement and inhibition more than cACS.     

Size of the attentional focus and efficiency of processing

By following Eriksen and St. James (1986) the experiments reported in this study focused upon three questions: (a) Can the spatial extent of the attentional focus be made to vary in response to precues? (b) As the area of the attentional focus increases, is there a decrease in processing efficiency for stimuli within the focus? (c) Is the boundary of the focus sharply demarked from the residual field or does it show a gradual dropoff? The results seem to provide answers to these questions: (a) the size of the attentional focus can be adjusted so that it covers areas of the visual field of different size; (b) there is a decrease in processing efficiency when the area of the attentional focus increases; and (c) there is a gradual dropoff in processing efficiency around the attentional focus.     

Effects of long-term meditation practice on attentional biases towards emotional faces: An eye-tracking study

Attentional biases towards affective stimuli reflect an individual balance of appetitive and aversive motivational systems. Vigilance in relation to threatening information reflects emotional imbalance, associated with affective and somatic problems. It is known that meditation practice significantly improves control of attention, which is considered to be a tool for adaptive emotional regulation. In this regard, the main aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of meditation on attentional bias towards neutral and emotional facial expressions. Eyes were tracked while 21 healthy controls and 23 experienced meditators (all males) viewed displays consisting of four facial expressions (neutral, angry, fearful and happy) for 10 s. Measures of biases in initial orienting and maintenance of attention were assessed. No effects were found for initial orienting biases. Meditators spent significantly less time viewing angry and fearful faces than control subjects. Furthermore, meditators selectively attended to happy faces whereas control subjects showed attentional biases towards both angry and happy faces. In sum we can conclude that long-term meditation practice adaptively affects attentional biases towards motivationally significant stimuli and that these biases reflect positive mood and predominance of appetitive motivation.     

Interaction of attentional and motor control processes in handwriting

The interaction between attentional capacity, motor control processes, and strategic adaptations to changing task demands was investigated in handwriting, a continuous (rather than discrete) skilled performance. Twenty-four subjects completed 12 two-minute handwriting samples under instructions stressing speeded handwriting, normal handwriting, or highly legible handwriting. For half of the writing samples, a concurrent auditory monitoring task was imposed. Subjects copied either familiar (English) or unfamiliar (Latin) passages. Writing speed, legibility ratings, errors in writing and in the secondary auditory task, and a derived measure of the average number of characters held in short-term memory during each sample ("planning unit size") were the dependent variables. The results indicated that the ability to adapt to instructions stressing speed or legibility was substantially constrained by the concurrent listening task and by text familiarity. Interactions between instructions, task concurrence, and text familiarity in the legibility ratings, combined with further analyses of planning unit size, indicated that information throughput from temporary storage mechanisms to motor processes mediated the loss of flexibility effect. Overall, the results suggest that strategic adaptations of a skilled performance to changing task circumstances are sensitive to concurrent attentional demands and that departures from "normal" or "modal" performance require attention.     

Effects of test anxiety on motor learning: The processing efficiency hypothesis

Abstract

The hypothesis that, under test (stress) conditions, high trait-anxious individuals invest extra processing resources to reach motor learning levels similar to those of low-anxious individuals was investigated. A transfer procedure (practice trial, rest interval, and transfer trial) was employed to analyse motor learning effects. In Experiment 1, a secondary task (click detection) was used to measure the extra processing resources expenditure on motor learning during the practice trial. Neither motor performance in the transfer trial nor secondary task performance differed as a function of test condition or anxiety trait. A critical analysis of the secondary task paradigm suggested that it was not sensitive enough to reflect the amount of processing capacity expended on the primary motor tasks. In Experiment 2, subjects performed a loading task (verbal shadowing of sentences) concurrently with the motor tasks during the practice trial to prevent extra resources from being allocated to motor learning. Results showed that anxiety trait was associated to performance time increments on the high-demanding motor tasks in the transfer trial. A plausible explanation is that anxiety impairs learning because it reduces the efficiency of processing. An alternative interpretation, concerning an ability deficit of high trait-anxious individuals, is discussed.     

Hemispheric asymmetry in the efficiency of attentional networks

Despite the fact that hemispheric asymmetry of attention has been widely studied, a clear picture of this complex phenomenon is still lacking. The aim of the present study was to provide an efficient and reliable measurement of potential hemispheric asymmetries of three attentional networks, i.e. alerting, orienting and executive attention. Participants (N=125) were tested with the Lateralized Attention Network Test (LANT) that allowed us to investigate the efficiency of the networks in both visual fields (VF). We found a LVF advantage when a target occurred in an unattended location, which seems to reflect right hemisphere superiority in control of the reorienting of attention. Furthermore, a LVF advantage in conflict resolution was observed, which may indicate hemispheric asymmetry of the executive network. No VF effect for alerting was found. The results, consistent with the common notion of general right hemisphere dominance for attention, provide a more detailed account of hemispheric asymmetries of the attentional networks than previous studies using the LANT task.     

Effects of unintentional coordination on attentional load

The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of unintentional (spontaneous) coordination on high attentional visual load. More precisely, we wondered whether such coordination could free up some attentional resources and help improve performance in other more demanding attentional tasks. An experiment was performed in which participant attentional allocation was challenged by performing three tasks simultaneously while simultaneously being induced to unintentional entrain to an environmental rhythm. The first task was an interception task associated with a Stroop test to increase their attentional load. The second task was a reaction time test to alarms in different modalities (auditory, visual and bimodal) which was used to assess participant attentional load. The third task was a motor task in which participants were asked to swing their legs at a preferred frequency. The interface background brightness intensity was either synchronized in real time using a bidirectional coupling to participant leg movement or the background brightness was not changing at all. Our results on the reaction time task demonstrated that participants exhibited better reaction times for alarms in the bimodal condition than in the auditory condition and lastly for the visual condition. Also, participants exhibited a lower reaction time to alarms when the background brightness was synchronizing with their leg regardless the alarm modality. Overall, our study suggests a beneficial effect of unintentional environmental coordination on attentional resource allocation and highlights the importance of bidirectionality in interaction.     

Effects of attentional focusing on pain perception

Two experiments were conducted to examine the hypothesized differential effectiveness of two attentional focusing strategies in pain perception. In the first experiment, subjects (72 male college students) rated their levels of pain after being exposed to either low- or high-intensity pressure stimulation for 75 s. Subjects were instructed to use either an external or internal focus of attention during the pain induction. Results revealed that external focusing was more effective for coping than internal focusing across both levels of stimulus intensity. The second experiment was a replication of the first, and featured bolstered internal focusing and stimulus intensity manipulations. Results showed that high-intensity stimulation produced higher pain ratings than did low-intensity stimulation for subjects in the internal focusing conditions, but not for those in the external focusing conditions. The findings support the power of distraction strategies for dealing with short-term pain with a rapid onset. Theoretical implications are discussed.The authors thank Darwyn E. Linder and Daniel M. Landers for their help in development of this research. The authors are also indebted to Sarah Colley, Jona Davis, Nanci Neuberger, and Rebecca Roberts for their assistance in data collection.     

Effects of variable practice on retention and motor schema development in Down syndrome subjects

Portions of Schmidt's schema theory, the effects of variable practice on retention and ability to learn a novel motor task, were tested using Down syndrome subjects. 23 subjects ranged in mental and chronological ages from 3.0 to 5.1 yr. and 4.6 to 22 yr., respectively. IQs ranged from 32 to 62. The two throwing tasks were closed, discrete movements requiring no feedback or error detection during movement. Subjects were randomly assigned to a specific-practice, variable-practice, or control group. Specific group subjects practiced 100 trials from the test-target location. Variable-practice subjects also practiced 100 trials but from four different practice locations. The control group practiced an unrelated kicking activity. All subjects participated in identical pretests, posttests, and retention tests to assess accuracy on these throwing tasks. A standard archery target was used to score tosses. To examine the effects of practice on a novel task, two target conditions, or tasks, were employed. On Task A the subject tossed a bean bag at the archery target placed flat on the floor. For Task B, the novel task, the target was placed upright on the wall. Subjects were assigned higher scores for tosses landing closer to the center of the target. Analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between groups on Task A pretest or posttest. Significance was detected for the main effect of group for Task B. However, the Scheffé post hoc test indicated that the simple main effects were nonsignificant. This research did not support Schmidt's schema theory.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Effects of attentional set and rhythmic complexity on attending

In a target detection task involving sustained attentional monitoring, rhythmic properties of tone sequences were found to affect detection performance (area under receiver-operating characteristic curves) and reaction times. Alternating tone frequencies (high, low) formed three different recurrent rhythms (binary, trinary, mixed) which varied in complexity. Attentional set was also manipulated so that participants attended either to tones of both frequencies (divided) or to only the higher of the two tones (selective). The most interesting finding involved an interaction between attentional set and rhythm, indicating that selective attending is enhanced by the most complex (mixed) rhythm, whereas divided attending tends to be best with the simplest rhythm (binary). Results are discussed in terms of a theory of dynamic attending, in which it is assumed that listeners actively use attending oscillators to direct attending.     

Beyond attentional strategies: cognitive-perceptual model of somatic interpretation

The meaning people assign to physical sensations can have profound implications for their physical and psychological health. A predominant research question in somatic interpretation asks if it is more adaptive to distract one's attention away from a potentially unpleasant sensation or to focus one's attention on it. This question, however, has yielded equivocal answers. Many apparent ambiguities in this research can be traced to a failure to distinguish the content of a person's attention from its mere direction or degree. A model of somatic interpretation is discussed, incorporating not only perceptual focus but also the attributions, goals, coping strategies, and prior hypotheses of the perceiver, thus delineating the psychobiological conditions under which various attentional strategies should be adaptive. In contrast to the prevailing concern with when and why somatic distraction doesn't "work," this conceptual analysis also considers when and why somatic attention does. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed, as is the potential utility of somatic attention in cardiac rehabilitation and multiple sclerosis.     

Effects of progressive exercise on attentional focus.

To replicate 1986 work of Salmela and Ndoye on whether physical arousal from riding a stationary bicycle led to narrowing of attentional focus 17 subjects responded to a verbal 5-choice RT task while pedalling to exhaustion. Increased heart rates with increased physical stress (bicycle resistance increased) was not associated with narrowing of attention. When heart rates were 160 and 180 bpm, RTs to stimuli peripherally located to the right were slower than central ones. Further evaluation is required.     

Effects of attentional focus on movement coordination complexity

Attentional focus affects performance and learning of motor tasks. An external attentional focus (on the effects of movement) can lead to more efficient and effective movements compared to an internal focus (on body movement itself). According to the “constrained action hypothesis”, an external focus facilitates fast and reflexive movement control while an internal focus leads to disruption of automatic coordination processes. Such disruption should be apparent in the complexity of movement. In this study, multiscale entropy measures were used to investigate if the external focus is related to superior coordination complexity compared to internal focus. Twenty participants were divided in two groups that balanced over an unstable platform in fourteen trials over two days, either with internal or external focus of attention instructions, followed by seven retention trials on the third day. Multiscale entropy measures were used to quantify complexity of motions of the platform, the participant, and the composite of participant and platform motions. Results were contrary to expectations. For the external focus group, despite better overall performance, multiscale entropy values of participant and composite motions were lower in some scales compared to the internal focus group, especially in the first and last days. This may be consistent with previous findings that predictability increases during learning of a balance task. Results also indicate the need to identify the correct physiological interpretation of single or multiscale entropy measures. Further investigation is needed to establish if entropy differences are causally related to performance and learning advantages of the external focus.     

Effects of emotion regulation on concurrent attentional performance

We explored the attentional demands of unpleasant picture viewing and emotion regulation strategies. Participants received instructions to view, reappraise, or suppress their emotional experience to unpleasant and neutral pictures, while performing a concurrent auditory discrimination task, both during and after the picture presentation period. Reaction times (RTs) were slower during unpleasant than neutral pictures, which persisted into the post-picture period. RTs were also slower during reappraisal and suppression than viewing and for earlier than later tones following picture onset. An enduring effect of negative emotion was found in the picture and post picture period for suppression but not reappraisal. Findings suggest that both viewing emotional stimuli and regulating one’s emotions using either reappraisal or suppression draw upon common attentional resources, but with suppression resulting in the distinct cost of maintaining the effects of negative emotion.     

Variability of motor strategies.

The capability of the speech motor system to be adjustable is shown through the investigation of activity patterns of the mandibular and labial muscle systems, respectively. Different individuals use individual motor strategies for the production of jaw and lip movements, different patterns of muscle activity producing the same speech motor objective.     

Differential effects of avoidant and attentional coping strategies on adaptation to chronic and recent-onset pain

Examined the effectiveness of attentional and avoidant coping strategies for somatic, behavioral, and psychological adaptation to clinical pain. Subjects were 30 chronic and 30 recent-onset pain patients who used either attentional or avoidant coping strategies in response to their pain. Based on a review of the coping literature, it was hypothesized that subjects with recent-onset pain would demonstrate greater adaptation (lower anxiety, depression, lower pain severity and somatization ratings, and higher levels of social activity) when employing avoidant rather than attentional strategies. Chronic pain subjects using attentional strategies were predicted to demonstrate greater adaptation than chronic pain subjects using avoidant strategies. The results supported this "time x strategy" hypothesis. Implications for pain treatment programs are discussed, and suggestions are made for matching pain duration with patient coping style.     

Children's motor imagery modality dominance modulates the role of attentional focus in motor skill learning

We investigated whether children's motor imagery dominance modulated the relationship between attentional focus and motor learning of a tossing task. One hundred and thirty-eight boys (age: M = 10.13, SD = 0.65) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire – Children (MIQ-C) to determine imagery modality dominance (kinesthetic, internal-visual, external-visual) and were randomly assigned to either an internal (n = 71) or external (n = 67) attentional focus group. Participants completed 60 trials of a tossing task with their non-dominant hand on day 1. Participants in the internal focus group were asked “to focus on the throwing arm”, whereas participants in the external focus group were instructed “to focus on the ball.” A retention test was conducted 24 h later to assess motor learning. Overall, the results from a nested, multiple linear regression analysis indicated the degree to which internal or external focus influences children's throwing accuracy is dependent upon their motor imagery modality dominance. Specifically, higher levels of external-visual imagery dominance resulted in greater motor learning for children adopting an external focus. In contrast, higher values of kinesthetic imagery dominance resulted in reduced motor learning for children who adopted an external focus. Despite the need for future research, we recommend motor imagery modality dominance assessments be considered when investigating the influence of attentional focus on motor learning, particularly when the target population is children.     

Shifting visual attention and selecting motor responses: distinct attentional mechanisms.

Does shifting visual attention require the same central mechanism as that required for selecting overt motor responses? In Experiment 1, Ss performed 2 tasks: a speeded manual response to a tone and an unspeeded report of a cued target letter in a brief masked array. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between tone and array was varied. If the attention shift to the target was delayed by the first task, then there should be more second-task errors at short SOAs and on trials with slow first-task responses. In fact, SOA effects and dependencies were minimal. Results were unchanged in further experiments in which the relation between cue and target was symbolic, spatially "unnatural," or based on the color of the target. Two additional experiments validated key assumptions of the method. The results confirm that although selection of motor responses constitutes a processing bottleneck, the control of visual attention operates independently of this bottleneck.