Dysfunction of attentional networks for non-emotional processing in negative affect

It is unclear whether negative affect is associated with the impairment of attentional networks for non-emotional processing. Using the attention network test (ANT), which assesses the efficiency of alerting, orienting, and executive attention, we attempted to clarify which attentional networks were related to negative affect, i.e., anxiety, depression, and social anxiety. Forty-three participants completed the self-report questionnaires and the ANT. Negative affect was negatively correlated with orienting efficiency but not executive attention. Our results indicate that people with negative emotionality have an impaired orienting network for non-emotional stimuli. It is suggested that attentional bias for threatening stimuli in negative affect is due to the original impairment of the orienting network.     

Responding to emotional scenes: effects of response outcome and picture repetition on reaction times and the late positive potential

Processing the motivational relevance of a visual scene and reacting accordingly is crucial for survival. Previous work suggests the emotional content of naturalistic scenes affects response speed, such that unpleasant content slows responses whereas pleasant content accelerates responses. It is unclear whether these effects reflect motor-cognitive processes, such as attentional orienting, or vary with the function/outcome of the motor response itself. Four experiments manipulated participants’ ability to terminate the picture (offset control) and, thereby, the response’s function and motivational value. Attentive orienting was manipulated via picture repetition, which diminishes orienting. A total of N?=?81 participants completed versions of a go/no-go task, discriminating between distorted versus intact pictures drawn from six content categories varying in positive, negative, or neutral valence. While all participants responded faster with repetition, only participants without offset control exhibited slower responses to unpleasant and accelerated responses to pleasant content. Emotional engagement, measured by the late positive potential, was not modulated by attentional orienting (repetition), suggesting that the interaction between repetition and offset control is not due to altered emotional engagement. Together, results suggest that response time changes as a function of emotional content and sensitivity to attention orienting depends on the motivational function of the motor response.     

Age-related differences in attentional networks of alerting and executive control in young, middle-aged, and older Chinese adults

Previous studies suggest that aging is associated with impairment of attention. However, it is not known whether this represents a global attentional deficit or relates to a specific attentional network. We used the attention network test to examine three groups of younger, middle-aged, and older participants with respect to the efficiency of three anatomically defined attentional networks: alerting network, orienting network, and executive control network. Age-related change was found to have the greatest effect on the executive network and the least effect on the alerting network as well as on overall mean response time. Impairment of the orienting network was found to be insignificant. Age-related deterioration of the prefrontal lobe, the dopaminergic system, and function of specific genes may explain the age-related changes in executive attention, which occur after the fourth decade of life.     

Behavioral inhibition and attentional network functioning

The goal of the present study was to examine the interrelations between the sensitivity of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and attentional network functioning (i.e., the orienting, alerting, and executive attentional networks), with the aim of identifying a potentially relevant mechanism for understanding the relation between BIS sensitivity and the pathogenesis of anxiety and its disorders. To this end, 99 participants were recruited from the community and administered a questionnaire assessing BIS sensitivity, as well as the Attentional Network Test. Results demonstrated a significant association between BIS sensitivity and enhanced orienting attention. Further, BIS sensitivity predicted orienting attention above and beyond relevant covariates, including state negative affect. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of BIS sensitivity in the pathogenesis of pathological anxiety.     

Orienting to counterpredictive gaze and arrow cues

In separate experiments, counterpredictive arrow, eye gaze, or abrupt-onset cues were used to test the hypothesis that individual differences in voluntary control influence involuntary orienting. In contrast with previous findings (Friesen, Ristic, & Kingstone, 2004), involuntary orienting effects were found for arrow cues.Furthermore, for both eye gaze and arrow cues, individual differences in voluntarycontrol were associatedwith involuntary orienting: Involuntary orienting effects were larger for participants who were more effective at using the cue to reorient attention, and also for participants who reported greater ability to control attention. Orienting to abrupt-onset cues was not correlated to individual differences in self-reported attentional control. The findings show that eye gaze and arrow cues instigate similar involuntary and voluntary effects and that involuntary orienting to symbolic cues is linked to individual differences in voluntary control.     

Inhibition of saccadic eye movements to locations in spatial working memory

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to a bias against overt and covert attentional orienting toward previously attended locations. According to the reorienting hypothesis, IOR is generated when attention is withdrawn from the attended location and is prevented from “returning” to it. The present study investigated whether maintenance of attention at the cued location could affect the inhibition of oculomotor orienting to it. To preclude disengagement of attention, we asked participants to maintain the cued location in working memory. Maintenance of visuospatial information in memory has been shown to be accomplished through a sustained shift of spatial attention to a memorized location. Our results show that oculomotor IOR occurs at a particular location even when that location is kept in working memory (Experiment 1). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the mere act of maintenance of a location in working memory produces oculomotor inhibition similar to IOR (Experiments 2 and 3). We conclude that the oculomotor system is used for coding and maintaining locations in spatial working memory. In addition, we demonstrate that endogenous attention associated with maintenance of a location in working memory can be dissociated from the attention needed for execution of a saccadic eye movement.     

对威胁刺激的注意偏向：注意定向加速还是注意解除困难？

对威胁刺激的注意偏向普遍存在。注意定向加速和注意解除困难在不同阶段对注意偏向产生影响。威胁刺激属性、呈现时间以及被试特征是重要的调节因素。以杏仁核为核心的杏仁核?前扣带回网络可能是注意定向加速的神经基础, 而以眶额叶为中心的前额叶皮层可能是注意解除的神经基础。未来还需要就注意定向加速与注意解除困难的关系、注意偏向的调节机制以及其神经基础做更深入的研究。     

Selective attention and avoidance on a pictorial cueing task during stress in clinically anxious and depressed participants

Although it is well established that attentional biases exist in anxious populations, the specific components of visual orienting towards and away from emotional stimuli are not well delineated. The present study was designed to examine these processes. We used a modified spatial cueing task to assess the speed of engagement and disengagement from supraliminal and masked pictorial cues depicting threat, dysphoria, or neutral content in 36 clinically anxious, 41 depressed and 41 control participants. Participants were randomly assigned to a stress or neutral condition. During stress, anxious participants were slow to disengage from masked left hemifield pictures depicting threat or dysphoria, but were quick to disengage from supraliminal threat pictures. Information processing in anxious participants during stress was characterized by early selective attention of emotional stimuli, occurring prior to full conscious awareness, followed by effortful avoidance of threat. Depressed participants were distinct from the anxious group, displaying selective attention for stimuli depicting dysphoria, but not threat, during the neutral condition. In sum, attentional biases in clinical populations are associated with difficulties in the disengagement component of visual orienting. Further, a vigilant-avoidant pattern of attentional bias may represent a strategic attempt to compensate for the early activation of a fear response.     

When Narrative Transportation Narrows Attention: Changes in Attentional Focus During Suspenseful Film Viewing

The construct of narrative transportation captures the psychological processes that occur when people experience an engaging narrative. Attention is an essential component of this construct: People often report feeling that they have focused attention into a narrative world, and disengaged attention from the physical environment. The goal of our research was to test if people’s attention is captured in a dynamic fashion over the course of narrative experiences. To achieve this goal, we used excerpts from narrative films. One way in which filmmakers command viewers’ attention is by generating suspense, which arises when viewers confront potential negative outcomes. In our experiments, we tested the hypothesis that hot spots, moments at which potential negative outcomes are emphasized, will narrow the viewer’s attentional focus compared to cold spots, moments that do not emphasize negative outcomes. We measured attentional tuning through latencies in reaction time to audio probes as participants viewed suspenseful film excerpts. We also administered post-viewing recognition memory tests for still images taken from hot and cold spots. Across three experiments, participants missed more probes and exhibited slower reaction times during suspenseful hot spots than cold spots. These findings provide evidence for changes in attentional tuning as people view film narratives.     

负性情境诱导下抑郁个体的情绪Stroop效应：ERPs研究

运用ERPs技术探讨了正常和抑郁个体在中性和负性情境诱导下的情绪Stroop效应。结果发现正常被试在负性情境下对中性词判断的错误率比在中性情境下更高,对负性词加工的P1波幅减小、N1增大,出现了Stroop效应;抑郁被试在两种情境下对负性词加工的P1和 N1波幅没有差异。研究结果提示,抑郁个体在负性情境下出现注意脱离困难和资源不足,难以解决情绪冲突任务,支持了注意脱离损伤假说,并进一步说明抑郁个体的情绪选择性注意加工会受到心境一致性状态的影响,因过多的注意资源卷入从而出现负性情绪调节不良。实验结果为探讨抑郁个体对负性情绪的注意加工和调节过程提供了来自电生理的证据。     

To look or not to look: an eye movement study of hypervigilance during change detection in high and low spider fearful students

Previous eye movement studies of attentional bias in spider fear reported inconsistent results with respect to early attentional capture, suggesting that overt attentional capture only reliably occurs under specific circumstances. In addition, none of these studies explored covert attention. The present study examined attentional bias in spider phobia using a change detection paradigm that was expected to provide good conditions for documenting attentional capture. In contrast to our expectations, eye movement data showed that all participants' first fixations were fastest on general negative targets, whereas participants' first fixations on spider targets were slower in the spider fearful than in the nonfearful group. In addition, spider fearful participants made more nontarget fixations before fixating on a spider target than did nonfearful participants. Thus, we found that participants' overt attention was more quickly focused on general negative targets, whereas covert attentional processes enabled initial avoidance of fear-relevant (i.e. spider) stimuli. The present findings have important implications for research on attention and fear as they indicate that fearful individuals are not characterized by static attentional orienting toward threat but, under certain conditions, may avert attention from threat automatically.     

Time‐of‐day variation of visuo‐spatial attention

Time‐of‐day variation of visuo‐spatial attention in relation to body temperature and subjective arousal was assessed. At five different times of day, alertness, covert, and overt orienting of attention were assessed in fifteen healthy subjects. Based on previous studies reporting a tight coupling of alerting and orienting the present study investigates potential attentional asymmetries induced by diurnal variations of arousal. Both covert and overt orienting of attention improved in the course of the day. However, no asymmetries between left and right visual hemifields could be detected. Covert orienting additionally covaried with body temperature, indicating a quite close relation between the attentional arousal and orienting system. Conversely, overt orienting only improved due to repeated testing but did not correlate with body temperature suggesting a partial independence of both modes of attentional orienting. It can be assumed that due to limited diurnal variations of arousal in the participants and practice effects caused by repeated testing, no attentional asymmetries could be provoked.     

Limits of control: The effects of uncontrollability experiences on the efficiency of attentional control

Two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of experiencing uncontrollability on the efficiency of attentional control. The experience of uncontrollability was induced either by unsolvable tasks (Experiment 1) or by tasks in which non-contingent feedback was provided (Experiment 2). A version of the Attentional Network Test-Interactions with an additional measure of vigilance (ANTI-V) was used to evaluate the efficiency of the attentional networks (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive). Results of both experiments revealed a decreased efficiency of executive attention in participants who experienced stable control deprivation but no negative effects in participants who were able to restore their sense of previously deprived control. Additionally, when participants were asked to perform unsolvable tasks and did not receive feedback (Experiment 1), detrimental effects on the orienting network and vigilance were observed. The motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of various uncontrollability experiences on conflict resolution and attentional control are discussed.     

Distinguishing between automaticity and attention in the processing of emotionally significant stimuli

There is contradicting evidence as to whether irrelevant but significant emotional stimuli can be processed outside the focus of attention. In the current study, participants were asked to ignore emotional and neutral pictures while performing a competing task. In Experiment 1, orienting of attention to distracting pictures was manipulated via a peripheral cue. In Experiment 2, attentional load was varied, either leaving spare attention to process the distracting pictures or, alternatively, depleting attentional resources. Although all pictures were task irrelevant, negative pictures were found to interfere more with performance in comparison to neutral pictures. This finding suggests that processing of negative stimuli is automatic in the sense that it does not require execution of conscious monitoring. However, interference occurred only when sufficient attention was available for picture processing. Hence, processing of negative pictures was dependent on sufficient attentional resources. This suggests that processing of emotionally significant stimuli is automatic yet requires attention.     

Aging in cognitive control of social processing: evidence from the attention network test

ABSTRACT

Aging seems to be associated with impairment of attentional network functioning. It is not known whether social information can modulate this age-related decline. We used three variants of Attention Network test to examine the age-related decline of attentional effects in response to stimuli with and without social-cognitive content. Three groups of younger, middle-aged, and older participants performed the ANT, using fish, drawings, or photographs of faces looking to the left or right as target and flanker stimuli. The results showed that both executive attention and alerting were more resistant to the age-related decline with social stimuli and that orienting attention scores showed a progressive increase with age in the presence of this kind of stimuli. These findings underline the importance of social information in modulating and contrasting the age-related decline and support the status of human faces as a special class of visual stimuli for the human attentional systems.     

Reflexive orienting to gaze is not luminance dependent

In the investigation of reflexive orienting to cues, two major theories have emerged: One proposes that transients created by the cue trigger attentional shifts, whereas the other argues that object changes are responsible for instigating orienting. In the present study, we examined whether luminance transients produced by the cue can generate reflexive orienting to gaze. Using a temporal order judgment paradigm under luminant or subjectively equiluminant conditions, participants judged which of two peripheral targets onset first. An uninformative gaze cue served to reflexively shift attention toward one object location, thereby temporally prioritizing the target presented there. The results revealed that attention was successfully shifted toward the cued object, as was evidenced by the participants’ selecting the cued object as appearing first significantly more often than the uncued object, even when the two onset simultaneously. Critically, the results were comparable across luminance conditions. Our findings reveal that luminance transients are not necessary for triggering orienting to gaze cues. We suggest that the orienting observed here can be better explained via an object-based hypothesis whereby object changes, not transients, trigger reflexive orienting.     

The flexibility of emotional attention: Accessible social identities guide rapid attentional orienting

There is extensive evidence that emotional-especially threatening-stimuli rapidly capture attention. These findings are often explained in terms of a hard-wired and relatively inflexible fear module. We propose an alternative, more flexible mechanism, arguing that motivational relevance is the crucial factor driving rapid attentional orienting. To test our hypothesis, we endowed initially neutral face stimuli with relevance by randomly assigning them to a social in-group or out-group during a 1-min learning phase, and used these faces as cues in a dot probe task to measure rapid attentional orienting. Across three experiments, we observed attentional orienting toward faces assigned to the out-group. Initial rapid orienting (after 100ms, Experiments 1 and 2) was observed only for familiar faces for which group membership was explicitly encoded, suggesting that rapid orienting may be based on affectively charged memory traces. At a later time point (after 500ms, Experiment 3), attention was deployed toward unfamiliar faces sharing a physical attribute (background color) with the familiar out-group faces, suggesting a more time-consuming on-line appraisal of the stimulus. The amount of attentional bias to out-group faces was correlated with individual differences in the accessibility of group identification. Our findings demonstrate that attentional prioritization mechanisms can be flexibly tuned by a brief learning phase of social identity. This is consistent with the idea that attention mechanisms subserving the selection and prioritization of emotional aspects of the environment are not static and hard-wired, but may rapidly adapt to recent changes in motivational contingencies.     

The hare and the snail: Dissociating visual orienting from conscious perception

A method for investigating attentional effects of peripheral visual objects, independently of perceptual identification, is described. We report an experiment using this method which shows that visual processing of peripheral objects differs radically, depending on whether participants move attention in response to an object or consciously perceive that object. When luminance contrast was reduced, conscious perceptual discrimination of peripheral letters was massively slower and less accurate—but both low and high contrast letters elicited rapid attentional orienting effects and these rapid orienting effects were equal in magnitude across low and high contrast. This pattern is consistent with known differences in luminance sensitivity between the dorsal and ventral visual processing streams, and with rapid dorsal–ventral interaction mediated via re-entrant feedback. Our findings show that the control system responsible for rapid movements of attention is exquisitely sensitive to visual form information at low levels of contrast, and involves a different neurocognitive pathway to that which gives rise to conscious perception.     

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.     

Memory-based attentional capture by colour and shape contents in visual working memory

Current theories assume that there is substantial overlap between visual working memory (VWM) and visual attention functioning, such that active representations in VWM automatically act as an attentional set, resulting in attentional biases towards objects that match the mnemonic content. Most evidence for this comes from visual search tasks in which a distractor similar to the memory interferes with the detection of a simultaneous target. Here we provide additional evidence using one of the most popular paradigms in the literature for demonstrating an active attentional set: The contingent spatial orienting paradigm of Folk and colleagues. This paradigm allows memory-based attentional biases to be more directly attributed to spatial orienting. Experiment 1 demonstrated a memory-contingent spatial attention effect for colour but not for shape contents of VWM. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that the placeholders used for spatial cueing interfered with the shape processing, and showed that memory-based attentional capture for shape returned when placeholders were removed. The results of the present study are consistent with earlier findings from distractor interference paradigms, and provide additional evidence that biases in spatial orienting contribute to memory-based influences on attention.