Contextual cueing in multiple object tracking

In this study, we examined whether visual context can be learned through a dynamic display and whether it can facilitate sustained attentional tracking by combining a multiple object tracking (MOT) task and a contextual cueing procedure. The trajectories of the targets and distractors in the MOT task were made invariant by repeatedly presenting them. The results revealed that when the targets were repeatedly displayed, tracking performance implicitly improved, and this effect was enhanced when the unattended distractors in the displays were also repeated. However, the repetition of the distractors alone did not produce any effect. Interestingly, when the targets and distractors were switched in a display in which the distractors had been previously repeated, the tracking performance was impaired as compared with that in the case of nonrepeated displays. We concluded that the contextual information in a dynamic display facilitates attentional tracking and that different types of contextual modulations occurred in MOT processes, such as facilitation for attended targets and inhibition for ignored distractors.     

Attentional capture by singletons is contingent on top-down control settings: Evidence from electrophysiological measures

The present study examined whether the capture of spatial attention is driven by stimulus salience (e.g., object uniqueness) or by a match to current attentional control settings (contingent capture). We measured the N2pc effect, a component of the event-related brain potential thought to reflect lateralized attentional allocation. On every trial, a noninformative cue display containing a colour singleton box was followed by a target display of letters. Participants searched for a target letter in a specified colour (in Experiments 1–3) or within a specified shape (in Experiment 4) while ignoring other stimuli. The key manipulation was whether the singleton cue contained the target-defining feature (e.g., a specific colour). Experiment 1 revealed signs of attention capture—a cue validity effect and an N2pc effect—only for singleton cues that contained the target-defining feature. This pattern persisted even when we increased the salience of the singleton box (Experiments 2 and 3). Irrelevant colour singletons also failed to produce a significant N2pc effect when the target was defined based on shape rather than colour (Experiment 4). We conclude that attention capture is strongly contingent on top-down attentional control settings, not bottom-up stimulus salience.     

What makes an angry face look so … angry? Examining visual attention to the shape of threat in children and adults

Threatening facial expressions like anger can signal potential danger. Past research has established that both adults and children have an attentional bias for angry faces, visually detecting their presence more quickly than happy or neutral faces. More recent research has suggested that specific features of angry faces (such as the downward-pointing “V” shaped brow) are the effective stimulus in their rapid detection. However, research examining this issue has only been done with adults. In the current research, we examine the detection of the features of the downward-pointing “V” in both adults and preschool children using a touchscreen visual search procedure. In two experiments, both adults and children detected the downward-pointing “V” more quickly than an upward-pointing “V”. As the first evidence that young children exhibit the same superior detection of the features of threatening facial expressions that adults do, this research provides important support for the existence of an evolved attentional bias for threatening stimuli.     

Interest Patterns as Related to Fields of Concentration Among Engineering Students

The author designed, constructed, and demonstrated an apparatus the function of which was to make possible the study of the effects of a stressor animal upon experimental animals.     

Encoding Strategies in Primary School Children: Insights From an Eye-Tracking Approach and the Role of Individual Differences in Attentional Control

The authors explored different aspects of encoding strategy use in primary school children by including (a) an encoding strategy task in which children's encoding strategy use was recorded through a remote eye-tracking device and, later, free recall and recognition for target items was assessed; and (b) tasks measuring resistance to interference (flanker task) and inhibition of attention to task-irrelevant stimuli (distractibility). Results revealed that the ability to inhibit distraction and resist interference undergoes developmental changes between the ages of 7–10 years. At the same time, children's capability to strategically focus on task-relevant aspects also continues to improve in primary school years. Although there were substantial relationships between encoding strategies and later recognition, encoding strategies appeared to be unrelated to basic aspects of attentional control.     

The Interrelationships Between Anxiety,Motor Performance and Electromyography

Notterman (1975) argued, contrary to my 1974 article, that the data obtained by Notterman and Page (1962) confirm the important role of proprioception in skilled performance. I argue that these data are in fact ambiguous when it comes to distinguishing the effects of proprioception from those of outflow control.     

Late reaction times identify MCI

A group of 172 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 79 healthy control participants (HC) were tested on simple reaction time (SRT). There was a significant difference between MCI and HC in mean SRT. The test could be partitioned into five segments of 16 trials each, but RT's were not always available for each partition. However, scores from each segment for 166 MCI and 41 of the HC's were available. These data showed that a significant interaction between RT‐partition and diagnostic category was the main source of the difference between groups. The interaction indicated that MCI patients performed at about the same level as HC in the initial three of the five segments of the test, but were significantly impaired during the last two segments of the 80 trials. The results were interpreted as impaired sustained attention among a large part of the MCI group, and the study shows the importance of taking into account all avaliable data resulting from this type of test.     

头部朝向在社会性注意转移中的作用

注视指向是非常重要的社会性注意线索,但是在日常情境中,注视指向往往伴随着头部朝向信息,而且两者都包含空间指向信息.已有研究发现头部朝向会影响注视指向知觉的速度和准确性,为注视指向提供参照系,进而会影响注视指向诱发的社会性注意.头部朝向和注视指向加工的神经机制也存在着广泛的重合.因此,除眼睛注视以外,头部朝向也是建构和完善基于心理模型的社会性注意机制的一个关键因素.未来的研究应关注头部朝向与眼睛注视指向共同影响注意转移的作用机制,并且从功能整合的角度开展神经机制研究.     

注意的跨文化研究及意义

Nisbett提出东西方文化差异可能导致了注意的差异,但是并没有对这种现象的原因和机制提出直接的证据.最近几年来,文化对注意过程的影响有了新的研究和发现,证实了Nisbett最初的观点是正确的.文化与注意的行为研究包括在整体与局部加工、场依存与场独立、变化盲等方面的研究.对于注意文化差异的潜在原因和机制,研究者们主要从发展性研究、ERP和FMRI研究等方面进行探讨.未来研究需要进一步探索文化对其它注意指标的影响、文化与注意的脑机制以及文化与注意的应用研究等等.