注意促进效应的ERP研究

近期发现,采用目标探测任务作为二级任务时,目标探测条件不仅不会削弱,甚至会提高记忆成绩,产生注意促进效应（ABE）。为进一步探究目标探测的作用机制,研究采用事件相关电位（ERP）技术,对比目标与分心条件在编码和提取过程中所诱发的ERP差异。结果表明,两类条件在再认过程中所诱发的ERP差异不仅表现在早期与知觉加工相关的ERP成份上,并且一直持续到了后期与细节提取相关的ERP成分上。由此推测,ABE不仅体现在编码早期的知觉加工阶段,更会延续到后期的复述与精加工。     

时间任务需求对无关情绪面孔注意捕获的影响

注意捕获是指与任务无关的刺激能够不自觉地吸引注意的现象。实验一采用视觉搜索任务,考察与主任务无关的情绪面孔的注意捕获水平及其机制,实验二进一步探究时间任务需求对无关情绪面孔注意捕获的影响。结果发现:与其他情绪面孔相比,愤怒的情绪面孔捕获了更多的注意,且受到整体情绪加工的影响;时间任务需求影响了目标刺激的注意选择,但愤怒优势效应不受到时间任务需求的影响,因此可能是一种较为自动化的加工过程。     

视觉工作记忆中的内部注意选择：效果、特性及机制

视觉工作记忆中(VWM)已稳定存储的表征,依然会受内部注意选择的影响,说明内部注意选择对VWM发挥重要作用。本文首先阐述该领域主要的研究方法,然后对VWM中内部注意选择的效果和四个特性：时程、对象、容量和可持续性,以及其背后可能的理论机制和神经机制进行分析和总结。并据此从VWM的存储结构、内部注意的产生机制和处理方式等方面,为未来研究提出方向和建议。     

Temporal dynamics of anxiety-related attentional bias: is affective context a missing piece of the puzzle?

Previous research has demonstrated that anxious individuals attend to negative emotional information at the expense of other information. This is commonly referred to as attentional bias. The field has historically conceived of this process as relatively static; however, research by [Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., &; Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Dynamics of attentional bias to threat in anxious adults: Bias towards and/or away? PLoS ONE, 9(8), e104025; Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., &; Koster, E. H. W. (2015). Temporal dynamics of attentional bias. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(5), 772–788.], and others, challenges this assumption by demonstrating considerable temporal variability in attentional bias amongst anxious individuals. Still, the mechanisms driving these temporal dynamics are less well known. Using a modified dot-probe task, the present study examined the impact of two relevant contextual variables- affective valence and trial repetition. Affective context was instantiated by the presentation of negative versus neutral pictures before each trial, while repetition context was achieved via the presentation of the valenced pictures in either a blocked- or mixed-trial design. Results indicate that individuals with higher trait-anxiety levels were significantly more influenced by blocked presentations of negative affective information, leading to greater temporal fluctuations in attentional bias. Furthermore, our findings provide additional evidence that attentional bias is best conceptualised as dynamic and variable, and that an individual’s affective experience is one factor that regulates attentional bias dynamics. Implications relating to theoretical and methodological factors are discussed.     

The Role of Executive Control of Attention and Selective Encoding for Preschoolers' Learning

Selectivity in encoding, aspects of attentional control and their contribution to learning performance were explored in a sample of preschoolers. While the children are performing a learning task, their encoding of relevant and attention towards irrelevant information was recorded through an eye‐tracking device. Recognition of target items was used as measure of learning outcome, and individual differences in resistance to interference and inhibition of attention to task‐irrelevant stimuli (i.e. distractibility) were used as measures of executive control of attention. Results indicated well‐developed selectivity during encoding in young children. Recognition performance was related to selective encoding and aspects of attentional control, explaining individual differences in learning. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同搜索情境下老化对自上而下注意加工的影响

在视觉搜索过程中,老年人是否可以在不同情境下调节自上而下和自下而上的加工水平尚不明确。为了探讨老化对认知灵活性的影响,研究采用空间线索范式,通过比较有效线索和无效线索来考察对线索的注意加工水平（注意捕获、注意抑制）,通过比较目标相关和目标无关线索的注意加工水平来考察自上而下和自下而上的作用,通过改变分心物一致性来调控不同的目标凸显情境。结果发现,年轻组在目标非凸显时的空间线索效应高于目标凸显时,表明年轻人会依据目标凸显性调整自上而下的加工水平;但老年组却没有产生这种差异,其更依赖自上而下的加工,注意系统会对目标相关的线索进行注意捕获,对目标无关的线索进行注意抑制。结果表明,随着年龄的增长,认知控制的灵活性下降,表现出对自上而下加工较多的依赖;此外,老年人依然保留着注意捕获和注意抑制的能力,这对认知老化中抑制能力受损的观点提出了挑战。     

类别注意控制定势在注意捕获中的加工机制

注意捕获是指注意定向的过程中刺激不自觉地捕获注意的现象。在复杂的视觉搜索任务中, 类别注意控制定势(cACS)能够帮助我们将注意引导到与目标定义类别匹配的刺激上, 并对其进行优先加工。探讨cACS在注意捕获中的加工机制, 不仅能够扩展注意捕获领域的理论研究, 还能对实际生活提供指导。通过文献梳理, 从cACS的作用阶段、cACS的加工强度及cACS作用时的激活脑区三个方面总结了注意捕获中的cACS的加工机制。未来研究可以就抑制分心物的ACS、不同类型的cACS加工差异和人工类别ACS加工过程等进行探讨。     

Socio-cognitive influences on the domain-specificity of prosocial behavior in the second year

The main aim of this study was to explain the domain-specificity of early prosocial behavior in different domains (i.e., helping, comforting, and cooperation) by simultaneously assessing specific socio-cognitive factors (i.e., self-other-differentiation and joint attentional skills) that were hypothesized to be differentially related to the three domains of prosocial behavior. Based on a longitudinal study design, observational and parental report data were collected when toddlers (N = 42) from German urban middle-class families were 15 and 18 months of age. At 15 months, regression analyses indicated differential relationships between socio-cognitive development and prosocial behavior (i.e., joint attentional skills were positively related with helping and, as hypothesized, both joint attentional skills and self-other differentiation were positively related with cooperation). Furthermore, self-other differentiation at 15 months predicted increases in coordination between 15 and 18 months. Finally, between 15 and 18 months, parental reports of socio-cognitive measures increased significantly while behavioral measures of both socio-cognitive concepts and prosocial behavior were stable across time. In sum, these results support the theoretical assumption of domain-specific socio-cognitive influences that constitute differential development of prosocial behavior. Implications of the results for theory and future studies are discussed from different perspectives with a focus on an interference interpretation calling for the integration of socialization approaches to the study of prosocial development.     

Oculomotion mediates attentional guidance toward temporarily close objects

Previous research has identified multiple features of individual objects that are capable of guiding visual attention. However, in dynamic multi-element displays not only individual object features but also changing spatial relations between two or more objects might signal relevance. Here we report a series of experiments that investigated the hypothesis that reduced inter-object spacing guides visual attention toward the corresponding objects. Our participants discriminated between different probes that appeared on moving objects while we manipulated spatial proximity between the objects at the moment of probe onset. Indeed, our results confirm that there is a bias toward temporarily close objects, which persists even when such a bias is harmful for the actual task (Experiments 1a and 1b). Remarkably, this bias is mediated by oculomotor processes. Controlling for eye-movements reverses the pattern of results (Experiment 2a), whereas the location of the gaze tends toward the temporarily close objects under free viewing conditions (Experiment 2b). Taken together, our results provide insights into the interplay of attentional and oculomotor processes during dynamic scene processing. Thereby, they also add to the growing body of evidence showing that within dynamic perception, attentional and oculomotor processes act conjointly and are hardly separable.     

Anxiety sensitivity and attentional bias to threat interact to prospectively predict anxiety

The purpose of the present study was to examine anxiety sensitivity, attentional bias to threat (ABT), and the aggregate influence of these constructs as prospective predictors of anxiety. Participants (N = 176) completed a baseline assessment session which included the completion of self-report measures of anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, as well as an eye-tracking task in which eye movements were recorded during the viewing of neutral and threat images. Measures of anxiety and anxiety sensitivity were completed again as part of an online questionnaire battery at a 1-year follow-up session. As predicted, baseline anxiety sensitivity and ABT predicted anxiety at 1-year follow-up even after accounting for baseline anxiety. However, these main effects were qualified by a significant interaction effect such that those high in anxiety sensitivity at baseline reported relatively higher anxiety at the 1-year follow-up, but only if they also exhibited higher levels of ABT at baseline. Results suggest that individuals with this combination of vulnerability factors (high levels of both anxiety sensitivity and ABT) may be at particularly high risk for developing anxiety and may benefit from preemptive efforts to reduce ABT.