Confirming the Factor Structure of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adult, Nonclinical Samples

Three separate models have been proposed to describe the factor structure of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the past 20 years. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (DSM-III, 1980) proposed 3 separate factors of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The DSM-III-R (1987) proposed a single factor. The DSM-IV (1994) described the disorder as having 2 factors: hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention. The following 2 studies employed confirmatory factor analysis to compare each of these models and 3 alternative models. University students completed questionnaires that assessed each of the 18 symptoms listed in the DSM-IV for ADHD. The 3-factor model fit the data significantly better than each of the other models in both studies. These findings suggest that a 3-factor model of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity describes adult ADHD symptoms better than current alternatives.     

创造性的生理研究新进展

创造性的生理基础很复杂。关于创造性生理基础的研究集中在大脑皮质激活与脑半球不对称两个方面。研究发现,大脑皮质激活状态对创造性有影响,低水平的皮质激活,特别是低水平的前额叶激活,较有利于创造性．研究还发现,创造性和左右半球不对称活动有关,处于创造状态时,右半球相对要比左半球激活程度更高。     

Habituation in high‐risk infants: reliability and patterns of responding

We examined both the reliability of infant‐controlled habituation and patterns of responding in a group of high‐risk infants (mean age 16 mos). Good test–retest reliability was found for mean, total, and baseline looking time for one of the stimuli. Classification of infants' pattern of performance yielded two groups: linear (57%) and non‐linear (29%) responders; 14% of cases could not be classified because of cross‐session inconsistencies in performance. Linear responders had shorter total looking times, fewer trials to criterion, and showed more habituation than non‐linear responders, thus validating the linear/non‐linear distinction. Our findings indicate that the infant‐controlled habituation task can be used reliably with infants who are at high risk for developmental disorders. Indeed, we provide evidence that this task is not only reliable, but may also provide meaningful distinctions between infants within the high‐risk population. Discussion focuses on the role of attention in distinguishing between short (linear) and long (non‐linear) lookers. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

前、后注意网络的关系--返回抑制和Stroop干扰效应

将IOR范式与Stroop任务相结合,试图从探讨IOR与Stroop干扰效应之间的关系来推测AAN和PAN之间的关系以及IOR与注意之间的关系。结果表明,在控制条件下出现了显著的IOR,在Stroop条件下没有出现明显的IOR;提示和非提示位置上均出现了显著的Stroop干扰效应,但提示位置上的干扰量要显著低于非提示位置。从IOR和Stroop干扰效应之间的关系可推知,PAN和AAN是两个有交互影响的注意网络,AAN对PAN有压制作用,而PAN对。AAN也有一定的影响。最后,作者对返回抑制与注意问的关系进行了深入的讨论。     

选择性注意加工机制上学困生和学优生的比较研究

本实验使用正、负启动技术 ,在严格控制各种条件下比较学困生和学优生在选择性注意加工机制———目标激活和分心物抑制方面的差异 ,进而探讨学困生在选择性注意加工机制上所存在的问题。结果显示 ,学困生和学优生的正启动量差异不显著 (p >0 .0 5 ) ,但学困生的负启动量显著小于学优生 (p <0 .0 0 1。这一结果说明 ,学困生在对目标反应期间易受分心物干扰 ,其抑制分心物干扰的能力较弱。同时启示我们应注重训练学困生抑制分心物干扰的能力     

Keeping the Result in Sight and Mind: General Cognitive Principles and Language‐Specific Influences in the Perception and Memory of Resultative Events

We study how people attend to and memorize endings of events that differ in the degree to which objects in them are affected by an action: Resultative events show objects that undergo a visually salient change in state during the course of the event (peeling a potato), and non‐resultative events involve objects that undergo no, or only partial state change (stirring in a pan). We investigate general cognitive principles, and potential language‐specific influences, in verbal and nonverbal event encoding and memory, across two experiments with Dutch and Estonian participants. Estonian marks a viewer's perspective on an event's result obligatorily via grammatical case on direct object nouns: Objects undergoing a partial/full change in state in an event are marked with partitive/accusative case, respectively. Therefore, we hypothesized increased saliency of object states and event results in Estonian speakers, as compared to speakers of Dutch. Findings show (a) a general cognitive principle of attending carefully to endings of resultative events, implying cognitive saliency of object states in event processing; (b) a language‐specific boost on attention and memory of event results under verbal task demands in Estonian speakers. Results are discussed in relation to theories of event cognition, linguistic relativity, and thinking for speaking.     

Do goal cue and motor activity impact preschoolers’ working memory?

Preschoolers are well known for their poor working memory (WM) performance. This could result from goal neglect, which would hamper the setting of maintenance strategies. Previous studies have shown that preschoolers’ WM performance can be improved in game-like tasks, because they provide cues to support goal maintenance. However, in these studies, it was unclear what features of the task (either the main toy or the motor activity required by the game) provide efficient cues. The aim of the present study was to disentangle the two features to examine cue effects in 5- to 7-year-old children. No improvement of WM performance was observed when the toy was a potential goal cue, whereas the motor activity had a detrimental effect in all age groups. The latter effect could result from a distraction of attention from attention-based maintenance activities. Hence, preschoolers' poor WM performance would not be fundamentally due to goal neglect.     

From Mackworth’s clock to the open road: A literature review on driver vigilance task operationalization

ObjectiveThis review aimed to characterize tasks applied in driving research, in terms of instructions/conditions, signal types/rates, and component features in comparison to the classic vigilance literature.BackgroundDriver state monitoring is facing increased attention with evolving vehicle automation, and real-time assessment of driver vigilance could provide widespread value across various levels (e.g., from monitoring the alertness of manual drivers to verifications of readiness in transitions of control between automated and manual driving). However, task requirement comparisons between the classic vigilance research and vigilance in car driving have not to date been systematically conducted.MethodThis study decomposed the highest-cited vigilance literature of each full decade since the 1940s for the situational features of the renowned vigilance decrement phenomenon originating from Mackworth (1948). A consensus set of 18 different situational features was compiled and included for example an (1) isolated (2) subject … perceiving (3) rare (4) signals … against (10) frequent (11) noise … in a (17) prolonged (18) task. Next, we reviewed 69 experimental vigilance task operationalizations (i.e., required signal detection and response) within 39 publications concerned with driving vigilance. All vigilance tasks were coded as “driving vigilance tasks” or “non-driving vigilance tasks” based on the perceptual signal and response action both belonging to normal driving activity or not. Presence, absence, and unreported presence/absence of each of the 18 features was rated for each task respectively as “overlap”, “contrary”, and “unspecified”. In conjunction, instructions/environmental conditions, signal definitions, signal rates, and summaries of the experimental vigilance tasks were extracted.ResultsA majority of driving vigilance tasks was performed in simulators (69%) compared to on-road (28%) and watching videos (3%) along with large differences in task conditions. Participants had to maintain fixed speed/lane positions in the simulators in higher proportion (74%) than on the road (36%) where they had only to drive “normally” and/or by loose conventions like “according to the law” more often (55% versus 15%). Additionally, presence of other traffic was found more often on-road (91%) than in simulators (48%). A specification of signals to detect and react to was found present within/for driving less often (59%) than alongside/in conjunction with driving (100%). Likewise, rates of signals (i.e., frequency of signal occurrence) were reported more often for non-driving vigilance tasks (80%) than in driving vigilance tasks (21%). For driving vigilance tasks, the highest overlap was 12 of the 18 features present (67%). On average, results showed relatively low levels of classic feature overlap (36%) with high rates of unspecified feature presence (46%) for driving vigilance tasks compared to non-driving vigilance tasks with higher classic feature overlap (64%) and fewer features unspecified (13%).Conclusion and applicationThere is little overlap between the well-known and often cited vigilance decrement phenomenon and published experimental tasks of driving vigilance. Major differences were also found in the instructions/environmental conditions of simulator versus on-road experimental driving vigilance tasks. What driving vigilance practically is in the real-world thus remains a promising area for future research. We recommend that researchers apply approaches which account for more real-world driving features to better expose and address uncertainty regarding driving and vigilance.     

Degree of Language Experience Modulates Visual Attention to Visible Speech and Iconic Gestures During Clear and Degraded Speech Comprehension

Visual information conveyed by iconic hand gestures and visible speech can enhance speech comprehension under adverse listening conditions for both native and non‐native listeners. However, how a listener allocates visual attention to these articulators during speech comprehension is unknown. We used eye‐tracking to investigate whether and how native and highly proficient non‐native listeners of Dutch allocated overt eye gaze to visible speech and gestures during clear and degraded speech comprehension. Participants watched video clips of an actress uttering a clear or degraded (6‐band noise‐vocoded) action verb while performing a gesture or not, and were asked to indicate the word they heard in a cued‐recall task. Gestural enhancement was the largest (i.e., a relative reduction in reaction time cost) when speech was degraded for all listeners, but it was stronger for native listeners. Both native and non‐native listeners mostly gazed at the face during comprehension, but non‐native listeners gazed more often at gestures than native listeners. However, only native but not non‐native listeners' gaze allocation to gestures predicted gestural benefit during degraded speech comprehension. We conclude that non‐native listeners might gaze at gesture more as it might be more challenging for non‐native listeners to resolve the degraded auditory cues and couple those cues to phonological information that is conveyed by visible speech. This diminished phonological knowledge might hinder the use of semantic information that is conveyed by gestures for non‐native compared to native listeners. Our results demonstrate that the degree of language experience impacts overt visual attention to visual articulators, resulting in different visual benefits for native versus non‐native listeners.     

基于认知机制的有条件自动驾驶接管中的人因问题

自动驾驶能在很大程度上缓解现代交通问题并提升驾驶舒适度。有条件自动驾驶下, 驾驶员可执行非驾驶相关任务但需要在系统无法处理的状况下接管车辆。在这一关键过程中, 驾驶员需要进行注意转换并获得情境意识以成功接管。已有研究表明, 接管请求、非驾驶相关任务、驾驶情景及驾驶员因素是影响接管过程重要因素。未来可从认知机制角度研究各因素对接管过程产生的影响, 以及探究接管过程中各因素之间可能存在的交互作用。