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Mackie, Melissa-Ann, Nicholas T. Van Dam, and Jin Fan. "Cognitive control and attentional functions." Brain and Cognition 82, no. 3 (August 2013): 301–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2013.05.004.
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Drigas, Athanasios, and Maria Karyotaki. "Attentional Control and other Executive Functions." International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) 12, no. 03 (March 27, 2017): 219. http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v12i03.6587.
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Current article aims to shed light on the reciprocal relation between attentional control and emotional regulation. More specifically, there is a verified relation between attention and cognitive, metacognitive and emotional processes, such as memory, perception, reasoning as well as inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, self-monitoring and positive moods. In addition, positive mood has been already reciprocally related to a broad attentional scope as well as to an increased cognitive flexibility. Future research should focus on the effects of attentional control on cognitive control processes, thereby, on individuals’ emotional regulation, as a whole. Evidently, an advanced research in the relation of attentional control and emotional regulation could develop a comprehensive methodology for counterbalancing the difficulties facing individuals with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder or even depression.
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KOSCHACK, J., H. J. KUNERT, G. DERICHS, G. WENIGER, and E. IRLE. "Impaired and enhanced attentional function in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder." Psychological Medicine 33, no. 3 (April 2003): 481–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0033291702007067.
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Background. The symptom domain of inattention in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggests that there are neuropsychological fields of attention in which subjects with ADHD express deficits. However, studies using differentiated neuropsychological attentional tests in ADHD are lacking.Method. A consecutive series of 35 subjects with ADHD aged 9–12 years were assessed on a computer-driven neuropsychological test battery for attentional functions. Their performance was classified according to the data of a normative sample of 187 healthy subjects aged 9–12 years, and compared with the performance of 35 matched healthy control subjects.Results. According to normative data, most ADHD subjects performed on all attentional measures within the normal range. Comparisons with the control group revealed that ADHD subjects reacted faster on all attentional tests, yielding statistical significance for the Go/No go test and the Divided Attention test. They also performed with significantly fewer errors on the Divided Attention test. On the Go/No go test, Visual Scanning test and Attentional Shift test ADHD subjects committed significantly more errors than control subjects.Conclusions. Our results suggest a differential pattern rather than a deficit pattern of attentional functions in ADHD. It is suggested that the more rapid response style of ADHD subjects leads to a more erroneous performance in self-paced attentional tasks and to a better performance in externally paced attentional tasks. However, neuropsychological tests of attention do not contribute to the clinical diagnosis of ADHD.
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Oosterman, Joukje M., Laura C. Derksen, Albert JM van Wijck, Roy PC Kessels, and Dieuwke S. Veldhuijzen. "Executive and Attentional Functions in Chronic Pain: Does Performance Decrease with Increasing Task Load?" Pain Research and Management 17, no. 3 (2012): 159–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/962786.
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BACKGROUND: Diminished executive function and attentional control has been reported in chronic pain patients. However, the precise pattern of impairment in these aspects of cognition in chronic pain remains unclear. Moreover, a decline in psychomotor speed could potentially influence executive and attentional control performance in pain patients.OBJECTIVE: To examine different aspects of executive and attentional control in chronic pain together with the confounding role of psychomotor slowing.METHODS: Neuropsychological tests of sustained attention, planning ability, inhibition and mental flexibility were administered to 34 participants with chronic pain and 32 control participants.RESULTS: Compared with the controls, participants with chronic pain took longer to complete tests of sustained attention and mental flexibility, but did not perform worse on inhibition or planning tasks. The decreased performance on the mental flexibility task likely reflects a reduction in psychomotor speed. The pattern of performance on the sustained attention task reveals a specific decline in attention, indicated by a disproportionate decline in performance with an increase in task duration and by increased fluctuations in attention during task performance. No additional effect was noted of pain intensity, pain duration, pain catastrophizing, depressive symptoms, reduced sleep because of the pain or opioid use.CONCLUSIONS: Executive and attention functions are not uniformly affected in chronic pain. At least part of the previously reported decline in executive function in this group may reflect psychomotor slowing. Overall, limited evidence was found that executive and attention performance is indeed lower in chronic pain. Therefore, it can be concluded that in chronic pain sustained attention performance is diminished while mental flexibility, planning and inhibition appear to be intact.
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Salomone, Simona, Grainne R. Fleming, Jessica Bramham, Redmond G. O’Connell, and Ian H. Robertson. "Neuropsychological Deficits in Adult ADHD: Evidence for Differential Attentional Impairments, Deficient Executive Functions, and High Self-Reported Functional Impairments." Journal of Attention Disorders 24, no. 10 (January 14, 2016): 1413–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1087054715623045.
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Objective: This study is aimed to investigate neuropsychological deficits in adult ADHD. Method: Neuropsychological deficits in terms of executive functions, divided, selective, and sustained attention, were investigated in a group of adults with ADHD using a series of neuropsychological tests as well as electroencephalography (EEG). Subjective ratings of everyday life attention and memory problems were also collected. Results: Adults with ADHD showed impairments in executive functions, divided attention and sustained attention, compared with adult controls. Performance on selective attention tasks in adults with ADHD was instead no different from control participants’ performance. EEG results confirmed neuropsychological findings by showing a selective impairment on P3 event-related potential (ERP) amplitude indicative of sustained attention deficits. Higher subjective ratings of everyday attentional and memory problems were also found in the ADHD group compared with the control group. Conclusion: This pattern of results suggests differential impairments of attentional skills. Impaired executive functions and higher subjective functional impairments were also found.
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Sylvain-Roy, Stéphanie, Ovidiu Lungu, and Sylvie Belleville. "Normal Aging of the Attentional Control Functions That Underlie Working Memory." Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 70, no. 5 (January 27, 2014): 698–708. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbt166.
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SOVERI, ANNA, MATTI LAINE, HEIKKI HÄMÄLÄINEN, and KENNETH HUGDAHL. "Bilingual advantage in attentional control: Evidence from the forced-attention dichotic listening paradigm." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14, no. 3 (July 21, 2010): 371–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1366728910000118.
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It has been claimed that due to their experience in controlling two languages, bilinguals exceed monolinguals in certain executive functions, especially inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli. Here we investigated the effects of bilingualism on an executive phonological task, namely the forced-attention dichotic listening task with syllabic stimuli. In the standard non-forced (NF) condition, the participants reported all syllables they heard, be it from the right or the left ear. In the forced-right (FR) and forced-left (FL) attention conditions, they had to direct their attention to either the right- or the left-ear stimulus and inhibit information coming to the other ear. We tested Finnish monolinguals and early simultaneous Finnish–Swedish bilinguals from two age groups: (30–50-year-olds and 60–74-year-olds). The results showed that the bilinguals performed better than the monolinguals in the FR and FL conditions. This supports the idea of a bilingual advantage in directing attention and inhibiting task-irrelevant stimuli.
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Albrecht, B., D. Brandeis, H. Uebel, L. Valko, H. Heinrich, R. Drechsler, A. Heise, et al. "Familiality of neural preparation and response control in childhood attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder." Psychological Medicine 43, no. 9 (December 3, 2012): 1997–2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s003329171200270x.
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BackgroundPatients with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit difficulties in multiple attentional functions. Although high heritability rates suggest a strong genetic impact, aetiological pathways from genes and environmental factors to the ADHD phenotype are not well understood. Tracking the time course of deviant task processing using event-related electrophysiological brain activity should characterize the impact of familiality on the sequence of cognitive functions from preparation to response control in ADHD.MethodPreparation and response control were assessed using behavioural and electrophysiological parameters of two versions of a cued continuous performance test with varying attentional load in boys with ADHD combined type (n = 97), their non-affected siblings (n = 27) and control children without a family history of ADHD (n = 43).ResultsChildren with ADHD and non-affected siblings showed more variable performance and made more omission errors than controls. The preparatory Cue-P3 and contingent negative variation (CNV) following cues were reduced in both ADHD children and their non-affected siblings compared with controls. The NoGo-P3 was diminished in ADHD compared with controls whilst non-affected siblings were located intermediate but did not differ from both other groups. No clear familiality effects were found for the Go-P3. Better task performance was further associated with higher CNV and P3 amplitudes.ConclusionsImpairments in performance and electrophysiological parameters reflecting preparatory processes and to some extend also for inhibitory response control, especially under high attentional load, appeared to be familially driven in ADHD and may thus constitute functionally relevant endophenotypes for the disorder.
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Healy, Brian, Aaron Treadwell, and Mandy Reagan. "Measures of RSA Suppression, Attentional Control, and Negative Affect Predict Self-Ratings of Executive Functions." Journal of Psychophysiology 25, no. 4 (January 2011): 164–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000053.
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The current study was an attempt to determine the degree to which the suppression of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and attentional control were influential in the ability to engage various executive processes under high and low levels of negative affect. Ninety-four college students completed the Stroop Test while heart rate was being recorded. Estimates of the suppression of RSA were calculated from each participant in response to this test. The participants then completed self-ratings of attentional control, negative affect, and executive functioning. Regression analysis indicated that individual differences in estimates of the suppression of RSA, and ratings of attentional control were associated with the ability to employ executive processes but only when self-ratings of negative affect were low. An increase in negative affect compromised the ability to employ these strategies in the majority of participants. The data also suggest that high attentional control in conjunction with attenuated estimates of RSA suppression may increase the ability to use executive processes as negative affect increases.
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Chevalier, Nicole, Véronique Parent, Mélanie Rouillard, France Simard, Marie-Claude Guay, and Claudia Verret. "The Impact of a Motor-Cognitive Remediation Program on Attentional Functions of Preschoolers With ADHD Symptoms." Journal of Attention Disorders 21, no. 13 (December 26, 2012): 1121–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1087054712468485.
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Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of the motor-cognitive remediation program (MCRP) that uses sensorimotor and visual-motor imagery techniques on attentional functions in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms. Method: A total of 15 high-risk preschoolers were selected based on high ADHD symptoms. An experimental group participated in the MCRP and was compared with a control group. The MCRP consisted of 30 activities, 3 times a week, during 12 weeks. Results: Children in the experimental group improved significantly for orienting (selective attention) and executive control (inhibition, stopping, and engaging mental operations) compared with the control group. Conclusion: These results are a first step to support the postulate that training specific attentional functions by sensorimotor activities and visual-motor imagery has an impact on the cognitive network of attention. This study suggests the potential value of MCRP addressed to preschoolers with ADHD symptoms.
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Lu, Hanna, Sandra S. M. Chan, Ada W. T. Fung, and Linda C. W. Lam. "Efficiency of Attentional Components in Elderly with Mild Neurocognitive Disorders Shown by the Attention Network Test." Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 41, no. 1-2 (2016): 93–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000441350.
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Aims: Complex attention, serving as a main diagnostic item of mild neurocognitive disorders (NCD), has been reported to be susceptible to pathological ageing. This study aimed to evaluate the attention network functions in older adults with subtypes of NCD. Methods: 36 adults with NCD due to Alzheimer's disease (NCD-AD), 31 adults with NCD due to vascular disease (NCD-vascular) and 137 healthy controls were recruited. Attention Network Test (ANT) was conducted to assess the efficiency of alerting, orienting and executive control. Results: Significant between-group differences were found in executive control (conventional score: F = 11.472, p < 0.001; ratio score: F = 8.430, p < 0.001) and processing speed (F = 4.958, p = 0.008). NCD subgroups demonstrated poorer performance on the ANT, particularly on executive control (healthy 59.9 ± 45.9, NCD-vascular 88.9 ± 44.8, NCD-AD 97.0 ± 53.9). Moreover, the NCD-AD group showed both less efficient executive control and prominent slowing processing speed (reaction time: healthy 687.5 ± 106.0 ms, NCD-vascular 685.3 ± 97.1 ms, NCD-AD 750.6 ± 132.6 ms). Conclusions: The NCD-vascular group appeared to be less efficient in executive control, while the NCD-AD group demonstrated less effective executive control and also slower processing speed. These results suggest that the characterized performance of ANT, processing speed and executive control in particular, might help differentiate adults at risk of different forms of cognitive impairment.
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Richard, Geneviève, Anders Petersen, Kristine Moe Ulrichsen, Knut K. Kolskår, Dag Alnæs, Anne-Marthe Sanders, Erlend S. Dørum, Hege Ihle-Hansen, Jan E. Nordvik, and Lars T. Westlye. "TVA-based modeling of short-term memory capacity, speed of processing and perceptual threshold in chronic stroke patients undergoing cognitive training: case-control differences, reliability, and associations with cognitive performance." PeerJ 8 (October 28, 2020): e9948. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9948.
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Attentional deficits following stroke are common and pervasive, and are important predictors for functional recovery. Attentional functions comprise a set of specific cognitive processes allowing to attend, filter and select among a continuous stream of stimuli. These mechanisms are fundamental for more complex cognitive functions such as learning, planning and cognitive control, all crucial for daily functioning. The distributed functional neuroanatomy of these processes is a likely explanation for the high prevalence of attentional impairments following stroke, and underscores the importance of a clinical implementation of computational approaches allowing for sensitive and specific modeling of attentional sub-processes. The Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) offers a theoretical, computational, neuronal and practical framework to assess the efficiency of visual selection performance and parallel processing of multiple objects. Here, in order to assess the sensitivity and reliability of TVA parameters reflecting short-term memory capacity (K), processing speed (C) and perceptual threshold (t0), we used a whole-report paradigm in a cross-sectional case-control comparison and across six repeated assessments over the course of a three-week computerized cognitive training (CCT) intervention in chronic stroke patients (> 6 months since hospital admission, NIHSS ≤ 7 at hospital discharge). Cross-sectional group comparisons documented lower short-term memory capacity, lower processing speed and higher perceptual threshold in patients (n = 70) compared to age-matched healthy controls (n = 140). Further, longitudinal analyses in stroke patients during the course of CCT (n = 54) revealed high reliability of the TVA parameters, and higher processing speed at baseline was associated with larger cognitive improvement after the intervention. The results support the feasibility, reliability and sensitivity of TVA-based assessment of attentional functions in chronic stroke patients.
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Kam, Julia W. Y., Elizabeth Dao, Maria Stanciulescu, Hamish Tildesley, and Todd C. Handy. "Mind Wandering and the Adaptive Control of Attentional Resources." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 25, no. 6 (June 2013): 952–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00375.
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Mind wandering is a natural, transient state wherein our neurocognitive systems become temporarily decoupled from the external sensory environment as our thoughts drift away from the current task at hand. Yet despite the ubiquity of mind wandering in everyday human life, we rarely seem impaired in our ability to adaptively respond to the external environment when mind wandering. This suggests that despite widespread neurocognitive decoupling during mind wandering states, we may nevertheless retain some capacity to attentionally monitor external events. But what specific capacities? In Experiment 1, using traditional performance measures, we found that both volitional and automatic forms of visual–spatial attentional orienting were significantly attenuated when mind wandering. In Experiment 2, however, ERPs revealed that, during mind wandering states, there was a relative preservation of sensitivity to deviant or unexpected sensory events, as measured via the auditory N1 component. Taken together, our findings suggest that, although some selective attentional processes may be subject to down-regulation during mind wandering, we may adaptively compensate for these neurocognitively decoupled states by maintaining automatic deviance–detection functions.
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Van den Driessche, Charlotte, Mikaël Bastian, Hugo Peyre, Coline Stordeur, Éric Acquaviva, Sara Bahadori, Richard Delorme, and Jérôme Sackur. "Attentional Lapses in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Blank Rather Than Wandering Thoughts." Psychological Science 28, no. 10 (August 11, 2017): 1375–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797617708234.
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People with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties sustaining their attention on external tasks. Such attentional lapses have often been characterized as the simple opposite of external sustained attention, but the different types of attentional lapses, and the subjective experiences to which they correspond, remain unspecified. In this study, we showed that unmedicated children (ages 6–12) with ADHD, when probed during a standard go/no-go task, reported more mind blanking (a mental state characterized by the absence of reportable content) than did control participants. This increase in mind blanking happened at the expense of both focused and wandering thoughts. We also found that methylphenidate reverted the level of mind blanking to baseline (i.e., the level of mind blanking reported by control children without ADHD). However, this restoration led to mind wandering more than to focused attention. In a second experiment, we extended these findings to adults who had subclinical ADHD. These results suggest that executive functions impaired in ADHD are required not only to sustain external attention but also to maintain an internal train of thought.
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Casagrande, Maria, Francesca Agostini, Francesca Favieri, Giuseppe Forte, Jasmine Giovannoli, Angela Guarino, Andrea Marotta, Fabrizio Doricchi, and Diana Martella. "Age-Related Changes in Hemispherical Specialization for Attentional Networks." Brain Sciences 11, no. 9 (August 24, 2021): 1115. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091115.
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Many cognitive functions face a decline in the healthy elderly. Within the cognitive domains, both attentional processes and executive functions are impaired with aging. Attention includes three attentional networks, i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control, showing a hemispheric lateralized pattern in adults. This lateralized pattern could play a role in modulating the efficiency of attentional networks. For these reasons, it could be relevant to analyze the age-related change of the hemispheric specialization of attentional networks. This study aims to clarify this aspect with a lateralized version of the Attentional Network Test for Interaction (ANTI)-Fruit. One hundred seventy-one participants took part in this study. They were divided in three age groups: youth (N = 57; range: 20–30); adults (N = 57; range 31–64), and elderly/older people (N = 57; range: 65–87). The results confirmed the previous outcomes on the efficiency and interactions among attentional networks. Moreover, an age-related generalized slowness was evidenced. These findings also support the hypothesis of a hemispheric asymmetry reduction in elderly/older adults.
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Timarová, Šárka, Ivana Čeňková, Reine Meylaerts, Erik Hertog, Arnaud Szmalec, and Wouter Duyck. "Simultaneous interpreting and working memory executive control." Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 16, no. 2 (September 22, 2014): 139–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/intp.16.2.01tim.
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Working memory is a complex cognitive component responsible for maintenance of information during processing. Interpreting research has so far focused on working memory capacity rather than on the central executive functions. In the study described here, 28 professional interpreters completed a battery of four central executive tasks and three simultaneous interpretations (from English into Czech or Dutch ‘A’). The results show that: (a) certain measurable features of simultaneous interpreting are related to the central executive functions of working memory; (b) one working memory function (inhibition of distractors) seems to be related to interpreting experience, while the others (automatic response inhibition, updating, attention switching) do not; (c) the relationship between working memory and simultaneous interpreting is such that different working memory functions predict different sub-processes in simultaneous interpreting, in complex patterns. The conclusions of this study are data-driven, but in line with the current literature. More specifically, the findings support those accounts of simultaneous interpreting which emphasize attentional control as an important component of the simultaneous interpreting process.
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Wang, Hongbin, and Jin Fan. "Human Attentional Networks: A Connectionist Model." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19, no. 10 (October 2007): 1678–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2007.19.10.1678.
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Recent evidence in cognitive neuroscience has suggested that attention is a complex organ system subserved by at least three attentional networks in the brain, for alerting, orienting, and executive control functions. However, how these different networks work together to give rise to the seemingly unitary mental faculty of attention remains unclear. We describe a connectionist model of human attentional networks to explore the possible interplays among the networks from a computational perspective. This model is developed in the framework of leabra (local, error-driven, and associative, biologically realistic algorithm) and simultaneously involves these attentional networks connected in a biologically inspired way. We evaluate the model by simulating the empirical data collected on normal human subjects using the Attentional Network Test (ANT). The simulation results fit the experimental data well. In addition, we show that the same model, with a single parameter change that affects executive control, is able to simulate the empirical data collected from patients with schizophrenia. This model represents a plausible connectionist explanation for the functional structure and interaction of human attentional networks.
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Fajkowska, Małgorzata, and Douglas Derryberry. "Psychometric properties of Attentional Control Scale: The preliminary study on a Polish sample." Polish Psychological Bulletin 41, no. 1 (January 1, 2010): 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/s10059-010-0001-7.
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Psychometric properties of Attentional Control Scale: The preliminary study on a Polish sample The presented study was focused primarily on a psychometric analysis of the Attentional Control Scale (ACS), but they also enhanced the understanding of the role of effortful attentional skills in determining the individual well-being, general adaptation or emotional disorders. The analyses included basic item and scale descriptions as well as convergent and discriminant validity. 218 Polish undergraduate students completed the battery of the self-report techniques and two paper —pencil attentional tests. Data revealed a unidimensional of a 20-item ACS. It can be used validly to assess long-term individual differences in attentional skills related to the voluntary executive functions. The analysis of content, internal and construct validity as well as reliability provided evidence of the scale's significant convergent and discriminant validity when correlated with attentional tests and other personality techniques. We found strong, systematic relations between the attentional control and selected measures of temperament, arousal, emotionality, and motivation. The results allow assuming that good attentional control, may protect individuals from the emotional disorders by regulating perceptual, conceptual, and response processing.
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Huertas, Florentino, Javier Zahonero, Daniel Sanabria, and Juan Lupiáñez. "Functioning of the Attentional Networks at Rest vs. During Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise." Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 33, no. 5 (October 2011): 649–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsep.33.5.649.
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The present study explored the effects of three different activity conditions on three attentional functions: alerting, orienting, and executive control. A group of highly experienced cyclists performed the Attention Network Test–Interactions (Callejas, Lupiáñez, & Tudela, 2004) at rest, during moderate aerobic exercise, and during intense aerobic exercise. Results indicated that aerobic exercise accelerated reaction time and reduced the alerting effect compared with the rest condition. However, aerobic exercise did not modulate the functioning of either the orienting or the executive control attentional networks. No differences in reaction time or attentional functioning were observed between the two aerobic exercise workloads. The present results suggest that moderate aerobic exercise modulates the functioning of phasic alertness by increasing the general state of tonic vigilance.
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Wascher, Edmund, and Stephan Getzmann. "Rapid Mental Fatigue Amplifies Age-Related Attentional Deficits." Journal of Psychophysiology 28, no. 3 (September 1, 2014): 215–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000127.
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Deficient information processing with increasing age has been assigned to reduced efficiency in frontal executive control functions. Dopamine has been assumed to play a central role for this decline. Dopamine, however, is also essential for the maintenance of motivation for a longer period of time and is therefore a core factor for mental fatigue. Combining these two findings, we tested to what degree older adults are more prone to performance loss due to increasing time on task than younger adults. Twelve younger and twelve older participants performed an inhibition of return task for 80 min. Performance declined in the older participants but not in the young. Event-related potentials (ERPs) of the EEG, however, showed distinct changes with time on task primarily for young participants. The dissociation between behavioral and ERP results indicates that changes in ERPs of the young participants could reflect adaptations to the task rather than fatigue. This is evident from very distinct changes of the posterior N1 component in this group. The failing (or rather unspecific) adaptation to the task in older adults might have been a consequence of lacking frontal executive control functions reflected in a massive reduction of the N2 component of the ERP, relative to the young participants.
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Urbanek, Carsten, Nicholetta Weinges-Evers, Judith Bellmann-Strobl, Markus Bock, Jan Dörr, Eric Hahn, Andres H. Neuhaus, et al. "Attention Network Test reveals alerting network dysfunction in multiple sclerosis." Multiple Sclerosis Journal 16, no. 1 (December 7, 2009): 93–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1352458509350308.
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Attention is one of the cognitive domains typically affected in multiple sclerosis. The Attention Network Test was developed to measure the function of the three distinct attentional networks, alerting, orienting, and executive control. The Attention Network Test has been performed in various neuropsychiatric conditions, but not in multiple sclerosis. Our objective was to investigate functions of attentional networks in multiple sclerosis by means of the Attention Network Test. Patients with relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis (n = 57) and healthy controls (n = 57) matched for age, sex, and education performed the Attention Network Test. Significant differences between patients and controls were detected in the alerting network (p = 0.003), in contrast to the orienting (p = 0.696) and the conflict (p = 0.114) network of visual attention. Mean reaction time in the Attention Network Test was significantly longer in multiple sclerosis patients than in controls (p = 0.032), Multiple sclerosis patients benefited less from alerting cues for conflict resolution compared with healthy controls. The Attention Network Test revealed specific alterations of the attention network in multiple sclerosis patients which were not explained by an overall cognitive slowing.
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Föcker, Julia, Matin Mortazavi, Wayne Khoe, Steven A. Hillyard, and Daphne Bavelier. "Neural Correlates of Enhanced Visual Attentional Control in Action Video Game Players: An Event-Related Potential Study." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 31, no. 3 (March 2019): 377–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01230.
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Action video game players (AVGPs) outperform non–action video game players (NAVGPs) on a range of perceptual and attentional tasks. Although several studies have reported neuroplastic changes within the frontoparietal networks of attention in AVGPs, little is known about possible changes in attentional modulation in low-level visual areas. To assess the contribution of these different levels of neural processing to the perceptual and attentional enhancements noted in AVGPs, visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 14 AVGPs and 14 NAVGPs during a target discrimination task that required participants to attend to rapid sequences of Gabor patches under either focused or divided attention conditions. AVGPs responded faster to target Gabors in the focused attention condition compared with the NAVGPs. Correspondingly, ERPs to standard Gabors revealed a more pronounced negativity in the time range of the parietally generated anterior N1 component in AVGPs compared with NAVGPs during focused attention. In addition, the P2 component of the visual ERP was more pronounced in AVGPs than in NAVGPs over the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulus position in response to standard Gabors. Contrary to predictions, however, attention-modulated occipital components generated in the low-level extrastriate visual pathways, including the P1 and posterior N1, showed no significant group differences. Thus, the main neural signature of enhanced perceptual and attentional control functions in AVGPs appears linked to an attention-dependent parietal process, indexed by the anterior N1 component, and possibly to more efficient higher-order perceptual processing, indexed by the P2 component.
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Wiegand, Iris, Natan Napiórkowski, Thomas Töllner, Anders Petersen, Thomas Habekost, Hermann J. Müller, and Kathrin Finke. "Event-related Electroencephalographic Lateralizations Mark Individual Differences in Spatial and Nonspatial Visual Selection." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 30, no. 4 (April 2018): 482–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01221.
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Selective attention controls the distribution of our visual system's limited processing resources to stimuli in the visual field. Two independent parameters of visual selection can be quantified by modeling an individual's performance in a partial-report task based on the computational theory of visual attention (TVA): (i) top–down control α, the relative attentional weighting of relevant over irrelevant stimuli, and (ii) spatial bias wλ, the relative attentional weighting of stimuli in the left versus right hemifield. In this study, we found that visual event-related electroencephalographic lateralizations marked interindividual differences in these two functions. First, individuals with better top–down control showed higher amplitudes of the posterior contralateral negativity than individuals with poorer top–down control. Second, differences in spatial bias were reflected in asymmetries in earlier visual event-related lateralizations depending on the hemifield position of targets; specifically, individuals showed a positivity contralateral to targets presented in their prioritized hemifield and a negativity contralateral to targets presented in their nonprioritized hemifield. Thus, our findings demonstrate that two functionally different aspects of attentional weighting quantified in the respective TVA parameters are reflected in two different neurophysiological measures: The observer-dependent spatial bias influences selection by a bottom–up processing advantage of stimuli appearing in the prioritized hemifield. By contrast, task-related target selection governed by top–down control involves active enhancement of target, and/or suppression of distractor, processing. These results confirm basic assumptions of the TVA framework, complement the functional interpretation of event-related lateralization components in selective attention studies, and are of relevance for the development of neurocognitive attentional assessment procedures.
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von Bueren Jarchow, Astrid, Bogdan P. Radanov, and Lutz Jäncke. "Pain Influences Several Levels of Attention." Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie 16, no. 4 (January 2005): 235–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1024/1016-264x.16.4.235.
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Abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent chronic pain has an impact on various attentional processes. To measure these attention processes a set of experimental standard tests of the “Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung” (TAP), a neuropsychological battery testing different levels of attention, were used: alertness, divided attention, covert attention, vigilance, visual search, and Go-NoGo tasks. 24 chronic outpatients and 24 well-matched healthy control subjects were tested. The control subjects were matched for age, gender, and education. The group of chronic pain patients exhibited marked deficiencies in all attentional functions except for the divided attention task. Thus, the data supports the notion that chronic pain negatively influences attention because pain patients` attention is strongly captivated by the internal pain stimuli. Only the more demanding divided attention task has the capability to distract the focus of attention to the pain stimuli. Therefore, the pain patients are capable of performing within normal limits. Based on these findings chronic pain patients' attentional deficits should be appropriately evaluated and considered for insurance and work related matters. The effect of a successful distraction away from the pain in the divided attention task can also open new therapeutic aspects.
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Pedron, Ana Cristina, Ygor Arzeno Ferrão, Léia Gonçalves Gurgel, and Caroline Tozzi Reppold. "Relations Between Executive Functions and Different Symptomatic Dimensions in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto) 25, no. 61 (August 2015): 229–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-43272561201511.
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There is no consensus in the literature as to neuropsychological functioning, the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and the definitions of the OCS dimensions. We conducted a cross-sectional study investigating the relationship between executive function and OCS severity in the various dimensions, according to the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale criteria. We evaluated 28 patients with OCS, using eight neuropsychological instruments to evaluate executive function. We found that OCS severity in the contamination/cleaning dimension correlates negatively with executive function, inhibitory control and attentional control. Severity in the hoarding dimension correlated positively with cognitive flexibility, visual processing and logical reasoning, whereas it correlated negatively with the capacity to develop efficient complex problem-solving strategies. There was also a positive correlation between severity in the symmetry/ordering dimension and attentional control. Our findings suggest that the profile of executive function in OCD is defined by the severity of the various OCS dimensions.
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FILOTEO, J. VINCENT, DEAN C. DELIS, DAVID P. SALMON, THERESA DEMADURA, MARY J. ROMAN, and CLIFFORD W. SHULTS. "An examination of the nature of attentional deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease: Evidence from a spatial orienting task." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 3, no. 4 (July 1997): 337–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1355617797003378.
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Endogenous and exogenous shifts of attention were examined in nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In the endogenous condition, an arrow was used to cue participants' attention to the possible location of an impending target, whereas in the exogenous condition, a brightened box was used to cue attention. Cues were either valid (i.e., the target appeared in the cued location) or invalid (i.e., the target appeared in a noncued location). The time between cue onset and target onset (stimulus onset asynchrony or SOA) was varied in each condition. The results indicated that PD patients were not differentially impaired in shifting attention at the shorter SOAs relative to normal controls. However, at longer SOAs, the PD patients demonstrated less of an effect from cueing than did the normal control participants. PD patients' differential effect from cueing was evident in both exogenous and endogenous conditions. These results suggest that PD patients may experience a rapid decay of attentional inhibition and do not support the notion that a decrement in processing resources underlies their attentional deficits. Moreover, these findings further support the notion that the basal ganglia may play an important role in attentional functions. (JINS, 1997, 3, 337–347.)
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Hagström, Kati, Outi Saarenpää-Heikkilä, Sari-Leena Himanen, Anna-Maria Lampinlampi, and Kati Rantanen. "Neurobehavioral Outcomes in School-Aged Children with Primary Snoring." Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 35, no. 4 (December 9, 2019): 401–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acz053.
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Abstract Objective We assess behavioral and attentional problems and neurocognitive functioning in school-aged children with primary snoring (PS). Methods Seventeen children with PS and 27 non-snoring peers aged 6–10 years took part in the study. All children underwent a polysomnography (PSG) at the Sleep Laboratory. Snoring was defined by parents and with PSG. Children with obstructive sleep apnea were excluded. The parents completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. Parents and teachers assessed behavioral and attentional problems with the Child Behavior Checklist and the Conners’ Rating Scale-Revised. Neuropsychological assessment included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY test). Results The PS group had significantly more parent-reported internalizing, total, and attentional problems than the control group. Teachers did not report behavioral problems in the PS group. The PS and control groups had equal IQ scores and similar core neurocognitive functions, except for one visuospatial subtest. The PS group had significantly more inspiratory flow limitation and increased diaphragmatic electromyography compared with the controls. Parents reported significantly more daytime sleepiness in the PS group. Daytime sleepiness and snoring time were consistently associated with more behavioral and attentional problems. Flow limitation and more oxygen saturation values under 90% were associated with attentional problems, higher oxygen desaturation index, and lower mean oxygen saturation percentage with reduced language functions. Conclusions Snoring with an increase in respiratory effort without apneas and hypopneas and parent-reported daytime sleepiness may be linked to daytime symptoms. School-aged children with PS are at risk for behavioral and attentional problems, but not cognitive impairments.
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Liang, Chi-Wen. "Attentional control deficits in social anxiety: Investigating inhibition and shifting functions using a mixed antisaccade paradigm." Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 60 (September 2018): 46–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.03.004.
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Matusz, Pawel J., Nora Turoman, Ruxandra I. Tivadar, Chrysa Retsa, and Micah M. Murray. "Brain and Cognitive Mechanisms of Top–Down Attentional Control in a Multisensory World: Benefits of Electrical Neuroimaging." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 31, no. 3 (March 2019): 412–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01360.
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In real-world environments, information is typically multisensory, and objects are a primary unit of information processing. Object recognition and action necessitate attentional selection of task-relevant from among task-irrelevant objects. However, the brain and cognitive mechanisms governing these processes remain not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that attentional selection of visual objects is controlled by integrated top–down audiovisual object representations (“attentional templates”) while revealing a new brain mechanism through which they can operate. In multistimulus (visual) arrays, attentional selection of objects in humans and animal models is traditionally quantified via “the N2pc component”: spatially selective enhancements of neural processing of objects within ventral visual cortices at approximately 150–300 msec poststimulus. In our adaptation of Folk et al.'s [Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Johnston, J. C. Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 1030–1044, 1992] spatial cueing paradigm, visual cues elicited weaker behavioral attention capture and an attenuated N2pc during audiovisual versus visual search. To provide direct evidence for the brain, and so, cognitive, mechanisms underlying top–down control in multisensory search, we analyzed global features of the electrical field at the scalp across our N2pcs. In the N2pc time window (170–270 msec), color cues elicited brain responses differing in strength and their topography. This latter finding is indicative of changes in active brain sources. Thus, in multisensory environments, attentional selection is controlled via integrated top–down object representations, and so not only by separate sensory-specific top–down feature templates (as suggested by traditional N2pc analyses). We discuss how the electrical neuroimaging approach can aid research on top–down attentional control in naturalistic, multisensory settings and on other neurocognitive functions in the growing area of real-world neuroscience.
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Johnsen, Grethe E., Pushpa Kanagaratnam, and Arve E. Asbjørnsen. "Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Show Decreased Cognitive Control: Evidence from Dichotic Listening." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 17, no. 2 (February 22, 2011): 344–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1355617710001736.
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AbstractThe influence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on cognitive control and auditory attention modulation was examined with the use of a dichotic-listening (DL) task. The participants were 45 war-exposed refugees. The PTSD group comprised 22 participants meeting the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD, and the Control group comprised 23 war-exposed participants without PTSD. Both groups were tested with a consonant–vowel syllables DL task under three different attentional instructions. The two groups did not differ in the non-forced and forced-right conditions and showed, as expected, right-ear advantages. The Control group showed, as expected, a left-ear advantage in the forced-left (FL) condition. However, the PTSD group continued to show a right-ear advantage - and only minor modulation of the performance during the FL condition. This finding suggests that PTSD is associated with a reduced capacity for top-down attentional control of a bottom-up or stimulus-driven effect. The result shows that participants with PTSD have impaired cognitive control functions when tested on information processing of neutral stimuli. (JINS, 2011, 17, 344–353)
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Sano, Mary, Wilma Rosen, Yaakov Stern, Jeffrey Rosen, and Richard Mayeux. "Simple reaction time as a measure of global attention in Alzheimer's disease." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 1, no. 1 (January 1995): 56–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1355617700000102.
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AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive decline in memory, language and other cognitive functions. Deficits in attentional processes have also been suggested. A simple reaction time (RT) task was used to assess global attention in AD. The length and consistency of a warning signal given prior to the response stimulus were manipulated to determine if patients with AD and age-matched controls benefit from predictability in RT tasks. Overall reaction time was slower in the AD group than in the and control group. Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in RT with long warning signals compared to short warning signals, but only the control group benefited from the consistency of the warning. (JINS, 1995, I, 56–61.)
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André, Nathalie, Claude Ferrand, Cédric Albinet, and Michel Audiffren. "Cognitive Strategies and Physical Activity in Older Adults: A Discriminant Analysis." Journal of Aging Research 2018 (2018): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/8917535.
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Background. Although a number of studies have examined sociodemographic, psychosocial, and environmental determinants of the level of physical activity (PA) for older people, little attention has been paid to the predictive power of cognitive strategies for independently living older adults. However, cognitive strategies have recently been considered to be critical in the management of day-to-day living. Methods. Data were collected from 243 men and women aged 55 years and older living in France using face-to-face interviews between 2011 and 2013. Results. A stepwise discriminant analysis selected five predictor variables (age, perceived health status, barriers’ self-efficacy, internal memory, and attentional control strategies) of the level of PA. The function showed that the rate of correct prediction was 73% for the level of PA. The calculated discriminant function based on the five predictor variables is useful for detecting individuals at high risk of lapses once engaged in regular PA. Conclusions. This study highlighted the need to consider cognitive functions as a determinant of the level of PA and, more specifically, those cognitive functions related to executive functions (internal memory and attentional control), to facilitate the maintenance of regular PA. These results are discussed in relation to successful aging.
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Yannick, Fogang Fogoum, Kamgang Fogoum Alain, Ndiaye Moustapha, Diop Amadou Gallo, and Ndiaye Mouhamadou Mansour. "Selective Attention and Mental Flexibility are Reduced during the Interictal Period in Migraine." European Neurological Review 10, no. 2 (2015): 204. http://dx.doi.org/10.17925/enr.2015.10.02.204.
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Background:Headache patients frequently complain about difficulties in attention and concentration, even when they are headache free, and psychometric studies concerning attentional deficits in migraine patients between attacks are scarce.Objective:To evaluate selective attention of migraine patients interictally and compare them with healthy volunteers.Patients and Methods:We performed, between February 2011 and July 2011, a case-control study including 45 university students suffering from migraine matched with 45 healthy students as controls. Migraine patients were evaluated in an interictal state. Subjects with another headache type, history of brain injury, epilepsy and visual disturbances were excluded. Mood disorders were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) questionnaire. Selective attention was evaluated using the Delis–Kaplan Executive Functions System (D-KEFS) colour-word interference test.Results:Mean age of patients was 23.29±2.55 years, versus 22.89±2.04 years for controls (p=0.2). The selective attention score was −4.04±7.08 for patients, versus −1.31±7.73 for controls (p=0.02). The mean mental flexibility score was lower in migraine patients compared with controls (36.67±6.79 versus 41.33±6.23; p=0.01). Gender, anxiety, depression scores and migraine characteristics had no correlation with the selective attention score.Conclusion:Selective attention and mental flexibility capacities are significantly reduced in migraine patients during the interictal period. These abnormalities probably contribute to frequent attentional complaints among these patients.
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Ueber, Ralph, Tobias Stegmann, Zâine Brockmeyer, Matthias Berger, and Hans M. Olbrich. "Selective Memory Impairment in Schizophrenia: A Comparison with that Observed in Alcoholism." Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie 12, no. 1 (February 2001): 15–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1024//1016-264x.12.1.15.
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Abstract: This study assessed the pattern of memory performance both in working memory components and episodic long-term memory in a sample of 30 schizophrenic patients, showing intact intellectual and attentional functions. The patients were compared with 30 alcoholics and 30 normal control subjects, matched for age, sex and estimated premorbid IQ. Intellectual functions, assessed using a short form of WAIS, showed no deficits in estimated Full-Scale IQ between the three groups. Attention, working memory, verbal and visual long-term memory were assessed by the subtests of WMS-R. Schizophrenic patients only showed poor overall performance in verbal and visual long-term memory, whereas alcoholics showed a broader pattern of cognitive dysfunction including attentional, working memory and verbal long-term memory components. Taken together the neuropsychological pattern of intact working memory components and impaired long-term memory in schizophrenia is similar to the classic amnesic syndrome and suggest a selective medial temporal-hippocampal dysfunction.
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Scala, Iris, Maria Pia Riccio, Maria Marino, Carmela Bravaccio, Giancarlo Parenti, and Pietro Strisciuglio. "Large Neutral Amino Acids (LNAAs) Supplementation Improves Neuropsychological Performances in Adult Patients with Phenylketonuria." Nutrients 12, no. 4 (April 15, 2020): 1092. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12041092.
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Phenylketonuria is an inborn error of phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism diagnosed by newborn screening and treated early with diet. Although diet prevents intellectual disability, patients often show impairment of executive functions, working memory, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility. Large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) have been proposed as a dietary supplement for PKU adults. Few studies show that LNAAs may help in improving metabolic control as well as cognitive functions. In this study, 10 adult PKU patients with poor metabolic control were treated for 12 months with LNAAs (MovisCom, 0.8–1 g/kg/day) and underwent Phe and Tyrosine (Tyr) monitoring monthly. Neuropsychological assessment was performed at T0, T+3, and T+12 months by using the American Psychological General Well-Being Index, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Test of Attentional Performance, and the 9-Hole Peg Test. No change in plasma Phe levels was observed during LNAAs supplementation, while Tyr levels significantly improved during LNAAs supplementation (p = 0.03). Psychometric tests showed an improvement of distress and well-being rates, of executive functions, attention, and vigilance, whereas no difference was noted regarding hand dexterity. This study adds evidence of the advantage of LNAAs supplementation in improving cognitive functions and well-being in patients with PKU with poor metabolic control.
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Wang, Lingxiao, Yifen Zhang, Xiao Lin, Hongli Zhou, Xiaoxia Du, and Guangheng Dong. "Group independent component analysis reveals alternation of right executive control network in Internet gaming disorder." CNS Spectrums 23, no. 5 (August 29, 2017): 300–310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1092852917000360.
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ObjectivePrevious studies have demonstrated that individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) showed attentional bias toward gaming-related cues and exhibited impaired executive functions. The purpose of this study was to explore the alternations in related functional brain networks underlying attentional bias in IGD subjects.MethodsEighteen IGD subjects and 19 healthy controls (HC) were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they were performing an addiction Stroop task. Networks of functional connectivity were identified using group independent component analysis (ICA).ResultsICA identified 4 functional networks that showed differences between the 2 groups, which were related to the right executive control network and visual related networks in our study. Within the right executive control network, in contrast to controls, IGD subjects showed increased functional connectivity in the temporal gyrus and frontal gyrus, and reduced functional connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex, temporal gyrus, and frontal gyrus.ConclusionThese findings suggest that IGD is related to abnormal functional connectivity of the right executive control network, and may be described as addiction-related abnormally increased cognitive control processing and diminished response inhibition during an addiction Stroop task. The results suggest that IGD subjects show increased susceptibility towards gaming-related cues but weakened strength of inhibitory control.
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Nazarboland, N. "Executive Functioning Impairments in Adolescents with Early Diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." European Psychiatry 41, S1 (April 2017): S217—S218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.2200.
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Despite the neuropsychology literature provide reliable evidence of impaired executive functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it has not been determined whether these deficits are prior to onset of the disorder or they begin to appear as consequence. To investigate whether recent onset of OCD in adolescence is characterized by executive functioning difficulties in behavioral inhibition, attentional flexibility, and decision-making. Executive functions were compared in adolescents with recent (past year) appearance of OCD symptoms (n = 40) and control group (n = 40). Three computerized tests within the CANTAB battery were completed by all subjects (the Affective Go/No Go task, the Intra-Dimensional, Extra-Dimensional Set-Shifting task, and the Decision-Making task). Using one-way ANOVA showed that compared with control group, the OCD adolescents displayed a bias towards negative stimuli with less errors on sad and hopeless words on the Affective Go/No Go task. They also made faster decisions while they bet more of their available points compared to controls, in the Decision-Making task. Adolescents with recent OCD diagnosis (less than one year) showed greater attention towards sad and hopeless stimuli and more impulsive behavior when making decisions. However, they were able to switch attentional set to neutral stimuli. These findings suggest that executive functioning impairments can characterize adolescence OCD from early beginning of the disorder.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.
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Lu, Hanna, Ada W. T. Fung, Sandra S. M. Chan, and Linda C. W. Lam. "Disturbance of attention network functions in Chinese healthy older adults: an intra-individual perspective." International Psychogeriatrics 28, no. 2 (September 28, 2015): 291–301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1041610215001556.
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ABSTRACTBackground:Intra-individual variability (IIV) and the change of attentional functions have been reported to be susceptible to both healthy ageing and pathological ageing. The current study aimed to evaluate the IIV of attention and the age-related effect on alerting, orienting, and executive control in cognitively healthy older adults.Method:We evaluated 145 Chinese older adults (age range of 65–80 years, mean age of 72.41 years) with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and the Attention network test (ANT). A two-step strategy of analytical methods was used: Firstly, the IIV of older adults was evaluated by the intraindividual coefficient of variation of reaction time (ICV-RT). The correlation between ICV-RT and age was used to evaluate the necessity of subgrouping. Further, the comparisons of ANT performance among three age groups were performed with processing speed adjusted.Results:Person's correlation revealed significant positive correlations between age and IIV (r = 0.185, p = 0.032), age and executive control (r = 0.253, p = 0.003). Furthermore, one-way ANOVA comparisons among three age groups revealed a significant age-related disturbance on executive control (F = 4.55, p = 0.01), in which oldest group (group with age >75 years) showed less efficient executive control than young-old (group with age 65–70 years) (Conventional score, p = 0.012; Ratio score, p = 0.020).Conclusion:Advancing age has an effect on both IIV and executive attention in cognitively healthy older adults, suggesting that the disturbance of executive attention is a sensitive indicator to reflect healthy ageing. Its significance to predict further deterioration should be carefully evaluated with prospective studies.
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Müller, Sandra Verena, Sönke Johannes, Berdieke Wieringa, Axel Weber, Kirsten Müller-Vahl, Mike Matzke, Hans Kolbe, Reinhard Dengler, and Thomas F. Münte. "Disturbed Monitoring and Response Inhibition in patients with Gilles De La Tourette Syndrome and Co-Morbid Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." Behavioural Neurology 14, no. 1-2 (2003): 29–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2003/832906.
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Objective:Fronto-striatal dysfunction has been discussed as underlying symptoms of Tourette syndrome (TS) with co-morbid Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This suggests possible impairments of executive functions in this disorder, which were therefore targeted in the present study.Results:A comprehensive series of neuropsychological tests examining attention, memory and executive functions was performed in a group of 14 TS/OCD in co-occurrence with OCD patients and a matched control group.Results:While attentional and memory mechanisms were not altered, TS/OCS patients showed deficits in executive functions predominately in the areas of response inhibition and action monitoring.Conclusions:These findings provide further evidence for a substantial impairment of the frontal-striatal-thalamic-frontal circuit. We propose that the deficits in monitoring, error detection and response inhibition constitute the major impairment of TS/OCD patients in the cognitive domain.
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Gaspar, John M., and John J. McDonald. "High Level of Trait Anxiety Leads to Salience-Driven Distraction and Compensation." Psychological Science 29, no. 12 (November 2, 2018): 2020–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797618807166.
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Individuals with high levels of anxiety are hypothesized to have impaired executive control functions that would otherwise enable efficient filtering of irrelevant information. Pinpointing specific deficits is difficult, however, because anxious individuals may compensate for deficient control functions by allocating greater effort. Here, we used event-related-potential indices of attentional selection (the N2pc) and suppression (the PD) to determine whether high trait anxiety is associated with a deficit in preventing the misallocation of attention to salient, but irrelevant, visual search distractors. Like their low-anxiety counterparts ( n = 19), highly anxious individuals ( n = 19) were able to suppress the distractor, as evidenced by the presence of a PD. Critically, however, the distractor was found to trigger an earlier N2pc in the high-anxiety group but not in the low-anxiety group. These findings indicate that, whereas individuals with low anxiety can prevent distraction in a proactive fashion, anxious individuals deal with distractors only after they have diverted attention.
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Lin, Hsiang-Yuan, Wen-Yih Isaac Tseng, Meng-Chuan Lai, Kayako Matsuo, and Susan Shur-Fen Gau. "Altered Resting-State Frontoparietal Control Network in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 21, no. 4 (April 2015): 271–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s135561771500020x.
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AbstractThe frontoparietal control network, anatomically and functionally interposed between the dorsal attention network and default mode network, underpins executive control functions. Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) commonly exhibit deficits in executive functions, which are mainly mediated by the frontoparietal control network. Involvement of the frontoparietal control network based on the anterior prefrontal cortex in neurobiological mechanisms of ADHD has yet to be tested. We used resting-state functional MRI and seed-based correlation analyses to investigate functional connectivity of the frontoparietal control network in a sample of 25 children with ADHD (7–14 years; mean 9.94±1.77 years; 20 males), and 25 age-, sex-, and performance IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children. All participants had limited in-scanner head motion. Spearman’s rank correlations were used to test the associations between altered patterns of functional connectivity with clinical symptoms and executive functions, measured by the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test and Spatial Span in the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Compared with TD children, children with ADHD demonstrated weaker connectivity between the right anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the right ventrolateral PFC, and between the left anterior PFC and the right inferior parietal lobule. Furthermore, this aberrant connectivity of the frontoparietal control network in ADHD was associated with symptoms of impulsivity and opposition-defiance, as well as impaired response inhibition and attentional control. The findings support potential integration of the disconnection model and the executive dysfunction model for ADHD. Atypical frontoparietal control network may play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of ADHD. (JINS, 2015, 21, 271–284)
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Rushmore, R. J., J. A. McGaughy, A. C. Amaral, D. J. Mokler, P. J. Morgane, J. R. Galler, and D. L. Rosene. "The neural basis of attentional alterations in prenatally protein malnourished rats." Cerebral Cortex 31, no. 1 (September 16, 2020): 497–512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa239.
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Abstract Protein malnutrition during gestation alters brain development and produces specific behavioral and cognitive changes that persist into adulthood and increase the risks of neuropsychiatric disorders. Given evidence for the role of the prefrontal cortex in such diseases, it is significant that studies in humans and animal models have shown that prenatal protein malnutrition specifically affects functions associated with prefrontal cortex. However, the neural basis underlying these changes is unclear. In the current study, prenatally malnourished and control rats performed a sustained attention task with an unpredictable distractor, a task that depends on intact prefrontal cortical function. Radiolabeled 2-deoxyglucose was used to measure neural and brain network activity during the task. Results confirmed that adult prenatally malnourished rats were more distractible than controls and exhibited lower functional activity in prefrontal cortices. Thus, prefrontal activity was a predictor of task performance in controls but not prenatally malnourished animals. Instead, prenatally malnourished animals relied on different brain networks involving limbic structures such as the hippocampus. These results provide evidence that protein reduction during brain development has more wide-reaching effects on brain networks than previously appreciated, resulting in the formation of brain networks that may reflect compensatory responses in prenatally malnourished brains.
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Duggan, Emily C., Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera, and Ulrich Müller. "Derivation, Replication, and Validity Analyses of a Screener for the Behavioral Assessment of Executive Functions in Young Adults." Assessment 25, no. 7 (September 21, 2016): 867–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1073191116670511.
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Ecologically valid indicators of executive functions are designed to capture dysfunction not easily measured in a lab setting. Here, we present two studies on the development and validity analyses of a behavioral screener for executive functions among young adults. In Study 1, we derived a four-factor (problem solving, attentional control, behavioral control, and emotional control) behavioral screener using a sample of 765 individuals. We used invariance analyses to evaluate the screener’s measurement reliability across sex. In Study 2, we replicated the screener derivation analyses using an independent sample of 197 undergraduates. To further examine the screener’s validity, we evaluated it against a well-known executive functions rating scale. The four-factor model was supported in both samples and analyses provided support for this screener as a valid and reliable measure for everyday executive functions among young adults.
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Garland, Eric L. "Trait Mindfulness Predicts Attentional and Autonomic Regulation of Alcohol Cue-Reactivity." Journal of Psychophysiology 25, no. 4 (January 2011): 180–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000060.
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The trait of mindfulness varies among meditation-naïve individuals and is associated with attentional and autonomic regulation, two neurocognitive functions that become impaired in addiction. It was hypothesized that alcohol dependent inpatients with comparatively high levels of trait mindfulness would exhibit significant autonomic recovery from stress-primed alcohol cues mediated by greater attentional disengagement from such cues. Fifty-eight alcohol dependent inpatients participated in affect-modulated psychophysiological cue-reactivity protocol and a spatial cueing task designed to assess alcohol attentional bias (AB). Associations between trait mindfulness, alcohol AB, and an index of autonomic activity, high-frequency heart rate variability (HFHRV), were examined via multivariate path analysis. Higher trait mindfulness was significantly associated with less difficulty resisting the urge to drink and greater HFHRV recovery from stress-primed alcohol cues. After statistically controlling for the correlation of mindfulness and perceived difficulty resisting drinking urges, the association between mindfulness and HFHRV recovery was partially mediated by attentional disengagement from alcohol cues (model R2 = .30). Alcohol dependent inpatients higher in mindfulness are better able to disengage attention from alcohol cues, which in turn predicts the degree of HFHRV recovery from such cues. Trait mindfulness may index cognitive control over appetitive responses reflected in superior attentional and autonomic regulation of stress-primed alcohol cue-reactivity.
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Tommasi, Giorgio, Mirta Fiorio, Jérôme Yelnik, Paul Krack, Francesca Sala, Emmanuelle Schmitt, Valérie Fraix, et al. "Disentangling the Role of Cortico-Basal Ganglia Loops in Top–Down and Bottom–Up Visual Attention: An Investigation of Attention Deficits in Parkinson Disease." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27, no. 6 (June 2015): 1215–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00770.
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It is solidly established that top–down (goal-driven) and bottom–up (stimulus-driven) attention mechanisms depend on distributed cortical networks, including prefrontal and frontoparietal regions. On the other hand, it is less clear whether the BG also contribute to one or the other of these mechanisms, or to both. The current study was principally undertaken to clarify this issue. Parkinson disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting the BG, has proven to be an effective model for investigating the contribution of the BG to different brain functions; therefore, we set out to investigate deficits of top–down and bottom–up attention in a selected cohort of PD patients. With this objective in mind, we compared the performance on three computerized tasks of two groups of 12 parkinsonian patients (assessed without any treatment), one otherwise pharmacologically treated and the other also surgically treated, with that of a group of controls. The main behavioral tool for our study was an attentional capture task, which enabled us to tap the competition between top–down and bottom–up mechanisms of visual attention. This task was suitably combined with a choice RT and a simple RT task to isolate any specific deficit of attention from deficits in motor response selection and initiation. In the two groups of patients, we found an equivalent increase of attentional capture but also comparable delays in target selection in the absence of any salient distractor (reflecting impaired top–down mechanisms) and movement initiation compared with controls. In contrast, motor response selection processes appeared to be prolonged only in the operated patients. Our results confirm that the BG are involved in both motor and cognitive domains. Specifically, damage to the BG, as it occurs in PD, leads to a distinct deficit of top–down control of visual attention, and this can account, albeit indirectly, for the enhancement of attentional capture, reflecting weakened ability of top–down mechanisms to antagonize bottom–up control.
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Cepeda-Freyre, Héctor A., Gregorio Garcia-Aguilar, and J. Jacobo Oliveros-Oliveros. "Bayesian Modeling of Working Memory and Inhibitory Control." International Journal of Psychological Studies 10, no. 4 (November 7, 2018): 53. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijps.v10n4p53.
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In cognitive science, working memory is a core cognitive ability that might be functionally related to other capacities, such as perceptual processes, inhibitory control, memory and attention processes and executive functions. The mathematical study of working memory has been explored before. However, there is not enough research aiming to study the relationship between working memory and inhibitory control. This is the objective of the present report. Bayesian hypothesis testing is often more robust than traditional p-value null hypothesis testing. Yet, the number of studies using this approach is still limited. A secondary objective of this paper is to contribute to fill that gap, as well as provide an empirical application of Bayesian hypothesis testing using cognitive and behavioral data. A within-subjects design was used to measure working memory function for three types of visual stimuli that varied in the degree of attentional interference they were designed to elicit. Data collected was contrasted with measurements of inhibitory control and analyzed using Bayes’ theorem. Our results provide evidence against the theoretical relationship of working memory and inhibitory control. This outcome is analyzed in light of related cognitive research.
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Yan, Lirong, Tiantian Wen, Jiawen Zhang, Le Chang, Yi Wang, Mutian Liu, Changhao Ding, and Fuwu Yan. "An Evaluation of Executive Control Function and Its Relationship with Driving Performance." Sensors 21, no. 5 (March 4, 2021): 1763. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21051763.
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The driver’s attentional state is a significant human factor in traffic safety. The executive control process is a crucial sub-function of attention. To explore the relationship between the driver’s driving performance and executive control function, a total of 35 healthy subjects were invited to take part in a simulated driving experiment and a task-cuing experiment. The subjects were divided into three groups according to their driving performance (aberrant driving behaviors, including lapses and errors) by the clustering method. Then the performance efficiency and electroencephalogram (EEG) data acquired in the task-cuing experiment were compared among the three groups. The effect of group, task transition types and cue-stimulus intervals (CSIs) were statistically analyzed by using the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the post hoc simple effect analysis. The subjects with lower driving error rates had better executive control efficiency as indicated by the reaction time (RT) and error rate in the task-cuing experiment, which was related with their better capability to allocate the available attentional resources, to express the external stimuli and to process the information in the nervous system, especially the fronto-parietal network. The activation degree of the frontal area fluctuated, and of the parietal area gradually increased along with the increase of CSI, which implied the role of the frontal area in task setting reconstruction and working memory maintaining, and of the parietal area in stimulus–Response (S–R) mapping expression. This research presented evidence of the close relationship between executive control functions and driving performance.
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YANG, HWAJIN, and SUJIN YANG. "Are all interferences bad? Bilingual advantages in working memory are modulated by varying demands for controlled processing." Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20, no. 1 (September 22, 2015): 184–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1366728915000632.
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We investigated bilingual advantages in general control abilities using three complex-span tasks of working memory (WM). An operation-span task served as a baseline measure of WM capacity. Additionally, two modified versions of the Stroop-span task were designed to place varying attentional-control demands during memoranda encoding by asking participants either to read the to-be-remembered item aloud (lower cognitive control; i.e., Stroop-span task) or to name the font color of the to-be-remembered item while still encoding the word for later recall (greater cognitive control; i.e., attention-impeded Stroop-span task). Twenty-six Korean–English bilinguals and 25 English-native monolinguals were tested. We found that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the attention-impeded Stroop-span task, but on neither the operation-span nor the Stroop-span task. Our findings demonstrate that bilingualism provides advantages in controlled processing, an important component of WM and other executive functions, suggesting that the demand for controlled processing in WM tasks moderates bilingual effects on WM.
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Zagaria, Tommasa, Gabriella Antonucci, Serafino Buono, Marilena Recupero, and Pierluigi Zoccolotti. "Executive Functions and Attention Processes in Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual Disability." Brain Sciences 11, no. 1 (January 3, 2021): 42. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11010042.
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(1) Background: We made a comprehensive evaluation of executive functions (EFs) and attention processes in a group of adolescents and young adults with mild intellectual disability (ID). (2) Methods: 27 adolescents and young adults (14 females and 13 males) with ID, aged between 15.1 and 23 years (M = 17.4; SD = 2.04), were compared to a control group free of cognitive problems and individually matched for gender and age. (3) Results: As for EFs, individuals with ID were severely impaired on all subtests of the Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) battery. However, we also found appreciable individual differences, with eight individuals (approximately 30%) scoring within normal limits. On the attention tests, individuals with ID were not generally slower but presented specific deficits only on some attention tests (i.e., Choice Reaction Times, Color Naming and Color–Word Interference, and Shifting of Attention for Verbal and for Visual Targets).The role of a global factor (i.e., cognitive speed) was modest in contributing to the group differences; i.e., when present, group differences were selectively associated with specific task manipulations, not global differences in cognitive speed. (4) Conclusions: The study confirmed large group differences in EFs; deficits in attentional processing were more specific and occurred primarily in tasks taxing the selective dimension of attention, with performance on intensive tasks almost entirely spared.
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Brazo, P., R. M. Marié, I. Halbecq, K. Benali, L. Segard, P. Delamillieure, S. Langlois-Théry, et al. "Cognitive patterns in subtypes of schizophrenia." European Psychiatry 17, no. 3 (May 2002): 155–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0924-9338(02)00648-x.
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SummaryAimBecause of the heterogeneity of schizophrenia, this study researched different cognitive patterns in distinct subtypes of schizophrenic patients.MethodsThirty-five Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM IV) schizophrenic patients and 35 healthy controls were included. Patients were categorized into deficit, disorganized and positive subtypes with the schedule for the deficit syndrome (SDS) and the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Executive/attentional functions were assessed with the modified card sorting test (MCST), a test of verbal fluency, the trail making test (TMT) and the Stroop color-word test (Stroop test). Episodic memory was explored through the California verbal learning test (CVLT).ResultsThe positive subtype had some executive/attentional (fluency and Stroop tests) and mnesic performances in the normal range, suggesting the preservation of good cognitive skills. In contrast, the deficit and disorganized subtypes had major mnesic and executive/attentional dysfunctions compared to healthy subjects. The deficit subtype compared to the control group performed predominantly worse on the MCST and fluency, whereas the disorganized subtype had the lowest scores on the TMT and the Stroop test.ConclusionThis study showed distinct cognitive patterns in deficit, disorganized and positive patients in comparison with the controls, suggesting a heterogeneous cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.