Object-Based Attention and Cognitive Tunneling.

Simulator-based research has shown that pilots cognitively tunnel their attention on head-up displays (HUDs). Cognitive tunneling has been linked to object-based visual attention on the assumption that HUD symbology is perceptually grouped into an object that is perceived and attended separately from the external scene. The present research strengthens the link between cognitive tunneling and object-based attention by showing that (a) elements of a visual display that share a common fate are grouped into a perceptual object and that this grouping is sufficient to sustain object-based attention, (b) object-based attention and thereby cognitive tunneling is affected by strategic focusing of attention, and (c) object-based attention is primarily inhibitory in nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention in the primate visual system.

A series of single unit PET and behavioural studies is described addressing the functions and neurophysiology of visual attention. Beyond striale cortex, visual information is processed in a network of separate cortical areas, specialized in part for analysis of different visual attributes. Issues arising in such a modular system include the nature of the attentional state in extrastriate cortex, its flexible control by the requirements of current behaviour, and the coordination between areas implied by attention to whole objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive functions of language in the preschool years.

Advances the hypothesis that language influences the young child's thinking and behavior at an earlier age than commonly reported. 3 areas are considered: concept formation, communication, and problem solving. Prelinguistic mastery in these functions is available through sensorimotor skills. Such skills, however, are geared to visual spatial information. In the absence of this information or in the presence of other forms of information, the child begins to employ his verbal system. Because most experimental paradigms are based on visual spatial cues, it is felt that they are not well suited for tapping the linguistic functions available to the young child. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modal attention asymmetry in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

This cross-sectional study examined modal attention asymmetries in patients with schizophrenia (n?=?47) and bipolar disorder (n?=?42), as contrasted to a matched-sample comparison group of normal participants (n?=?89). A test of continuous auditory and visual attention was the primary measure. The data were analyzed from 2 experimental conditions: simple modal responses (auditory and visual) and modal switching responses (ipsimodal and cross-modal switching). In the simple modal condition, patients with schizophrenia demonstrated a visual over auditory asymmetry; patients with bipolar disorder showed no differences. In modal switching conditions, however, patients with bipolar disorder displayed a significant auditory over visual asymmetry. No main effect was detected between medications and attention functioning. Results are discussed in light of differentiating these 2 populations on the basis of modal specificity of attention functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive control: Dynamic, sustained, and voluntary influences.

The cost of incongruent stimuli is reduced when conflict is expected. This series of experiments tested whether this improved performance is due to repetition priming or to enhanced cognitive control. Using a paradigm in which Word and Number Stroop alternated every trial, Experiment 1 assessed dynamic trial-to-trial changes. Incongruent trials led to task-specific reduction of conflict (trial n + 2) without cross-task modulation (trial n + 1), but this was fully explained by repetition priming. In contrast, an increased ratio of incongruent words did lead to sustained task-specific enhancement, above and beyond repetition priming (Experiment 2). Experiments 3 and 4 assessed the voluntary modulation of cognitive control: A cue predicted the congruency of the incoming trial, allowing participants to establish the correct mindset (Word Stroop in Experiment 3, Flanker task in Experiment 4). Preparing oneself to process an incongruent word (or flanker) enhanced conflict resolution in the subsequent Number Stroop, an example of cross-task modulation. Taken together, these experiments reveal the multifaceted aspects of conflict resolution: Trial-to-trial changes are often due to repetition priming; sustained modulations brought about by task demands are task specific; and voluntary modulations are task general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning and attention: Brain and behavioural approaches the 1995 Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science.

The Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science (BASICS) was founded in 1982, and thus the meeting this past May marks the 14th anniversary of this conference. Many recent talks have stressed the importance of studying these processes in conjunction with each other. In keeping with this theme, the focus of BASICS 1995 was on recent neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and behavioural findings with respect to attention and learning. Further, many of the talks provided evidence in support of attentional organization centered around objects, rather than locations. The first talk, from world-renowned scientist Michael Posner, centered on his work involving neuroscientific approaches to the study of high-level skills such as reading. Steven Luck's talk also emphasized the use of multiple neurophysiological techniques to study high-level cognitive function, in this case, the binding of features. The talk by Lynn Robertson about her work in collaboration with Anne Treisman, switched to a focus on neuropsychological, rather than neurophysiological, findings regarding attention in humans. The last speaker of the first afternoon, Patrick Cavanagh, gave a talk replete with impressive visual demonstrations regarding his work in the behavioural analysis of spatial visual attention. The first speaker of the following morning session, Jeremy Wolfe, began his presentation by comparing his theory of visual search, which he calls Guided Search, to the more traditional theory of search, Feature Integration Theory (FIT), as proposed by Anne Treisman. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Load Theory of Selective Attention and Cognitive Control.

A load theory of attention in which distractor rejection depends on the level and type of load involved in current processing was tested. A series of experiments demonstrates that whereas high perceptual load reduces distractor interference, working memory load or dual-task coordination load increases distractor interference. These findings suggest 2 selective attention mechanisms: a perceptual selection mechanism serving to reduce distractor perception in situations of high perceptual load that exhaust perceptual capacity in processing relevant stimuli and a cognitive control mechanism that reduces interference from perceived distractors as long as cognitive control functions are available to maintain current priorities (low cognitive load). This theory resolves the long-standing early versus late selection debate and clarifies the role of cognitive control in selective attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive status impacts age-related changes in attention to novel and target events in normal adults.

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between the cognitive status of normal adults and age-related changes in attention to novel and target events. Old, middle-age, and young subjects, divided into cognitively high and cognitively average performing groups, viewed repetitive standard stimuli, infrequent target stimuli, and unique novel visual stimuli. Subjects controlled viewing duration by a button press that led to the onset of the next stimulus. They also responded to targets by pressing a foot pedal. The amount of time spent looking at different kinds of stimuli served as a measure of visual attention and exploratory activity. Cognitively high performers spent more time viewing novel stimuli than cognitively average performers. The magnitude of the difference between cognitively high and cognitively average performing groups was largest among old subjects. Cognitively average performers had slower and less accurate responses to targets than cognitively high performers. The results provide strong evidence that the link between engagement by novelty and higher cognitive performance increases with age. Moreover, the results support the notion of there being different patterns of normal cognitive aging and the need to identify the factors that influence them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

离子缔合体系分光光度法测定硒(Ⅳ)的进展

归纳和评述了近年来国内外利用离子缔合体系分光光度法测定微量元素硒(Ⅳ)的方法、特点及适用对象,提出了今后要解决的问题和研究方向,认为探索灵敏度高、选择性好、重复性好的体系仍然是今后重要的研究课题。     

Cognitive Operations in the Generation Effect on a Recall Test: Role of Aging and Divided Attention.

Generation effect (generated words are better memorized than read words) of anagrams, rhymes, and associates of target words was examined in young, elderly, and very old subjects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that only young subjects benefit from the generation effect in a free-recall test when the rule is of a phonological nature. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 showed that the generation effect of rhymes was due to a resources-dependent self-initiated process. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that in a divided-attention situation, generation effect of rhymes is not significant in young subjects, but that the generation effect of semantic associates remains significant for both groups (Experiment 5). The results are discussed within the environmental support framework and the transfer-appropriate processing framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive resources, valence, and memory retrieval of emotional events in older adults.

In 2 studies with older adults, the authors investigated the effect of executive attention resources on the retrieval of emotional public events. Participants completed a battery of working memory tasks, as a measure of executive attention, and a battery of tasks assessing memory, as well as subjective experiences associated with the retrieval of remote public events. Participants also rated the valence of each public event story. The group-rated valence of the public event stories predicted retrieval and the quality of experiences associated with them, such that emotionally arousing events elicited the highest memory rates and the richest experiences. Furthermore, positive public events elicited the highest memory rates. Executive attention moderated only the relationship between event valence and how participants' associated memories are experienced at retrieval, such that superior executive attention resources predicted richer experiences associated with positive relative to neutral and negative stories. The current results extend previous findings on the effects of aging on emotion regulation, suggesting that cognitive control resources modulate subjective experiences associated with retrieved memories for remote real life events, but not memory retrieval itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Executive Functioning and Speed of Processing in Phenylketonuria.

Treated phenylketonuria (PKU) has been linked to dopaminergic depletion in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, potentially leading to selective executive impairment. White matter abnormalities may lead to generalized slowing of information processing. These 2 hypotheses were evaluated in adults with PKU on a lifelong diet. Those with PKU were significantly slower than the control group regardless of working memory load on an n-back task and marginally slower regardless of trial type (inhibitory or noninhibitory) on a flanker task. There were no significant differences in speed on object alternation learning or perceptual judgment tasks. There were no group differences in accuracy on any task. These findings do not appear consistent with the selective executive hypothesis. A cognitive slowing account may prove more informative in adults with PKU, but more evidence is needed. The findings suggest that continuous dietary management is a fairly successful strategy in terms of cognitive outcome for adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The 1990 Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science.

The Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science (BASICS) was founded in 1982 and has met each spring since then in Banff, Alberta. BASICS was originated to provide an informal atmosphere for the in-depth discussion of a wide variety of research topics within the broadly defined domain of cognitive psychology. Topics covered in this year's seminar included visual spatial attention and target detection, attention and eye movements during reading, the integration of information across eye movements, language production and its dependency on structure, and parallel distributed processing models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Timing is everything: Executive functions in children exposed to elevated levels of phenylalanine.

This study addresses how the timing of a known biological insult affects the developmental progression of executive functions. The sample consisted of children exposed to elevated levels of phenylalanine, either postnatally, as in phenylketonuria (PKU; n = 46), or prenatally, as in maternal PKU (n = 15). Nonhyperphenylalaninemic siblings of children with PKU (n = 18) served as controls. Results indicated that elevated levels of phenylalanine are toxic to the neurological systems that manage executive functions and cognitive tempo. This toxicity is dose dependent, with higher levels of phenylalanine being more detrimental. Executive function difficulties noted in PKU are consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-inattentive type, whereas maternal PKU offspring had executive function difficulties consistent with ADHD-combined type. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioural demands direct attentional strategies: The 1993 Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science.

The Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive-Science (BASICS) was founded in 1982 and has met each spring since then in Banff, Alberta, Canada. BASICS was originated to provide an informal atmosphere for the in-depth discussion of a wide variety of research topics within the broadly defined domain of cognitive science. The purpose of the present paper is to summarize and find commonalties among the individual abstracts which follow. The first speaker, Norman Brown began his talk with the premise that a valid model of the estimation process is essential to an understanding of the process of encoding and representing event frequency. In the second talk, John Duncan continued the theme as to how psychological processes are selected according to the current demands of behaviour. The third talk of the first day of the conference was by Nancy Kanwisher. This investigator has been in the forefront of the journals lately for her work with the phenomenon known as repetition blindness (RB). The final talk of the first day of BASICS was given by one of the most prominent figures in the study of visual attention, Anne Treisman. The first talk of the second day of the conference was given by Tom Carr. Carr's talk was aimed at understanding the process by which new information is integrated into the semantic memory system. The last talk of the conference was by Robert Rafal whose work examines the neuropsychological aspects of visual attention. The emerging theme of this year's conference, that humans exercise strategic control over attentional mechanisms, was addressed by all the speakers in a way that proved highly informative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive complaints in elderly depressed and pseudodemented patients.

The cognitive complaints of 11 patients with depressive pseudodementia were compared with those of 22 patients with depression alone. Pseudodemented subjects were defined as depressed inpatients showing reversible cognitive impairment as measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); subjects with depression alone had no such impairment. For each group, cognitive complaints were highly correlated with depressive symptoms and were not related to MMSE scores. The pseudodemented group had significantly higher cognitive complaint scores, complaining more of difficulties with concentration and recent memory. Groups did not differ significantly in complaints of difficulties with remote memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive Deficits in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Long-Term Follow-Up.

The phrase "long-term follow-up" in the title of this paper refers to my Presidential Address to CPA (Douglas, 1972), in which I made my first attempt to pull together my thinking on the nature of the cognitive deficits associated with Childhood Hyperactivity, now known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This paper represents a much later attempt to "update" my thinking. The paper describes my current "working conceptualization" of the cognitive and motor deficits of children with ADHD. It points to the self-regulatory nature of their deficits, and stresses the importance of differentiating between the attentional and inhibitory components, as opposed to the strategic or organizational components, of self-regulation. A main theme is the need for better collaboration among investigators to develop a basic diagnostic profile of operationally defined, laboratory-based measures that can assess specific attentional, inhibitory, and strategic deficits under clearly specified conditions. I argue that the profile should also include measures and manipulations that demonstrate the cognitive strengths of ADHD children, which are frequently "masked" by impaired self-regulation. I discuss the possibility of using tasks and games based on the operational definitions to try to influence the early development of cognitive and motor control processes in ADHD. I also argue that pervasive, dose-dependent stimulant effects across multiple simple and complex tasks point to action on self-regulatory processes and provide one example showing that high doses can produce "overregulation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The adaptive character of the attentional system: Statistical sensitivity in a target localization task.

A localization task required participants to indicate which of 4 locations contained a briefly displayed target. Most displays also contained a distractor that was not equally probable in these locations, affecting performance dramatically. Responses were faster when a display had no distractor and almost as fast when the distractor was in its frequent location. Conversely, responses were slower when targets appeared in frequent-distractor locations, even though targets were equally likely in each location. Negative-priming effects were reliably smaller when targets followed distractors in the frequent-distractor location compared to the rare-distractor location, challenging the episodic-retrieval account. Experiment 2 added a 5th location that rarely displayed distractors and never targets, yet responses slowed most when distractors appeared there. The results confirmed that the attentional system is sensitive to first- and higher-order statistical patterns and can make short- and long-term adjustments in preferences based on prior history of inspecting unsuccessful locations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamics of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system in patients with severe combined trauma

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of blood loss volume on lipid peroxidation (LP) process and antioxidant system (AOS) state in the patients with a heavy combined trauma. The studies were proceeded in 36 patients with a heavy combined trauma. The mean age of the patients was 40 +/- 2. A craniocerebral trauma was associated with trauma of both thorax and abdominal cavities and locomotor system. Blood loss reached 75% of circulating blood volume (CBV), mean value was 28 +/- 3%. Blood samples for the studies were obtained at admission of the patients by emergency medical service teams, and--after 4; 24 hours, 3 and 7 days after the trauma. CBV determination was made by dradioisotope method. LP and AOS state was judged from serum level of primary (conjugated dienes), secondary (malonic dialdehyde, MDA) LP products and extracellular antioxidant enzyme ceruloplasmin (CP). K coefficient, an integral indicator was used for LP-AOS system imbalance assessment. According to the obtained data, in the studied patients intensification of the LP processes manifesting in CD and MDA contents increase was most expressed from 1 to 3 days after trauma (2.0-2.6-fold, p < 0.05) and rise of TP content maximally in the 3 day 2.28-fold (p < 0.05) was observed in the there patients. At the admission of decrease (1.6-fold, p < 0.05) was registered which normalized to the 3 day. K coefficient time course study permitted to establish that as early as at the admission of the patients into the clinic its value was substantially higher than the normal one, and to the 4 hour the imbalance in the LP-AOS system increased 5.0-fold (p < 0.05). An expression of LP processes and AOS disturbances in the patients with heavy combined trauma depended on the blood loss volume. The revealed imbalance in the LP-AOS system is indicative of a necessity of inclusion antioxidants into the complex therapy.     

Attention and implicit memory in the category-verification and lexical decision tasks.

Prior research on implicit memory appeared to support 3 generalizations: Conceptual tests are affected by divided attention, perceptual tasks are affected by certain divided-attention manipulations, and all types of priming are affected by selective attention. These generalizations are challenged in experiments using the implicit tests of category verification and lexical decision. First, both tasks were unaffected by divided-attention tasks known to impact other priming tasks. Second, both tasks were unaffected by a manipulation of selective attention in which colored words were either named or their colors identified. Thus, category verification, unlike other conceptual tasks, appears unaffected by divided attention, and some selective-attention tasks, and lexical decision, unlike other perceptual tasks, appears unaffected by a difficult divided-attention task and some selective-attention tasks. Finally, both tasks were affected by a selective-attention task in which attention was manipulated across objects (rather than within objects), indicating some susceptibility to selective attention. The results contradict an analysis on the basis of the conceptual-perceptual distinction and other more specific hypotheses but are consistent with the distinction between production and identification priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)