Race, arousal, attention, exposure and delay: An examination of factors moderating face recognition.

A large percentage of people recently exonerated by DNA evidence were imprisoned on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification. Many of these cases involved victims and suspects of different races. Two studies examined the recognition of Hispanic and Black target faces by Hispanic participants under nonoptimal viewing conditions. When viewing time decreased, recognition performance for same- and other-race faces systematically shifted downward. Recognition accuracy for faces of both races decreased under conditions of high negative arousal and attention load; however, recognition of same-race faces was differentially affected by attention distractors. Face recognition accuracy was not affected by a delay between initial presentation of the faces and the face recognition test. An understanding of how recognition of other-race persons differs from that of same-race persons can assist by reducing misidentifications and ensuring that the perpetrator rather than an innocent person is imprisoned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived arousal, focus of attention, and avoidance behavior.

Attribution theory holds that perceived arousal may cause a person to draw an inference about his emotions and base his subsequent behavior on that inference. Recent research suggests, however, that this account does not entirely explain the influence of false arousal feedback on simultaneously occurring avoidance behavior. The following model, based on self-awareness theory, is proposed. Autonomic arousal feedback may cause heightened self-focus, followed by 1 of 2 possibilities: (a) If the person believes he can cope with his fear, he will redirect his attention to a behavior–goal comparison in order to match the one with the other. (b) If the person doubts his ability to match his behavior with the goal, such a comparison will be aversive and he will avoid focusing on it. These possibilities should lead to 2 different behavioral reactions as well: Doubtful Ss should avoid the aversive stimulus more quickly when presented with arousal feedback, but confident Ss should not. To test the model, a study was conducted in which 57 undergraduates who had self-rated moderate fear of nonpoisonous snakes and who also had indicated either confidence or doubt about their abilities to do the approach task approached a live boa constrictor in the presence of an accelerating or a constant heartbeat. Both behavioral and self-reported focus of attention results were consistent with the proposed attentional model. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interest on attention and learning.

The effects of interest on the allocation of attention to, and the learning of, written material were investigated in this study. Twenty-three college students read 72 sentences that had been previously rated for interest. The sentences were presented on an Apple IIe microcomputer that recorded two measures of attention: sentence reading time and reaction time to a secondary task. After sentence presentation, students were given a cued recall test of the material. Results showed that although interesting sentences were learned much better, less attention was allocated to them; hence attention did not serve as a causal mediator between interest and learning. Results also indicated that subjects engaged in some strategy independent of attention to learn the interesting material. The results are discussed in terms of the development of strategies for efficient reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative effects of methylphenidate and thioridazine in hyperkinetic children. I. Clinical results

The effects of three pharmacological treatments, methylphenidate hydrochloride, thioridazine hydrochloride, a methylphenidate/thioridazine combination, and placebo were studied in outpatient hyperkinetic children rated hyperactive both in school and at home or clinic. Active treatment lasted 12 weeks; placebo lasted four weeks. Significant clinical improvement was obtained in a variety of settings--all treatments were superior to placebo on ratings filled out by parents, teachers, and clinic staff. Though initially the combination of methylphenidate and thioridazine tended to produce greater clinical improvement, it was not superior to methylphenidate alone after 12 weeks of treatment. Methylphenidate alone and the methylphenidate/thioridazine combination were more effective than thioridazine alone. The salient side effects with methylphenidate treatment were decrease in appetite, difficulty in falling asleep, and increased mood sensitivity. In contrast, thioridazine administration was associated with appetite increase and enuresis.     

Relationship between cognitive tempo and selective attention in learning disabled children

The relationship between cognitive tempo and selective attention in 29 learning disabled children was investigated. The performance of the 9 reflective and the 9 impulsive children on selective-attention tasks was compared. An examination of t tests and correlations between variables for each task showed a relationship between cognitive tempo and selective attention. This relationship was stronger for central than for incidental recall.     

Role of attention in implicit learning.

Previous research has shown that implicit learning of a serial pattern in a reaction time (RT) task is eliminated or reduced when the task is performed concurrently with a tone-counting task. These results led to the inference that implicit learning requires attentional capacity. Two experiments tested the alternative hypothesis that the tone-counting task disrupts learning by preventing consistent organization of the sequence. The tone-counting condition was compared with a condition with additional attentional demands, but no disruption of organization, and with a condition with no additional attentional demands, but disruption of organization. The results were consistent with the organizational hypothesis. It is argued that learning depends on practicing consistently organized runs of trials, that shifts of attention may determine how the runs are organized, and that the relation between attention and learning depends more on organization and intention than on capacity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of continuous and partial reinforcement and methylphenidate on learning in children with attention deficit disorder.

Measured the performance of 30 children (aged 5 yrs 11 mo to 11 yrs) with attention deficit disorder (ADD) on a nonsense-word spelling task. The effects of 2 reinforcement schedules, partial and continuous, and methylphenidate (MPHN [0.3 mg/kg]) were assessed. Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 groups—no reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, and partial reinforcement. They performed the spelling task twice, once after ingesting MPHN and once following placebo ingestion. Results indicate that both reward conditions had large and equivalent beneficial effects on learning, as did MPHN. When reinforcement was combined with MPHN, performance was maximized. The results fail to support V. I. Douglas's (1983, 1985) hypothesis that partial reinforcement schedules have adverse effects on hyperactive children. The results also demonstrate the incremental value of the combination of MPHN and reinforcement in treatment of ADD. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allocation of spatial attention to emotional stimuli depends upon arousal and not valence.

Attentional allocation to emotional stimuli is often proposed to be driven by valence and in particular by negativity. However, many negative stimuli are also arousing leaving the question whether valence or arousal accounts for this effect. The authors examined whether the valence or the arousal level of emotional stimuli influences the allocation of spatial attention using a modified spatial cueing task. Participants responded to targets that were preceded by cues consisting of emotional pictures varying on arousal and valence. Response latencies showed that disengagement of spatial attention was slower for stimuli high in arousal than for stimuli low in arousal. The effect was independent of the valence of the pictures and not gender-specific. The findings support the idea that arousal affects the allocation of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incidental learning and the development of selective attention.

The incidental learning paradigm has provided 2 well-established findings concerning the development of selective attention: (a) The difference between central and incidental task performance increases with age, and (b) the correlation between central and incidental performance decreases with age. It has been assumed that these results reflect a developmental increase in the ability to process information selectively. The present article argues that neither of these findings constitutes unambiguous support for the view that attentional selectivity improves with age. It is suggested that recent theory and research on capacity trade-offs in dual-task performance provide a potentially valuable alternative framework for understanding the development of attentional processes. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Presence of others and arousal: An integration.

A meta-analytic integration of research evidence revealed that there was, in general, a marginally significant, small tendency for the presence of others to decrease self-reports of arousal and a significant, small tendency for the presence of others to increase electrodermal responses. However, these effects were moderated by the type of situation and the type of others present. Arousal is increased on both measures in neutral situations for both coactor others and audience others; arousal is increased on both measures in aversive situations for audience others. In aversive situations, coactors rendered an increase in arousal on electrodermal responses but a decrease in arousal on self-report responses. Discussion considers theoretical accounts for these effects of the presence of others on arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional strategies, attention, and metacognition in Puerto Rican children.

60 2nd-, 5th-, and 8th-grade Puerto Ricans participated in a strategy assessment task and an incidental learning task that provided a measure of attentional performance. Metacognition concerning attention was assessed by asking Ss to predict how much incidental material they would recall. ANOVAs revealed no developmental changes in the use of an efficient attentional strategy, the amount of central recall, the amount of incidental recall, or in metacognitive knowledge. Results differ from a previous study by the 1st author and M. G. Weiss with 60 predominantly White, middle-class Florida children in which attention and strategies became increasingly efficient as a function of age. In comparison to the Florida sample, Puerto Rican 2nd graders' strategies were more efficient and the 8th graders' strategies were less efficient. Attention on the incidental learning task was less selective for the Puerto Rican Ss than the Florida Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention in animal discrimination learning.

2 classes of experiment on the role of attention in discrimination learning are reviewed: (a) Investigations of the effect of attention on the amount learned about different cues have been interpreted as disproving noncontinuity theory (according to which animals attend to only 1 cue at a time). The fact that animals learn something about a 2nd cue, however, does not prove that attention has no effect on learning, and more recent evidence shows that it does. (b) If animals do not automatically attend to all cues, part of what they must learn in order to solve a discrimination problem is to attend to the relevant cue. Experiments on the acquired distinctiveness of cues, transfer along a continuum, and reversal learning provide evidence for the importance of such classificatory learning. (155 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural correlates of attention and arousal: insights from electrophysiology, functional neuroimaging and psychopharmacology

Attention and arousal are multi-dimensional psychological processes, which interact closely with one another. The neural substrates of attention, as well as the interaction between arousal and attention, are discussed in this review. After a brief discussion of psychological and neuropsychological theories of attention, event-related potential correlates of attention are discussed. Essentially, attention acts to modulate stimulus-induced electrical potentials (N100/P100, P300, N400), rather than generating any unique potentials of its own. Functional neuroimaging studies of attentional orienting, selective attention, divided attention and sustained attention (and its inter-dependence on underlying levels of arousal) are then reviewed. A distinction is drawn between the brain areas which are crucially involved in the top-down modulation of attention (the 'sources' of attention) and those sensory-association areas whose activity is modulated by attention (the 'sites' of attentional expression). Frontal and parietal (usually right-lateralised) cortices and thalamus are most often associated with the source of attentional modulation. Also, the use of functional neuroimaging to test explicit hypotheses about psychological theories of attention is emphasised. These experimental paradigms form the basis for a 'new generation' of functional imaging studies which exploit the dynamic aspect of imaging and demonstrate how it can be used as more than just a 'brain mapping' device. Finally, a review of psychopharmacological studies in healthy human volunteers outlines the contributions of the noradrenergic, cholinergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems to the neurochemical modulation of human attention and arousal. While, noradrenergic and cholinergic systems are involved in 'low-level' aspects of attention (e.g. attentional orienting), the dopaminergic system is associated with more 'executive' aspects of attention such as attentional set-shifting or working memory.     

An examination of differences between nonclinic and behavior-problem clinic-referred children and their mothers.

Attempted to determine if clinic and nonclinic groups differed according to the following factors: child behavior recorded in the home by an independent observer (O); maternal behavior recorded in the home by an independent O; mother-recorded rates of child behavior; maternal perceptions of child behavior; and presence of maternal depression, anxiety, and marital problems. The study also attempted to determine, by means of a stepwise discriminant analysis, which factor was the best discriminator of clinic–nonclinic status in children. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine which variables were the best predictors in each group of the discriminator variables delineated in the stepwise discriminant analysis. 20 behavior-problem clinic-referred 5-yr-olds and their mothers and 20 nonclinic 5-yr-olds and their mothers served as Ss. Results indicate that the 2 groups differed on child compliance recorded by an independent O and by the mother, maternal perception of child adjustment, and maternal adjustment. Maternal perception of child adjustment was the best discriminator between groups. For the nonclinic group maternal perceptions of child adjustment were best predicted by the child's behavior, whereas for the clinic group maternal perceptions of child adjustment were best predicted by an interaction of child behavior and the mother's personal adjustment. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overt attention and predictiveness in human contingency learning.

Two experiments used eye-tracking procedures to investigate the relationship between attention and associative learning in human participants. These experiments found greater overt attention to cues experienced as predictive of the outcomes with which they were paired, than to cues experienced as nonpredictive. Moreover, this attentional bias persisted into a second training phase when all cues were equally predictive of the outcomes with which they were paired, and it was accompanied by a related bias in the rate of learning about these cues. These findings are consistent with the attentional model of associative learning proposed by Mackintosh (1975), but not with that proposed by Pearce and Hall (1980). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol, sexual arousal, and self-control.

Investigated the effects of alcohol on self-regulation using delay of gratification for viewing time for an erotic film as the primary dependent measure. Other measures included reflection–impulsivity, locus of control, sexual-guilt scores, and continuous recording of Ss' penile tumescence. Using a balanced placebo design with 50 undergraduate men, Ss were led to believe that they had consumed an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage, and half of each of these 2 groups received either alcohol or tonic water. In addition, the effects of 3 doses of alcohol (placebo, low dose, high dose) were investigated. Instructional set, regardless of drink content, resulted in longer delay times and increased thoughts with sexual content. Although there was no significant relation between increasing dose of alcohol and delay time, there was an interaction between scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and alcohol dose. Externalizers showed an inverse linear relation between increasing dose of alcohol and delay time. Internalizers showed the opposite trend. Results support other research showing that expectations about drinking can be more potent predictors of behavior than the pharmacological impact of alcohol. Implications for the self-regulation of sexual behavior under the influence of alcohol are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hyperactive and hypoxic children: Signal detection, sustained attention, and behavior.

Two parameters from signal detection theory—perceptual sensitivity and decision criterion cutoff scores—were used in the analysis of vigilance performance of 30 hyperactive (mean age 8.5 yrs), 30 hypoxic (mean age 9 yrs), and 47 normal (mean age 8.8 yrs) children. Signal detection analyses of 3 Continuous Performance Test conditions indicated that with increasing age, Ss obtained significantly more hits, fewer false alarms, higher perceptual sensitivity, and responded with greater caution. Overall deficits in signal discrimination (perceptual sensitivity level) were obtained for both the hyperactive and hypoxic Ss when compared to normal age-mates. Whereas the hypoxic Ss demonstrated additional decrements in sustaining attention (sensitivity decrement over time), the hyperactive Ss were impaired by low-response caution, reflecting difficulty inhibiting impulsive responses. Possible differences in hyperactive sample characteristics across studies and time-related recovery factors following hypoxia are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of predictors of maternal perceptions of maladjustment in clinic-referred children.

Investigated whether parental depression or child behavior was the best predictor of maternal perceptions of maladjustment in clinic-referred children. 22 mothers and their children served as Ss. The sample children (mean age 64 mo) were referred for treatment of noncompliant behavior problems; none of the Ss were severely retarded, brain-damaged, or autistic. Maternal perceptions of child maladjustment were measured by 3 scales of the Parent Attitude Test. Maternal depression was determined by the Beck Depression Inventory, while child compliance and child deviant behavior (other than noncompliance) were obtained in home observations collected by independent observers. Results indicate that maternal depression was the best predictor of maternal perception of children. Child behavior did not contribute significantly to the multiple regression analyses. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective states, expressive behavior, and learning in children.

Two experiments with 48 4-yr-olds each are reported to illustrate the effects of emotional states on learning and validate experimental affect-induction procedures in which individuals dwell upon thoughts of affect-provoking experiences. Positive affective states enhanced learning, and negative states retarded it dramatically. Ratings of children's facial expressions confirmed that positive affect-induction procedures elicited happy expressions, and negative inductions elicited sad ones. Additionally, positive affect inductions enhanced children's apparent interest, involvement, and arousal, and negative inductions decreased them. These measures were related to learning but proved not to be the sole mediators of the impact of affective states on learning. The thoughts children generated for affect induction illustrated their recognition of naturalistic experiences that induce affective states. Results indicate that young children possess the potential for the cognitive self-control of their own affective states, and the effects on learning indicate that even transient mood states may produce lasting changes in behavior. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of attention deficits in children.

Presents a critical analysis of the view that a general attention deficit can be identified and objectively measured in children. Research regarding the specific nature of attentional difficulties in hyperactive children and the measurement of attention and attention deficits is selectively reviewed. School psychologists are cautioned against premature use of the attention deficit disorder label and measurement strategies for the following reasons: (a) The experimental, clinical, and educational literature reviewed indicates that a consensual definition of attention deficit is lacking; (b) research and theory have not yet adequately identified the specific attentional processes in question; and (c) few clearly conceptualized measures of specific attention deficits are yet available that have been adequately normed for use with children for diagnostic and programming purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)