Attention

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues.

by Anneke Haddad

Haddad, A. D. M., Lissek, S., Pine, D. S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2011). How do social fears in adolescence develop? fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues. Cognition and Emotion, 25(6), 1139-1147.

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which... more Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.

Attending to Moral Values

by Sonya Sachdeva

With Rumen Iliev, Dan Bartels, Craig Joseph, Satoru Suzuki and Doug Medin

There has been an upsurge of interest in moral decision making, which appears to have some distinctive properties. For... more There has been an upsurge of interest in moral decision making, which appears to have some distinctive properties. For example, some moral decisions are so strongly influenced by ideas about how sacred entities are to be treated, that they seem to be relatively insensitive to the costs and benefits entailed (e.g.,‘‘do not allow companies to pollute the earth for a fee, even if pollution credits reduce pollution’’). One interpretation of such decisions is that sacred values motivate rigid decision processes that ignore outcomes. This, however, seems paradoxical in that those who are most offended by acts of pollution, for example, likely care more about pollution than others do. Our analysis of the literature on moral decision making (including our own studies) suggests a
framework based on a ‘‘flexible view,’’ where both actions and outcomes are important, and where attentional processes are intimately involved in how the decision maker conceptualizes the problem, how actions and outcomes are weighted, and how protected values are translated into judgments. We argue
that understanding the cognitive processes underlying morally motivated decision making offers one method for solving the puzzle of why such deeply entrenched commitments (the rigid view) vary widely in their expression across
contexts (the flexible view).

The Angry Spotlight: Trait Anger and Selective Visual Attention to Rewards

by Stephanie Gagnon

Ford, B.Q., Tamir, M.A., Gagnon, S.A., Taylor, H.A., & Brunye, T.T. (in press). European Journal of Personality.

This investigation examined links between trait anger and selective attention to threats and rewards. Existing... more This investigation examined links between trait anger and selective attention to threats and rewards. Existing research has focused mainly on trait anxiety and is equally consistent with several competing theoretical accounts of trait emotion and visual attention. Both valence-based and motivation-based accounts predict that trait anxiety would be associated with biased attention toward threats. In contrast, a valence-based account predicts that trait anger would be associated with biased attention toward threats, whereas a motivation-based account predicts that it would be associated with biased attention toward rewards. To test these predictions, we measured trait anxiety, trait anger and selective attention to threats and rewards. Consistent with a motivation-based account, we found that trait anger was associated with selective attention toward rewarding but not threatening information, whereas trait anxiety was associated with selective attention toward threatening but not rewarding information. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adaptive Coding of Task-Relevant Information in Human Frontoparietal Cortex

by Alexandra Woolgar

Journal of Neuroscience

Frontoparietal cortex is thought to be essential for flexible behavior, but the mechanism for control remains elusive.... more Frontoparietal cortex is thought to be essential for flexible behavior, but the mechanism for control remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate
a potentially critical property of this cortex: its dynamic configuration for coding of task-critical information. Using multivoxel pattern analysis of human functional imaging data, we demonstrate an adaptive change in the patterns of activation coding task-relevant stimulus distinctions. When task demands made perceptual information more difficult to discriminate, frontoparietal regions showed increased coding of this information. Visual cortices showed the opposite result: a weaker representation of perceptual information in line with the physical change in the stimulus.Ona longer timescale, a rebalancing of coding was also seen after practice, with a diminished representation of task rules as they became familiar. The results suggest a flexible neural system, exerting cognitive control in a wide range of tasks by adaptively representing the task features most challenging for successful goal-directed behavior.

Mindfulness predicts less texting while driving among young adults: Examining attention-and emotion-regulation motives as potential mediators

by Kendra Robbins-Monteith

Consciousness from a first-person perspective

by Max Velmans

This is a clean PDF of my reply to 36 peer reviews of my target article in BBS, 1991 “Is human information processing conscious?” As it develops quite a few themes that are fundamental to consciousness studies, I have added an Abstract and references so that it can be read as a stand-alone paper. As this paper tries to address all the points raised by the commentaries it ranges widely, and to assist easier reading it has been subdivided into sections that separate experimental issues from the more theoretical and philosophical issues. The commentators included many of the experimentalists and theoreticians that were prominent in consciousness studies at the time, including scientists such as Bernie Baars, Francis Crick, Christoph Koch, John Gardiner, Jeffrey Gray, Marcel Kinsbourne, Ben Libet, Dan Lloyd, George Mandler, Bruce Mangan, Norman Dixon, Howard Shevrin, Keith Stanovich, Geoff Underwood and philosophers such as Ned Block, Fred Dretske, Valery Hardcastle, Georges Rey, Aaron Sloman and Robert van Gulick. Viewed historically, it is interesting to see how confused the literature was at the time concerning how phenomenal consciousness relates to information processing and particularly to attentional processing. Viewed 20 years later, I would still make a similar defence of my original target article although many of the themes introduced in these two papers have now been elaborated in my subsequent writings.

This paper replies to the first 36 commentaries on my target article on “Is human information processing conscious?”... more This paper replies to the first 36 commentaries on my target article on “Is human information processing conscious?” (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1991, pp. 651-669). The target article focused largely on experimental studies of how consciousness relates to human information processing, tracing their relation from input through to output, while discussion of the implications of the findings both for cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind was relatively brief. The commentaries reversed this emphasis, and so, correspondingly, did the reply. The sequence of topics in the reply roughly follows that of the target article. The discussion begins with a reconsideration of the details of the empirical findings, whether they can be extrapolated to non-laboratory settings, and the extent to which one can rely on their use of subjective reports. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of what is meant by “conscious processing” and of how phenomenal consciousness relates to attentional processing. We then turn to broader philosophical and theoretical issues. I point out some of the reasons why I do not support epiphenomenalism, dualist-interactionism, or reductionism, and elaborate on how first- and third-person views of the mind can be regarded as complementary and mutually irreducible. I suggest how the relation of conscious experiences to their neural correlates can be understood in terms of a dual-aspect theory of information, and how this might be used to resolve some of the paradoxes surrounding the causal interactions of consciousness and brain. I also suggest that, viewed from a first-person perspective, consciousness gives purpose to existence, which allows a different way of viewing its role in evolution.

Attention Training Toward and Away from Threat in Social Phobia: Effects on Subjective, Behavioral, and Physiological Measures of Anxiety

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Reese, H., McNally, R. J., & Philippot, P. (2012). Atttention training toward and away from threat in social phohia: Effects on behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 30-39

Interoceptive and exteroceptive attention have opposote effects on somatosensory perceptual decision making

by laura mirams

Published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, in Press.

Evidence suggests that interoceptive and exteroceptive attention might have different perceptual effects.However, the... more Evidence suggests that interoceptive and exteroceptive attention might have different perceptual effects.However, the effects of these different types of body-focused attention have never been directly compared. The current research investigated how interoceptive and exteroceptive attention affect subsequent
performance on the somatic signal detection task (SSDT). In Experiment 1, 37 participants completed the SSDT under usual testing conditions and after prforming an interoceptive heartbeat perception task. This task led to a more liberal response criterion, leading to increased touch reports in the presence
and absence of a target vibration. This finding is consistent with suggestions that attending internally contributes to physical symptom reporting in patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). In Experiment 2, 40 participants completed the SSDT before and after an exteroceptive grating orientation
task. This task led to amore stringent response criterion, leading to decreased touch reports in the presence and absence of the target, possibly via a reduction in sensory noise.Thiswork demonstrates that internal and external body-focused attention can have opposite effects on subsequent somatic perceptual decision making and suggests that attentional training could be useful for patients reporting MUS.

Vision of the Body Increases Interference on the Somatic Signal Detection Task

by laura mirams

Published in Experimental Brain Research (2010) 202(4):787-94.

Research suggests that attention has a significant effect on somatic perception in both healthy people and those who... more Research suggests that attention has a significant effect on somatic perception in both healthy people and those who suffer from somatic disturbance. The current study investigates the effects of attending to the body on somatic awareness and a particular type of somatic disturbance: erroneous reports of touch sensation, as measured by the Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT). During the SSDT, participants are required to detect near-threshold tactile stimulation at their fingertip. Previous research has found that healthy participants erroneously report touch sensations in the absence of a stimulus on this task and that such false alarms are increased when a simultaneous light flash is presented next to their fingertip. Thirty-seven participants completed the SSDT under two conditions: noninformative vision of the hand and no vision of the hand. False alarms were significantly higher in light trials in the non-informative vision condition compared to light trials in the no-vision condition. However, hit rates, sensitivity (d') and response criterion (c) were not affected by noninformative vision of the hand. Using the SSDT, we found that viewing the body increased somatic interference, possibly due to raised awareness of internal bodily sensations. This work provides evidence that viewing the body can have a detrimental effect on simple detection of nearthreshold tactile stimulation.

Attention: An Ability

by Greg Graham

**This essay is an adapted excerpt from my thesis focused on research and scholarly commentary regarding the loss of the ability to focus in today’s students.

At the beginning of every semester, I ask my students how many media they use while doing homework. Out of a class of... more At the beginning of every semester, I ask my students how many media they use while doing homework. Out of a class of twenty-five, usually only one or two still value shutting everything off and focusing completely on their work. Surely it is no coincidence that “U.S. fifteen-year-olds rank twenty-fourth out of twenty-nine developed countries on an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development test of problem-solving skills related to analytic reasoning” (Jackson 18). Numerous studies indicate a decreasing capability for critical thinking in today’s students. Apparently, the increased access to information and the growing number of tools for manipulating and processing that information is not adding up to smarter students. In fact, the opposite is occurring. Why? Because the best tool we have at our disposal is our own minds and the ability to bring them into sharp focus or deep thought and, unfortunately, those abilities are waning.

Hudson_Nijboer_Jellema_2012

by Matthew Hudson

Behavioral and Physiological Responses to Child-Directed Speech of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Typical Development

by Jennifer Dalton

Young boys with autism were compared to
typically developing boys on responses to nonsocial andmore Young boys with autism were compared to
typically developing boys on responses to nonsocial and
child-directed speech (CDS) stimuli. Behavioral (looking)
and physiological (heart rate and respiratory sinus
arrhythmia) measures were collected. Boys with autism
looked equally as much as chronological age-matched
peers at nonsocial stimuli, but less at CDS stimuli. Boys
with autism and language age-matched peers differed in
patterns of looking at live versus videotaped CDS stimuli.
Boys with autism demonstrated faster heart rates than
chronological age-matched peers, but did not differ
significantly on respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Reduced
attention during CDS may restrict language-learning
opportunities for children with autism. The heart rate
findings suggest that young children with autism have a
nonspecific elevated arousal level.

The Effects of Huntington's Disease and Task Difficulty on Dual-Task Performance

by Ria Vaportzis

Poster WCHD 2011

by Ria Vaportzis

Age and Task Difficulty Differences on Dual Tasking Using Circle Tracing and Counting Backwards Tasks

by Ria Vaportzis

It Takes a Network to Build a Network

by Maria Christina Binz-Scharf

Co-authored with David Lazer

The information government paradigm focuses on how information flows through government. Many of the chapters in this... more The information government paradigm focuses on how information flows through government. Many of the chapters in this volume concentrate on the potential impact of technology on information flows. This chapter’s focus is the converse, asking what the impact of information flows on the use of information technology in government is. The role of the institutions, informal networks, and other mechanisms of information diffusion are critical to understanding how information and communication technology (ICT) is integrated into government because ICT creates a novel malleability to information flows, which poses substantial challenges to government managers. Novelty by its nature poses risks to any manager for two reasons: first, there is the possibility of unanticipated consequences, and, second, there are costs involved in trying to minimize what is unanticipated. One critical mechanism that individuals use to manage novelty is to learn from others’ experiences. People learn from each other by multiple mechanisms—through personal networks, from organizations, through news media. Within the organization, such a learning network generally includes peers and individuals involved in the relevant processes. In addition, organizations rely heavily on others’ experiences. Intergovernmental organizations are especially important in bridging distant parts of a diffuse policy community, as well in aggregating information by offering their take on what constitutes good practice. In short, it takes a (human) network to process the information involved in building a (transformational ICT) network. Drawing on interview data we collected from e-government projects (see Binz-Scharf 2003; Binz-Scharf and Lazer 2007), we begin by examining the collective (human) information processing challenges that the development of e-government presents to organizations. The implementation of e-government involves, in significant part, a search—for information, solutions, opportunities. Because e-government is a global phenomenon, many individuals are simultaneously engaged in parallel searches to deal with similar issues. How those individuals are connected must have a major impact on the course of development of e-government globally. In this chapter, we begin with a discussion of the challenges of managing novelty. We then turn to the diffusion of information literature to examine how the structure of a network might affect the performance of the system. We break this down into two subsidiary questions: (1) How does the network affect the diffusion of information? (2) How does the system sustain the creation of new information? We then examine the roles of different intra- and interorganizational networks in the e-government arena.

Divided attention impairs human motor adaptation but not feedback control

by Jordan Taylor

Motor adaptation scaled by the difficulty of a secondary cognitive task

by Jordan Taylor

Human motor control and learning of novel dynamic forces and the influence of attentional control

by Jordan Taylor

Divided attention during motor memory formation affects specifically fast adaptive processes and alters mid-movement feedback control

by Jordan Taylor

Advances in Computational Motor Control Vol 6. (2007)