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PubMed2002

Effects of maintaining and redirecting infant attention on the production of referential communication in infants with and without Down syndrome.

The effects of maternal interactive styles on the production of referential communication were assessed in four groups of infants whose chronological ages ranged between 0;6 and 1;8. Two groups of infants with Down syndrome (DS), one (n = 11) with a mean mental age (MA) of 0;8.6, and the other (n = 11) of 1;4.5, were matched on MA with two groups (n = 10 each) of typically developing infants. Infants were seen bi-monthly, for 8 months, with mothers, same-aged peers, and mothers of the peers. Results showed that High MA non-Down syndrome (ND) infants produced more words, and High MA DS infants produced more gestures when playing with mothers than peers. Mothers exhibited more attentional maintaining behaviours than peers, in particular to High MA infants, but they redirected the attentional focus of Low MA infants more. Sequential loglinear analyses revealed interesting contingencies between the interactive strategies of mothers and the referential communicative behaviours of their infants. Whereas maintaining attention increased, redirecting attention decreased the likelihood of the production of gestures and words in children. However, redirecting attention was followed by maintaining attention. Thus, mothers redirect the attentional focus in order to promote joint attention and referential communication. Furthermore, words and gestures of the children also promote joint attention in mothers. This highlights the reciprocal nature of these dynamic communicative interactions.

Attention↗
PubMed2004

Attention function after childhood stroke.

We investigated attentional outcome after childhood stroke and orthopedic diagnosis in medical controls. Twenty-nine children with focal stroke lesions and individually matched children with clubfoot or scoliosis were studied with standardized attention and neuroimaging assessments. Stroke lesions were quite varied in location and commonly involved regions implicated in Posner's model of attention networks. Children with stroke lesions performed significantly more poorly regarding attention function compared with controls. Performance on the Starry Night, a test demanding alerting and sensory-orienting but not executive attention function, was significantly associated with lesion size in the alerting and sensory-orienting networks but not the executive attention network. Furthermore, earlier age at lesion acquisition was significantly associated with poorer attention function even when lesion size was controlled. These findings support the theory of dissociable networks of attention and add to evidence from studies of children with diffuse and focal brain damage that early insults are associated with worse long-term outcomes in many domains of neuropsychological function. In addition, these results may provide clues towards the understanding of mechanisms underlying attention in children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Attention and verbal learning in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Former neuropsychological studies with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients evaluated a broad range of cognitive functions. Several, but not all, reported subtle attentional and memory impairments suggesting possible mild cerebral involvement. In this study, a battery of attentional tests and a verbal memory task were administered to 20 CFS patients and 22 healthy controls (HC) in order to clarify the specific nature of attention and memory impairment in these patients. The results provide evidence for attentional dysfunction in patients with CFS as compared to HC. CFS patients performed more poorly on a span test measuring attentional capacity and working memory. Speeded attentional tasks with a more complex element of memory scanning and divided attention seem to be a sensitive measure of reduced attentional capacity in these patients. Focused attention, defined as the ability to attend to a single stimulus while ignoring irrelevant stimuli, appears not to be impaired. CFS patients were poorer on recall of verbal information across learning trials, and poor performance on delayed recall may be due to poor initial learning and not only to a retrieval failure.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Role of the feedback signal in electromyograph biofeedback: the relevance of attention.

This article describes two experiments designed to examine the hypothesis that the critical role of the feedback signal in frontalis electromyograph (EMG) biofeedback is an attentional one. In both experiments, high- and low-absorption subjects were assigned to either a biofeedback condition, a no-feedback condition, or an attentional demand condition in which external stimuli, related to relaxation, were presented as an attentional focus. The two experiments differed essentially in the type of attentional demand condition that was employed and varied the compelling nature of the demand on subjects for an external attentional focus. The pattern of results was consistent with the attentional hypothesis. For low-absorption subjects, performance in the biofeedback and attentional demand conditions was equivalent and appreciably greater than in the no-feedback condition. For high-absorption subjects, an interference effect of biofeedback was observed, but data indicated a similar interference effect on the performance of subjects when the attentional demand condition was most compelling. The pattern of results obtained point to the special relevance of attentional processes and highlight their lack of emphasis in contemporary theoretical models of EMG biofeedback.

Attention↗
PubMed2003

Modulation of object-based attention by spatial focus under endogenous and exogenous orienting.

In R. Egly, J. Driver, and R. D. Rafal's (1994) influential double-rectangle spatial-cuing paradigm, exogenous cues consistently induce object-based attention, whereas endogenous cues generally induce space-based attention. This difference suggests an interdependency between mode of orienting (endogenous vs exogenous) and mode of selection (object based vs space based). However, mode of orienting is generally confounded with initial focus of attention: Endogenous orienting begins with attention focused on a central cue, whereas exogenous orienting begins with attention widely spread. In this study, an attentional-focusing hypothesis is examined and supported by experiments showing that for both endogenous and exogenous cuing, object-based effects are obtained under conditions that encourage spread attention, but they are attenuated under conditions that encourage focused attention. General implications for object-based attention are discussed. ((c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)

Adult↗
PubMed2003

The Moss Attention Rating Scale for traumatic brain injury: initial psychometric assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Moss Attention Rating Scale (MARS), a new observational rating scale for attention-related behaviors in traumatic brain injury (TBI). DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Eight acute inpatient rehabilitation facilities that are part of the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems program. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred twenty-eight patients with TBI requiring acute inpatient rehabilitation treatment. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rasch analysis on the 53-item MARS (45 attention items, 8 control items) as rated separately by the treating occupational therapist and physical therapist. RESULTS: The MARS appeared to measure a single dimension and demonstrated good person separation (5.69) and reliability (.97). In post hoc assessment, misfitting attention items may not have required attention and control items that fit the dimension may have required at least rudimentary attention. Occupational therapists rated patients as slightly less attentive than did physical therapists. Overall, the scale was well targeted to an acute inpatient rehabilitation population. CONCLUSION: Our results provide preliminary support for the viability of developing an observational attention rating scale for use in inpatient TBI rehabilitation. Further research will need to explore the existence of subdimensions and provide further validation with reference to other neuropsychologic measures of attention and knowledge of lesion severity and localization.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The effect of attentional dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease: theoretical and practical implications.

Attention may be one of the earliest cognitive abilities to change in Alzheimer's disease (AD), although its role has received belated recognition. This article discusses different aspects of attention and how these are differentially affected in AD. Of the various attention functions, divided and selective attention are particularly vulnerable. The etiology of attentional deficits in AD arises from damage to areas of frontal and parietal association cortex, disconnection between the anterior and posterior attentional networks, and decreased cholinergic function. Severity of illness is associated with attentional deterioration. Complexity or increased load of a task may further disrupt attentional function. Knowledge of attentional changes in AD is important to the understanding of disease-related changes in other cognitive domains such as memory, visuospatial functions, and language.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

[Borderline personality disorder and attentional biases. Theoretical models and empirical findings].

The purpose of this review is to analyse nature, degree and consequences of attentional biases in patients with borderline personality disorder based on existing literature. The clinical importance of these phenomena in patients with borderline personality disorder is strengthened and the link between theoretical models, empirical findings and therapeutic interventions is elaborated. This link between selective attention and borderline personality disorder is demonstrated on the basis of studies, which indicate a context between borderline pathology, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders and also give evidence to neuropsychological deficits in patients with borderline personality disorder. The present article comparatively describes three theoretical models of borderline personality disorder and their possible links to attentional biases. The dialectical behavior approach postulates a pronounced attentional narrowing to emotional stimuli in connection with deficits regarding affect regulation. The cognitive approach assumes that rigid dysfunctional schemata initiate a cognitive-emotional circuit, which leads to a reinforcement of the symptomatology as a result of a biased perception and memory. Additionally the present article specifies the trauma approach which emphasizes the relation between borderline pathology and childhood trauma with recourse to theories of attentional biases in patients with traumatic experiences. Preliminary empiricial findings suggest that patients with borderline personality disorder demonstrate a general attentional bias for any emotional negative stimuli and not a selective attentional bias to borderline-specific stimuli. Further studies should clarify, whether therapeutical interventions with the aim to influence attentional processes represent a useful complement to established therapies in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Attention↗
PubMed1993

Voluntary and stimulus-induced attention detected as motion sensation.

Attention may be drawn passively to a visually salient object. We may also actively direct attention to an object of interest. Do the two kinds of attention, passive and active, interact and jointly influence visual information processing at some neural level? What happens if the passive and active attentions come into conflict? These questions were addressed with the aid of a novel psychophysical technique which reveals an attentional gradient as a sensation of motion in a line which is presented instantaneously. The subjects were asked to direct attention with voluntary effort: to the side opposite to a stimulus change, to an object with a predetermined colour, and to an object moving smoothly. In every case the same motion sensation was induced in the line from the attended side to the unattended side. This voluntary attention, however, can easily and quickly be distracted by a change in the periphery, though it can be regained within a period of 200 to 500 ms. The results suggest that the line motion can be induced in voluntary (top-down) as well as stimulus-driven (bottom-up) situations, thus indicating the truly attentional nature of the effect, rather than it being some kind of retinotopic sensory artifact or response bias. The results also suggest that these two kinds of attention have facilitatory effects acting together on a relatively early stage of visual information processing.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Modulation of long-range neural synchrony reflects temporal limitations of visual attention in humans.

Because of attentional limitations, the human visual system can process for awareness and response only a fraction of the input received. Lesion and functional imaging studies have identified frontal, temporal, and parietal areas as playing a major role in the attentional control of visual processing, but very little is known about how these areas interact to form a dynamic attentional network. We hypothesized that the network communicates by means of neural phase synchronization, and we used magnetoencephalography to study transient long-range interarea phase coupling in a well studied attentionally taxing dual-target task (attentional blink). Our results reveal that communication within the fronto-parieto-temporal attentional network proceeds via transient long-range phase synchronization in the beta band. Changes in synchronization reflect changes in the attentional demands of the task and are directly related to behavioral performance. Thus, we show how attentional limitations arise from the way in which the subsystems of the attentional network interact.

Attention↗
PubMed2005

Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention.

A neural network underlying attentional control involves the anterior cingulate in addition to lateral prefrontal areas. An important development of this network occurs between 3 and 7 years of age. We have examined the efficiency of attentional networks across age and after 5 days of attention training (experimental group) compared with different types of no training (control groups) in 4-year-old and 6-year-old children. Strong improvement in executive attention and intelligence was found from ages 4 to 6 years. Both 4- and 6-year-olds showed more mature performance after the training than did the control groups. This finding applies to behavioral scores of the executive attention network as measured by the attention network test, event-related potentials recorded from the scalp during attention network test performance, and intelligence test scores. We also documented the role of the temperamental factor of effortful control and the DAT1 gene in individual differences in attention. Overall, our data suggest that the executive attention network appears to develop under strong genetic control, but that it is subject to educational interventions during development.

Attention↗
PubMed1981

Simultaneous examination of age related differences in the ability to maintain and reorient auditory selective attention.

The present investigation simultaneously examined age-related differences in the ability to maintain and reorient auditory selective attention. The maintenance and reorientation components of attention were assessed by means of an auditory listening task involving 24 dichotic trails. The trails were counter-balanced for right-ear and left-ear relevance, with each trail involving two parts. The first part required maintenance of attention and second part required a reorientation of attention. The participants for the study were 90 community-living women recruited to represent an age continuum of young adult, adult, and older adult. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant decrement in both maintenance and reorientation of attention with increasing age, and that reorientation of attention would be more difficult than maintenance of attention, particularly for older adults. The results of multivariate and univariate analyses confirmed the hypotheses and suggested that an inability to reorient attention, coupled with a tendency for right-ear set, was primarily responsible for the manifest differences in selective attention ability of older adults. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications and the relationship of the findings with previous research.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Space-based and object-based visual attention: shared and specific neural domains.

Visual attention can be primarily allocated to either where an object is in space (with little emphasis on the structure of the object itself) or to the structure of the object (with little emphasis on where in space the object is located). Using PET measures of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) to index neural activity, we investigated the shared and specific functional anatomy underlying both of these types of visual attention in a controlled non-cueing non-blocked paradigm that involved identical stimuli across the conditions of interest. The interaction of eye movements with these attentional systems was studied by introducing fixation or free vision as an additional factor. Relative to the control condition, object-based and space-based attention showed significant activations of the left and right medial superior parietal cortex and the left lateral inferior parietal cortex, the left prefrontal cortex and the cerebellar vermis. Significant differential activations were observed during object-based attention in the left striate and prestriate cortex. Space-based attention activated the right prefrontal cortex and the right inferior temporal-occipital cortex. Differential neural activity due to free vision or fixation was observed in occipital areas only. Significant interactions of free vision/fixation on activations due to object-based and space-based attention were observed in the right medial superior parietal cortex and left lateral inferior parietal cortex, respectively. The study provides direct evidence for the importance of the parietal cortex in the control of object-based and space-based visual attention. The results show that object-based and space-based attention share common neural mechanisms in the parietal lobes, in addition to task specific mechanisms in early visual processing areas of temporal and occipital cortices.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Attentional responses to unattended stimuli in human parietal cortex.

Right-sided parietal lesions lead to lateralized attentional deficits which are most prominent with bilateral stimulation. We determined how an irrelevant stimulus in the unattended hemifield alters attentional responses in parietal cortex during unilateral orienting. A trial consisted of a central spatial cue, a delay and a test phase during which a grating was presented at 9 degrees eccentricity. Subjects had to discriminate the orientation of the grating. The unattended hemifield was either empty or contained a second, irrelevant grating. We carried out a series of functional MRI (fMRI) studies in 35 healthy volunteers (13 men and 22 women, aged between 19 and 30 years) as well as a behavioural and structural lesion mapping study in 17 right-hemispheric lesion patients, 11 of whom had neglect. In the patients with but not in those without neglect, the addition of a distractor in the unattended hemifield significantly impaired performance if attention was directed contralesionally but not if it was directed ipsilesionally. In the healthy volunteers, we discerned two functionally distinct areas along the posterior-anterior axis of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). The posterior, descending IPS segment in both hemispheres showed attentional enhancement of responses during contralateral attentional orienting and was unaffected by the presence of an irrelevant stimulus in the ignored hemifield. In contrast, the right-sided horizontal IPS segment showed a strong attentional response when subjects oriented to a stimulus in the relevant hemifield and an irrelevant stimulus was simultaneously present in the ignored hemifield, compared with unilateral stimulation. This effect was independent of the direction of attention. The symmetrical left-sided horizontal IPS segment showed the highest responses under the same circumstances, in combination with a contralateral bias during unilateral stimulation conditions. None of the six patients without neglect had a lesion of the horizontal IPS segment. In four of the 11 neglect patients, the lesion overlapped with the horizontal IPS activity cluster and lay in close proximity to it in another four. The remaining three patients had a lesion at a distance from the parietal cortex. Our findings reconcile the role of the IPS in endogenous attentional control with the clinically significant interaction between direction of attention and bilateral stimulation in right parietal lesion patients. Functional imaging in neglect patients will be necessary to assess IPS function in those cases where the structural lesion spares the middle IPS segment.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Attention-dependent suppression of metabolic activity in the early stages of the macaque visual system.

In this study we used a modified double-label deoxyglucose procedure to investigate attention-dependent modulations of deoxyglucose uptake at the earliest stages of the macaque visual system. Specifically, we compared activity levels evoked during two tasks with essentially identical visual stimulation requiring different attentional demands. During a featural-attention task, the subjects had to discriminate the orientation of a grating; during a control spatial-attention task, they had to localize the position of a target point. Comparison of the resulting activity maps revealed attention-dependent changes in metabolic activity in portions of the magnocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus, and the magnocellular-recipient layers 4Calpha and 4B of the striate cortex. In these early stages of the visual system, attention to the orientation of the grating suppressed the metabolic activity in a retinotopically specific band peripheral to the representation of the stimulus. These results favor an early selection model of attention. After a thalamic attention-dependent gating mechanism, irrelevant visual information outside the focus of attention may be suppressed at the level of the striate cortex, which would then result in an increased signal-to-noise ratio for the processing of the attended feature in higher-tier, less retinotopically organized, extrastriate visual areas.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Age-dependent differences in the attentional demands of obstacle negotiation.

BACKGROUND: Although the attention directed to gait does increase as an impending obstacle nears, it remains unclear whether the allocation of attentional resources differs between the precrossing phase of obstacle negotiation and the crossing phase of this task. This study compared the attentional demands associated with steady-state walking and the precrossing and crossing phases of an obstacle-negotiation task between young and older adults. METHODS: Fifteen younger and 15 older adults participated in this study. Participants were required to perform a verbal reaction time task during three events: (1) steady-state unobstructed gait, (2) precrossing (the final full stride prior to obstacle crossing), and (3) obstacle crossing. RESULTS: The attention directed during precrossing exceeds that of steady-state walking for both younger and older adults. Younger adults direct more attention to gait during precrossing than they do during crossing. However, precrossing is equally attentionally demanding as crossing for older adults, and both of these events require more attention than does steady-state gait in this age group. CONCLUSIONS: The task of obstacle negotiation, from precrossing through obstacle crossing, is attentionally demanding for elderly persons, and fall risk, due to a compromised availability of attentional resources, does occur prior to obstacle crossing in this age group.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2006

Children's attentional skills 5 years post-TBI.

OBJECTIVE: While a small number of research papers have reported findings on attentional deficits following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), no study to date has reported findings in this area at 5 years post-TBI in very young children. This study examined attentional skills in a group of children who had sustained a mild, moderate, or severe TBI between the ages of 2 and 7 years. METHODS: The sample comprised 70 children, 54 of these had sustained a TBI and 16 the non-injured control group. Children were assessed 5 years post-TBI, with focus on tests of attentional ability. RESULTS: Attentional and processing speed (PS) deficits do occur and persist up to 5 years post-TBI, particularly following severe TBI in early childhood. Predictors of attentional outcomes varied depending on the component of attention investigated. CONCLUSIONS: Those skills developing or emerging at time of injury (e.g., sustained attention, shifting attention, divided attention, PS) are more compromised and may not develop at a normal rate of post-injury.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Convergent validity and neuropsychological correlates of the schedule for the assessment of negative symptoms (SANS) attention subscale.

Cognitive deficits have come to be viewed as a hallmark feature of schizophrenic illness. Although laboratory based assessment of patients' cognitive deficits has been well investigated, few studies to date have examined the utility of clinical ratings of cognitive symptoms using the Schedule for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) attention subscale. In this report, we examined the convergence between clinical ratings of cognitive impairment using the SANS attention subscale and performance on a variety of neurocognitive tests designed to measure attentional impairment, as well as other cognitive constructs such as working memory and executive functioning. A total of 56 acute schizophrenic inpatients were clinically rated with the SANS and completed the Continuous Performance Test, Digit Span Distraction Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and the Trailmaking Test. A series of correlational and regression analyses were conducted to test the concurrent and discriminant validity of the SANS attention subscale. Performance measures of attention, but not working memory or executive functioning, were significantly correlated with and moderately predicted the severity of SANS rated inattention. Additionally, the attention subscale was discriminated from the other SANS negative symptom subscales in predicting a laboratory measure of attentional functioning. The SANS attention subscale demonstrated both concurrent and discriminant validity. These data indicate that attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia can be meaningfully rated and interpreted using the SANS.

Adolescent↗