Twenty-Four Hours of Total Sleep Deprivation Selectively Impairs Attentional Networks

Performance decrements after sleep loss have been extensively studied and are usually attributed to generic attentional deficits. This claim, however, is based on the view of attention as a unitary construct, despite evidence that it should be considered a multidimensional cognitive ability. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of one night of sleep deprivation on the efficiency of three attentional networks, defined by Posner and Raichle (1994) in anatomical and functional terms, as alerting, orienting, and executive control. Thirty participants performed the Attention Network Test at 9:00 a.m. following two different sleep conditions: baseline (a normal night of sleep) and deprivation (24 hrs of wakefulness). Results showed an overall slowing in reaction times and a significant decrease in accuracy after sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation selectively affected the three attentional networks, given that only executive control efficacy significantly decreased after sleep deprivation. By contrast, phasic alerting and orienting showed no differences in the two sleep conditions. Thus, performance deficits following sleep deprivation do not reflect global attentional deficits.

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The effects of bilingualism on efficiency and lateralization of attentional networks

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728912000569 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 608-623 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

ANNA MARZECOVÁ ◽

DARIUSZ ASANOWICZ ◽

L'UBA KRIVÁ ◽

ZOFIA WODNIECKA

Keyword(s):

Young Adult ◽

Visual Field ◽

Executive Control ◽

Left Visual Field ◽

Attention Network Test ◽

Executive Attention ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Conflict Cost ◽

The Impact ◽

Temporal Orienting

The present study investigated the impact of bilingualism on efficiency of alerting, orienting and executive attention by means of the Lateralized Attention Network Test (LANT). Young adult bilinguals who had been exposed to their second language before the age of four years showed a reduced conflict cost and a larger alerting effect in terms of response time (RT), while no difference between bilinguals and monolinguals was observed in overall RT. Bilinguals also outperformed monolinguals on accuracy in both conflict and non-conflict trials, though the effect in the latter condition was very small. Moreover, while a left visual field advantage for accuracy of conflict resolution was present in the monolingual group, bilinguals did not show the asymmetry. The findings suggest that bilingualism enhances the efficiency of executive network while reducing its lateralization. The larger alerting effect in bilinguals is hypothesized to be related to bilinguals’ more efficient executive control, which may support processes of response anticipation or temporal orienting.

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Inhibition of Return, but Not Facilitation, Disappears Under Vigilance Decrease Due to Sleep Deprivation

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000229 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 (2) ◽

pp. 99-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Diana Martella ◽

Andrea Marotta ◽

Luis J. Fuentes ◽

Maria Casagrande

Keyword(s):

Sleep Deprivation ◽

Inhibition Of Return ◽

Target Location ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Attentional Orienting ◽

Target Interval ◽

Facilitation Effect ◽

Peripheral Cues ◽

Endogenous Component ◽

Phasic Alerting

In this study, we assessed whether unspecific attention processes signaled by general reaction times (RTs), as well as specific facilitatory (validity or facilitation effect) and inhibitory (inhibition of return, IOR) effects involved in the attentional orienting network, are affected by low vigilance due to both circadian factors and sleep deprivation (SD). Eighteen male participants performed a cuing task in which peripheral cues were nonpredictive about the target location and the cue-target interval varied at three levels: 200 ms, 800 ms, and 1,100 ms. Facilitation with the shortest and IOR with the longest cue-target intervals were observed in the baseline session, thus replicating previous related studies. Under SD condition, RTs were generally slower, indicating a reduction in the participants’ arousal level. The inclusion of a phasic alerting tone in several trials partially compensated for the reduction in tonic alertness, but not with the longest cue-target interval. With regard to orienting, whereas the facilitation effect due to reflexive shifts of attention was preserved with sleep loss, the IOR was not observed. These results suggest that the decrease of vigilance produced by SD affects both the compensatory effects of phasic alerting and the endogenous component involved in disengaging attention from the cued location, a requisite for the IOR effect being observed.

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Functioning of the Attentional Networks at Rest vs. During Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology ◽

10.1123/jsep.33.5.649 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 649-665 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Florentino Huertas ◽

Javier Zahonero ◽

Daniel Sanabria ◽

Juan Lupiáñez

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Aerobic Exercise ◽

Executive Control ◽

Attention Network Test ◽

General State ◽

Attention Network ◽

Attentional Functioning ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Phasic Alertness ◽

Rest Condition

The present study explored the effects of three different activity conditions on three attentional functions: alerting, orienting, and executive control. A group of highly experienced cyclists performed the Attention Network Test–Interactions (Callejas, Lupiáñez, & Tudela, 2004) at rest, during moderate aerobic exercise, and during intense aerobic exercise. Results indicated that aerobic exercise accelerated reaction time and reduced the alerting effect compared with the rest condition. However, aerobic exercise did not modulate the functioning of either the orienting or the executive control attentional networks. No differences in reaction time or attentional functioning were observed between the two aerobic exercise workloads. The present results suggest that moderate aerobic exercise modulates the functioning of phasic alertness by increasing the general state of tonic vigilance.

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Intact Context-Dependent Modulation of Conflict Monitoring in Childhood ADHD

Journal of Attention Disorders ◽

10.1177/1087054716643388 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 24 (11) ◽

pp. 1503-1510 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Annet Bluschke ◽

Witold X. Chmielewski ◽

Veit Roessner ◽

Christian Beste

Keyword(s):

Executive Control ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Contextual Information ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Conflict Monitoring ◽

Performance Deficits ◽

Children With Adhd ◽

Stimulus Response ◽

Control Functions

Objective: Conflict monitoring is well known to be modulated by context. This is known as the Gratton effect, meaning that the degree of interference is smaller when a stimulus–response conflict had been encountered previously. It is unclear to what extent these processes are changed in ADHD. Method: Children with ADHD (combined subtype) and healthy controls performed a modified version of the sequence flanker task. Results: Patients with ADHD made significantly more errors than healthy controls, indicating general performance deficits. However, there were no differences regarding reaction times, indicating an intact Gratton effect in ADHD. These results were supported by Bayesian statistics. Conclusion: The results suggest that the ability to take contextual information into account during conflict monitoring is preserved in patients with ADHD despite this disorder being associated with changes in executive control functions overall. These findings are discussed in light of different theoretical accounts on contextual modulations of conflict monitoring.

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The Efficiency of Attentional Networks in Children Who Stutter

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0208) ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 946-959 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Kurt Eggers ◽

Luc F. De Nil ◽

Bea R. H. Van den Bergh

Keyword(s):

Executive Control ◽

Attention Network Test ◽

Lower Efficiency ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Executive Control Network ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Regulatory Behavior ◽

And Gender ◽

Developmental Stuttering

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether previously reported questionnaire-based differences in self-regulatory behaviors (Eggers, De Nil, & Van den Bergh, 2009, 2010) between children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) would also be reflected in their underlying attentional networks. Method Participants consisted of 41 CWS (mean age = 6;09; years;months) and 41 CWNS (mean age = 6;09) ranging in age from 4;00 to 9;00. Participants were matched on age and gender. The efficiency of the attentional networks was assessed by using the computerized Attention Network Test (Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz, & Posner, 2002). Results Primary results indicated that CWS had a significantly lower efficiency of the orienting network compared with CWNS, whereas no differences were found on the alerting or executive control network. Conclusion Current findings corroborate previously found differences in self-regulatory behavior and were taken to suggest a possible role for attentional processes in developmental stuttering.

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Attentional networks efficiency in preterm children

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617709991032 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 130-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

R. PIZZO ◽

S. URBEN ◽

M. VAN DER LINDEN ◽

C. BORRADORI-TOLSA ◽

M. FRESCHI ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gestational Age ◽

Executive Control ◽

Full Term ◽

Preterm Children ◽

Attention Network ◽

Attentional Deficits ◽

Control Networks ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Preterm Group

AbstractRecent studies have reported specific executive and attentional deficits in preterm children. However, the majority of this research has used multidetermined tasks to assess these abilities, and the interpretation of the results lacks an explicit theoretical backdrop to better understand the origin of the difficulties observed. In the present study, we used the Child Attention Network Task (Child ANT; Rueda et al. 2004) to assess the efficiency of the alerting, orienting and executive control networks. We compared the performance of 25 preterm children (gestational age ≤ 32 weeks) to 25 full-term children, all between 5½ and 6½ years of age. Results showed that, as compared to full-term children, preterm children were slower on all conditions of the Child ANT and had a specific deficit in executive control abilities. We also observed a significantly higher correlation between the orienting and executive control networks in the preterm group, suggesting less differentiation of these two networks in this population. (JINS, 2010, 16, 130–137.)

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To Be Attentive, Do Not React: Linking Dispositional Mindfulness to Attentional Networks and Vigilance Performance

10.31234/osf.io/stxen ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Luis Cásedas ◽

Ausias Cebolla Marti ◽

Juan Lupiáñez

Keyword(s):

Executive Control ◽

Type I Error ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Open Science ◽

Self Report ◽

Type I ◽

Dispositional Mindfulness ◽

Vigilance Performance ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Phasic Alertness

Objectives: Research addressing the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and objective attention performance remains inconclusive, partly because previous studies used sample sizes possibly leading to underpowered designs. Here, we examined this relationship in a large sample using the ANTI-Vea: a novel cognitive-behavioral task that simultaneously assesses the classical attentional networks—phasic alertness, orienting, executive control—and both the executive and arousal components of vigilance.Methods: Two hundred nineteen meditation-naïve participants completed the study. Correlational analyses using Kendall’s Tau were performed between FFMQ scores and ANTI-Vea outcomes. Additional subsidiary correlations were performed between the FFMQ and two self-report measures assessing subjective attentional control and mind-wandering. Benjamini-Hochberg was applied to control the Type I error rate. The hypotheses and plan of analyses were preregistered at the Open Science Framework.Results: Higher non-reactivity predicted overall faster reaction times and higher accuracy in attentional networks trials. Higher non-reactivity, as well as higher FFMQ total score, predicted faster reaction time and fewer lapses in arousal vigilance trials, the latter also being negatively associated with describe scores. The magnitude of the correlations ranged from τb = .103 to τb = .119. We found no association between FFMQ scores and executive control or executive vigilance.Conclusions: Our results indicate that dispositional mindfulness is linked to improved global attentional and arousal vigilance performance, being non-reactivity to internal experience the key facet driving the association. The absence of association to executive processes is discussed based on the high cognitive demands of the ANTI-Vea task.

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Age differences in reward-motivation attention: behavioural and ERP evidence

10.32920/ryerson.14644701.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Farrah Kudus

Keyword(s):

Age Differences ◽

Executive Control ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Neural Systems ◽

Attention Network Test ◽

Attention Network ◽

Systems Research ◽

Attentional Networks ◽

Age Related ◽

Reward Motivation

The attentional system is comprised of three networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control, all of which are associated with unique neural systems. Research examining motivationcognition interactions implicate the dopaminergic and locus-coeruleus norepinephrine systems in attentional and motivational processes, both of which show age differences. The current study was conducted to explore the mechanisms through which gain and loss motivation affect attention across the lifespan, using behavioural and electrophysiological markers of attentional networks. Younger adults (18-33 years) and older adults (65-80 years) completed an incentivized version of the Attention Network Test. Our behavioural results showed age differences in incentive sensitivity, such that responses were modulated as a function of incentives. We also examined cue-N1, target-N1, and target-P3, which showed transient incentive-based modulation, and depended on incentive valence. Overall, our study provides evidence for age-related differences in the modulation of attentional networks, and contributes new insights into the mechanisms behind motivation-cognition interactions. Keywords: Attention Network Test, Motivation, Incentives, Cognitive Aging, Alerting, Executive Control

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