Advances in Neuropsychological Assessment of Attention

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Unai Díaz-Orueta
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Acquired Brain Injury ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Inhibitory Response ◽  
Continuous Performance Tests ◽  
Complex Functions ◽  
Task Component ◽  
The Subject

Attention is one of the most basic cognitive processes and is a prerequisite for the use of more complex functions, since it is not possible to evaluate perception or memory processes without keeping in mind attention issues (Amador, Forns, & Kirchner, 2006). The ability to maintain an appropriate level of attention is basic for education and learning, especially during childhood and school age. With the aim of studying attention separately from other cognitive functions, the so-called continuous performance tests (CPT) were created. The first series of CPTs were developed by Rosvold, Mirsky, Sarason, Bransome, and Beck (1956) to study vigilance in adults with acquired brain injury (Riccio, Reynolds, & Lowe, 2001), more specifically, persons with seizures (Amador, Forns, & Kirchner, 2006). Nowadays, CPTs are still one of the most widely used measures for the assessment of attention and processing speed. Briefly, it can be said that a CPT is a group of paradigms to evaluate attention, inhibitory response or disinhibition (a component of executive control that provides information about the subject’s impulsivity), and processing speed. Basically, CPTs rely on the rapid, random presentation of a series of stimuli to which the subject must respond following instructions given at the beginning of the test. The main value of CPTs is their empirical support. Diverse CPT paradigms have consistently demonstrated their sensitivity for a great variety of both neurological and psychiatric disorders, in adults and in children. Frequently, CPTs also use a continuous vigilance task, in order to obtain quantitative information about the individual’s ability to sustain attention in time. From its creation, the CPT paradigm has been used with many variants of its task component. Greenberg and Walkman (1993) found up to 100 different versions of CPT in use. Historically, when Rosvold and his collaborators introduced the test, they had the goal of measuring correct answers provided by the subject as an indicator of selective attention. With subsequent experimentation, other measures, such as processing speed, impulsivity, inattention, and sustained attention, divided or alternate, have been included.

Computerized color perimetry in multiple sclerosis

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Accornero ◽  
S Rinalduzzi ◽  
M Capozza ◽  
E Millefiorini ◽  
G C Filligoi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Statistical Difference ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Visual Field Defects ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Color Perimetry ◽  
Field Defects

Color visual field analysis has proven highly sensitive for early visual impairments diagnosis in MS, yet it has never attained widespread popularity usually because the procedure is difficult to standardize, the devices are costly, and the test is fatiguing. We propose a computerized procedure running on standard PC, cost effective, clonable, and easy handled. Two hundred and sixty-four colored patches subtending 18 angle of vision, with selected hues and low saturation levels are sequentially and randomly displayed on gray equiluminous background of the PC screen subtending 2486408 angle of vision. The subject is requested to press a switch at the perception of the stimulus. The output provides colored maps with quantitative information. Comparison between normals and a selected population of MS patients with no actual luminance visual field defects, showed high statistical difference.

scholarly journals Empathy Measurement in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults: A COSMIN Systematic Literature Review

Assessment ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 107319112096456
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Harrison ◽  
Charlotte L. Brownlow ◽  
Michael J. Ireland ◽  
Adina M. Piovesana
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Item Functioning ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Clinical Conditions ◽  
Psychometric Quality

Empathy is essential for social functioning and is relevant to a host of clinical conditions. This COSMIN review evaluated the empirical support for empathy self-report measures used with autistic and nonautistic adults. Given autism is characterized by social differences, it is the subject of a substantial proportion of empathy research. Therefore, this review uses autism as a lens through which to scrutinize the psychometric quality of empathy measures. Of the 19 measures identified, five demonstrated “High-Quality” evidence for “Insufficient” properties and cannot be recommended. The remaining 14 had noteworthy gaps in evidence and require further evaluation before use with either group. Without tests of measurement invariance or differential item functioning, the extent to which observed group differences represent actual trait differences remains unknown. Using autism as a test case highlights an alarming tendency for empathy measures to be used to characterize, and potentially malign vulnerable populations before sufficient validation.

scholarly journals I. The emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action

1922 ◽  
Vol 222 (594-604) ◽  
pp. 1-43 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Electromotive Force ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
Chemical Action ◽  
Spherical Source ◽  
Spherical Electrode ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sodium And Potassium

1.—Several investigators have claimed that electrons are emitted from metals under the influence of chemical action, but the only claim which seems well substantiated is that of Haber and Just, who found that when drops of cæsium or of the liquid alloy of sodium and potassium are attacked, at a low pressure, by a number of chemically active gases, the drops lose a negative but not a positive electric charge. The electric currents set up with the drops negatively charged are stopped by the application in a suitable manner of relatively small magnetic fields. This shows that the currents are carried by electrons emitted from the drops. The object of the present investigation has been to obtain quantitative information about this interesting phenomenon, and, more especially, to ascertain the magnitude of the kinetic energy of the emitted electrons and the mode of its distribution among them. The importance of the subject lies in the fact that it is the only way, so far as I am aware, in which any information at all can be made available as to the distribution of energy among the individual products—molecular, atomic, ionic or electronic—of a chemical reaction. The majority of the experiments have been directed towards obtain­ing the curves showing the relation between the chemical electron current and the applied electromotive force for the case of a small spherical source concentric with a large spherical electrode.

The Effects of Values and Costs on the Detection and Identification of Signals in Auditory Vigilance

1966 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 525-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerrold M. Levine
Keyword(s):  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Performance Decrement ◽  
Identification Performance ◽  
Detection And Identification ◽  
Significant Performance ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Pure Tones ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Factors

The effects on performance of the value of detecting a signal, the cost of a miss or false detection, and the size of the set from which the signals were drawn were studied in an auditory vigilance task. Seventy-two subjects were randomly assigned to each cell of a factorial arrangement of the cost and load variables and required to detect and identify each of several 49 db SPL pure tones differing only in frequency. Analyses of the number of correct detections, correct identifications, false detections and detection response time indicated a significant performance decrement with time for all measures and suggested that increasing costs for misses and false detections led to poorer detection performance while value had no effect. Load effected only identification performance, as higher loads led to a decrease in the percentage of signals correctly identified. The ď and β statistics of signal detection theory, indicated sensitivity to be invariant with manipulations of costs and with time. These findings imply that the performance decrement during a vigil is due to an increased strictness in the criterion the subject sets for deciding whether or not a signal was present. The cost factors were effective in manipulating performance by causing changes in the subjects' decision criteria.

scholarly journals Interindividual differences in attentional vulnerability moderate cognitive performance during sleep restriction and subsequent recovery in healthy young men

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina Marie Mathew ◽  
Stephen M. Strayer ◽  
Kelly M. Ness ◽  
Margeaux M. Schade ◽  
Nicole G. Nahmod ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Sleep Restriction ◽  
Linear Predictor ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Subsequent Recovery ◽  
Recovery Sleep ◽  
Time In Bed ◽  
Visuospatial Processing

AbstractWe investigated whether interindividual attentional vulnerability moderates performance on domain-specific cognitive tasks during sleep restriction (SR) and subsequent recovery sleep. Fifteen healthy men (M ± SD, 22.3 ± 2.8 years) were exposed to three nights of baseline, five nights of 5-h time in bed SR, and two nights of recovery sleep. Participants completed tasks assessing working memory, visuospatial processing, and processing speed approximately every two hours during wake. Analyses examined performance across SR and recovery (linear predictor day or quadratic predictor day2) moderated by attentional vulnerability per participant (difference between mean psychomotor vigilance task lapses after the fifth SR night versus the last baseline night). For significant interactions between day/day2 and vulnerability, we investigated the effect of day/day2 at 1 SD below (less vulnerable level) and above (more vulnerable level) the mean of attentional vulnerability (N = 15 in all analyses). Working memory accuracy and speed on the Fractal 2-Back and visuospatial processing speed and efficiency on the Line Orientation Task improved across the entire study at the less vulnerable level (mean − 1SD) but not the more vulnerable level (mean + 1SD). Therefore, vulnerability to attentional lapses after SR is a marker of susceptibility to working memory and visuospatial processing impairment during SR and subsequent recovery.

scholarly journals Rhythmic Neural Patterns During Empathy to Vicarious Pain: Beyond the Affective-Cognitive Empathy Dichotomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niloufar Zebarjadi ◽  
Eliyahu Adler ◽  
Annika Kluge ◽  
Iiro P. Jääskeläinen ◽  
Mikko Sams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Inhibitory Response ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Affective Component ◽  
Cognitive Component

Empathy is often split into an affective facet for embodied simulation or sometimes sensorial processing, and a cognitive facet for mentalizing and perspective-taking. However, a recent neurophenomenological framework proposes a graded view on empathy (i.e., “Graded Empathy”) that extends this dichotomy and considers multiple levels while integrating complex neural patterns and representations of subjective experience. In the current magnetoencephalography study, we conducted a multidimensional investigation of neural oscillatory modulations and their cortical sources in 44 subjects while observing stimuli that convey vicarious pain (vs no-pain) in a broad time window and frequency range to explore rich neural representations of pain empathy. Furthermore, we collected participants’ subjective-experience of sensitivity to vicarious pain, as well as their self-reported trait levels of affective and cognitive empathy to examine the possible associations between neural mechanisms and subjective experiences and reports. While extending previous electrophysiological studies that mainly focused on alpha suppression, we found here four significant power modulation patterns corresponding to multiple facets of empathy: an early central (peaking in the paracentral sulcus) alpha (6–11 Hz) suppression pattern plausibly reflecting sensory processing, two early beta (15–23 Hz) suppression patterns in the mid-cingulate cortex (plausibly reflecting the affective component) and in the precuneus (plausibly reflecting the cognitive component), and a late anterior (peaking in the orbitofrontal cortex) alpha-beta (11–19 Hz) enhancement pattern (plausibly reflecting cognitive-control inhibitory response). Interestingly, the latter measure was negatively correlated with the subjective sensitivity to vicarious pain, thereby possibly revealing a novel inhibitory neural mechanism determining the subjective sensitivity to vicarious pain. Altogether, these multilevel findings cannot be accommodated by the dichotomous model of empathy (i.e., affective-cognitive), and provide empirical support to the Graded Empathy neurophenomenological framework. Furthermore, this work emphasizes the importance of examining multiple neural rhythms, their cortical generators, and reports of subjective-experience in the aim of elucidating the complex nature of empathy.

scholarly journals The effect of controlling the weight variable on the typeface attribute assessment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Žarko ◽  
◽  
Uroš Nedeljković ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
The Subject

Certain characteristics specific for typeface design initiate different impressions on observers, but here arises a research problem where we cannot identify what specific or universal characteristics of the typeface initiate the impressions on certain attributes. A common problem encountered in previous researches is that fonts may vary in many variables and at the same time differ in width, weight, contrast, and structure. Therefore, it is difficult to determine and isolate which universal and specific characteristics of the typeface affect the impression. The subject of this paper is the isolation of the weight variable and the investigation of its relationship with typeface personality attributes. The main goal of this paper is to provide empirical support for theoretical assumptions, building on previous researches on the typeface personality and typographic rhetoric to show how specific typographic characteristics influence the experience of writing itself.

Empirical Analyses of Deterrence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Quackenbush
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Deterrence Theory ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Early Case ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Empirical Analyses

Deterrence is an important subject, and its study has spanned more than seven decades. Much research on deterrence has focused on a theoretical understanding of the subject. Particularly important is the distinction between classical deterrence theory and perfect deterrence theory. Other studies have employed empirical analyses. The empirical literature on deterrence developed at different times and took different approaches. The early empirical deterrence literature was highly limited for varying reasons. Much of the early case study literature did not seek to test deterrence theory. Early quantitative studies did seek to do so, but they were hampered by rudimentary methods, poor research design, and/or a disconnect between quantitative studies and formal theories of deterrence. Modern empirical research on deterrence has made great strides toward bridging the formal-quantitative divide in the study of deterrence and conducting theoretically driven case studies. Further, researchers have explored the effect of specific variables on deterrence, such as alliances, reputations and credibility, and nuclear weapons. Future empirical studies of deterrence should build on these modern developments. In addition, they should build on perfect deterrence theory, given its logical consistency and empirical support.

Joseph Fourier’s Theory of Terrestrial Temperatures

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Effect ◽  
Political Prisoner ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Complex Functions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
To Receive

The concept of the greenhouse effect has yet to receive adequate historical attention. Although most writing ahout the subject is concerned with current scientific or policy issues, a small but growing fraction of the literature contains at least some historical material, which, as this chapter shows for the case of Joseph Fourier, is largely unreliable. Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier is best known today for his Fourier series, a widely used mathematical technique in which complex functions can be represented by a series of sines and cosines. He is known among physicists and historians of physics for his book Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822), an elegant but not very precise work that Lord Kelvin described as “a great mathematical poem.” Most of his contemporaries knew him as an administrator, Egyptologist, and scientist. Fourier’s fortunes rose and fell with the political tides. He was a mathematics teacher, a secret policeman, a political prisoner (twice), governor of Egypt, prefect of Isère and Rhône, friend of Napoleon, baron, outcast, and perpetual member and secretary of the French Academy of Sciences. Most people writing on the history of the greenhouse effect merely cite in passing Fourier’s descriptive memoir of 1827 as the “first” to compare the heating of the Earth’s atmosphere to the action of glass in a greenhouse. There is usually no evidence that they have read Fourier’s original papers or manuscripts (in French) or have searched beyond the obvious secondary sources. Nor are most authors aware that Fourier’s paper, usually cited as 1827, was actually read to the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1824, published that same year in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, and translated into English in the American Journal of Science in 1837! No one cites Fourier’s earlier references to greenhouses in his magnum opus of 1822 and in his earlier papers. Nor do they identify the subject of terrestrial temperatures as a key motivating factor in all of Fourier’s theoretical and experimental work on heat. Moreover, existing accounts assume far too much continuity in scientific understanding of the greenhouse effect from Fourier to today.

scholarly journals Barriers to Successful Community Reintegration Following Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charmaine Mahar ◽  
Kym Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Brain Injury ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Acquired Brain Injury ◽  
Psychosocial Aspects ◽  
Community Reintegration ◽  
Community Acceptance ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural

The consequences of acquired brain injury are profound and debilitating. People who sustain these injuries experience alterations to the physical, cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial aspects of their life. These changes are often difficult to understand and consequently, many of these people are unable to successfully reintegrate into their community. This article reviews the literature and provides the reader with an understanding of the repercussions of acquired brain injury with a view to promote community acceptance and successful community reintegration. While the review identified many factors that could impede successful reintegration the empirical support for a number of these areas is lacking. Therefore, opportunities for further research abound.

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