scholarly journals Neural mechanisms underlying anxiety-related deficits of attentional inhibition: direct ERP evidence from the Pd component

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Hu ◽  
Huikang Zhang ◽  
Hongsi Tang ◽  
Lin Shen ◽  
Rui Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
Attentional Inhibition

Behavioral evidence shows that anxious individuals tend to be distracted by irrelevant stimulation not only for threat-related stimuli but also for non-emotional neutral stimuli. These findings suggest that anxious individuals may have a general impairment of attentional control, especially inhibition function. However, the neural mechanism underlying the anxiety-related impairment in attentional control is unclear. Here, in a visual search task with geometric stimuli, we examined attentional processing of the non-emotional neutral distractor on participants with different levels of anxiety, using the event-related-potential (ERP) indices of attentional selection (N2 posterior contralateral [N2pc]) and top-down inhibition (distractor positivity [Pd]). We found that distractor-evoked Pd amplitudes were negatively correlated with trait-anxiety scores, i.e., the higher the level of anxiety, the worse the ability of attentional inhibition. In contrast, the amplitudes of distractor-evoked N2pc did not vary with anxiety levels, suggesting that trait-anxiety level does not affect stimulus-driven attentional capture. We also observed attentional processing of target stimuli and found that the peak latency of target-evoked N2pc was delayed as anxiety levels rise, suggesting that anxiety impairs the efficiency of top-down attentional selection of the target. The present study provides direct neurophysiological evidence for general anxiety-related impairment of attentional control.

An EEG study of the combined effects of top-down and bottom-up attentional selection under varying task difficulty

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Einat Rashal ◽  
Mehdi Senoussi ◽  
Elisa Santandrea ◽  
Suliann Ben Hamed ◽  
Emiliano Macaluso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Search Tasks

This work reports an investigation of the effect of combined top-down and bottom-up attentional control sources, using known attention-related EEG components that are thought to reflect target selection (N2pc) and distractor suppression (PD), in easy and difficult visual search tasks.

Repression of Anxiety and its Effects on Psychophysiological Responses to Stimuli in Competitive Gymnasts

1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patsy Tremayne ◽  
Robert J. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Baseline Session ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Psychophysiological Responses ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
Electrodermal Responses ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
Task Conditions

This study investigated cardiac and electrodermal responses in competitive gymnasts differing in levels of trait anxiety and repression. The research strategy was to seek differences in tonic and phasic physiological measures that occurred in association with differences in state and/or trait anxiety levels, and then to investigate whether similar differences were associated with differences in levels of repression. Two task conditions were employed: A resting baseline session was counterbalanced with an imagery session in which subjects were requested to image their current team routine in real time. For half of each session, subjects were instructed to either count (relevant) stimuli or ignore (irrelevant) stimuli. The results established a number of psychophysiological differences between groups differing on state and trait anxiety. Similar differences as a result of repression were not obtained, raising questions about the validity of the construct of “repression” in this context. There were some small effects, however, suggesting that repression may affect components of attentional processing in different situations.

scholarly journals Indexing the graded allocation of visuospatial attention using anticipatory alpha oscillations

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 1318-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Gould ◽  
Matthew F. Rushworth ◽  
Anna C. Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Response Preparation ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Alpha Oscillations ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Eeg Data

Lateralization in the desynchronization of anticipatory occipitoparietal alpha (8–12 Hz) oscillations has been implicated in the allocation of selective visuospatial attention. Previous studies have demonstrated that small changes in the lateralization of alpha-band activity are predictive of behavioral performance but have not directly investigated how flexibly alpha lateralization is linked to top-down attentional goals. To address this question, we presented participants with cues providing varying degrees of spatial certainty about the location at which a target would appear. Time-frequency analysis of EEG data demonstrated that manipulating spatial certainty led to graded changes in the extent to which alpha oscillations were lateralized over the occipitoparietal cortex during the cue-target interval. We found that individual differences in alpha desynchronization contralateral to attention predicted reaction times, event-related potential measures of perceptual processing of targets, and beta-band (15–25 Hz) activity typically associated with response preparation. These results support the hypothesis that anticipatory alpha modulation is a plausible neural mechanism underlying the allocation of visuospatial attention and is under flexible top-down control.

scholarly journals Beliefs in being unlucky and deficits in executive functioning: An ERP study

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Martin del Campo ◽  
John Maltby ◽  
Giorgio Fuggetta
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Top Down

The present study tested the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis by examining whether deficits in the early stage of top down attentional control led to an increase of neural activity in later stages of response related selection process among those who thought themselves to be unlucky. Individuals with these beliefs were compared to a control group using an Event-Related Potential (ERP) measure assessing underlying neural activity of semantic inhibition while completing a Stroop test. Results showed stronger main interference effects in the former group, via greater reaction times and a more negative distributed scalp late ERP component during incongruent trials in the time window of 450 – 780 ms post stimulus onset. Further, less efficient maintenance of task set among the former group was associated with greater late ERP response-related activation to compensate for the lack of top-down attentional control. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence to support the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis.

scholarly journals Nasotemporal ERP differences: evidence for increased inhibition of temporal distractors

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 2210-2219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Huber-Huber ◽  
Anna Grubert ◽  
Ulrich Ansorge ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Distractor Inhibition ◽  
Visual Hemifield ◽  
Target Digit ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Attentional Inhibition ◽  
Visual Hemifields

Previous research has demonstrated behavioral advantages for stimuli in the temporal relative to the nasal visual hemifield. To investigate whether this nasotemporal asymmetry reflects a genuinely attentional bias, we recorded event-related potentials in a task where participants identified a color-defined target digit in one visual hemifield that was accompanied by an irrelevant distractor in the opposite hemifield ( experiment 1). To dissociate the processing of stimuli in nasal and temporal visual hemifields, an eye-patching procedure was used. Targets triggered N2pc components that marked their attentional selection. Unexpectedly, these N2pc components were larger and emerged earlier for nasal relative to temporal targets. Experiment 2 provided evidence that this nasotemporal asymmetry for the N2pc is linked to an increased attentional inhibition of temporal distractors. Relative to nasal distractors, temporal distractors elicited an increased inhibition-related contralateral positivity, resulting in more pronounced differences between contralateral and ipsilateral event-related potentials on trials with temporal distractors and nasal targets. These results provide novel evidence for a genuinely attentional contribution to nasotemporal asymmetries and suggest that such asymmetries are associated with top-down controlled distractor inhibition.

scholarly journals Brain and Cognitive Mechanisms of Top–Down Attentional Control in a Multisensory World: Benefits of Electrical Neuroimaging

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel J. Matusz ◽  
Nora Turoman ◽  
Ruxandra I. Tivadar ◽  
Chrysa Retsa ◽  
Micah M. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Object Representations ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Electrical Neuroimaging ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Selection Of

In real-world environments, information is typically multisensory, and objects are a primary unit of information processing. Object recognition and action necessitate attentional selection of task-relevant from among task-irrelevant objects. However, the brain and cognitive mechanisms governing these processes remain not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that attentional selection of visual objects is controlled by integrated top–down audiovisual object representations (“attentional templates”) while revealing a new brain mechanism through which they can operate. In multistimulus (visual) arrays, attentional selection of objects in humans and animal models is traditionally quantified via “the N2pc component”: spatially selective enhancements of neural processing of objects within ventral visual cortices at approximately 150–300 msec poststimulus. In our adaptation of Folk et al.'s [Folk, C. L., Remington, R. W., & Johnston, J. C. Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 1030–1044, 1992] spatial cueing paradigm, visual cues elicited weaker behavioral attention capture and an attenuated N2pc during audiovisual versus visual search. To provide direct evidence for the brain, and so, cognitive, mechanisms underlying top–down control in multisensory search, we analyzed global features of the electrical field at the scalp across our N2pcs. In the N2pc time window (170–270 msec), color cues elicited brain responses differing in strength and their topography. This latter finding is indicative of changes in active brain sources. Thus, in multisensory environments, attentional selection is controlled via integrated top–down object representations, and so not only by separate sensory-specific top–down feature templates (as suggested by traditional N2pc analyses). We discuss how the electrical neuroimaging approach can aid research on top–down attentional control in naturalistic, multisensory settings and on other neurocognitive functions in the growing area of real-world neuroscience.

Tracking the Location of Visuospatial Attention in a Contingent Capture Paradigm

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Émilie Leblanc ◽  
David J. Prime ◽  
Pierre Jolicoeur
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Contingent Capture ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Distractor Location ◽  
Attentional Control Settings ◽  
Attentional Engagement ◽  
Considerable Controversy

Currently, there is considerable controversy regarding the degree to which top-down control can affect attentional capture by salient events. According to the contingent capture hypothesis, attentional capture by a salient stimulus is contingent on a match between the properties of the stimulus and top-down attentional control settings. In contrast, bottom-up saliency accounts argue that the initial capture of attention is determined solely by the relative salience of the stimulus, and the effect of top-down attentional control is limited to effects on the duration of attentional engagement on the capturing stimulus. In the present study, we tested these competing accounts by utilizing the N2pc event-related potential component to track the locus of attention during an attentional capture task. The results were completely consistent with the contingent capture hypothesis: An N2pc wave was elicited only by distractors that possessed the target-defining attribute. In a second experiment, we expanded upon this finding by exploring the effect of target-distractor similarity on the duration that attention dwells at the distractor location. In this experiment, only distractors possessing the target-defining attribute (color) captured visuospatial attention to their location and the N2pc increased in duration and in magnitude when the capture distractor also shared a second target attribute (category membership). Finally, in three additional control experiments, we replicated the finding of an N2pc generated by distractors, only if they shared the target-defining attribute. Thus, our results demonstrate that attentional control settings influence both which stimuli attract attention and to what extent they are processed.

scholarly journals Differing Time Courses of Reward-Related Attentional Processing: An EEG Source-Space Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise E. L. Lockhofen ◽  
Nils Hübner ◽  
Fatma Hemdan ◽  
Gebhard Sammer ◽  
Dion Henare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Space Analysis ◽  
Distractor Processing ◽  
Time Courses ◽  
Task Irrelevant

AbstractSince our environment typically contains more information than can be processed at any one time due to the limited capacity of our visual system, we are bound to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information. This process, termed attentional selection, is usually categorized into bottom-up and top-down processes. However, recent research suggests reward might also be an important factor in guiding attention. Monetary reward can bias attentional selection in favor of task-relevant targets and reduce the efficiency of visual search when a reward-associated, but task-irrelevant distractor is present. This study is the first to investigate reward-related target and distractor processing in an additional singleton task using neurophysiological measures and source space analysis. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that source space analysis would find enhanced neural activity in regions of the value-based attention network, such as the visual cortex and the anterior cingulate. Additionally, we went further and explored the time courses of the underlying attentional mechanisms. Our neurophysiological results showed that rewarding distractors led to a stronger attentional capture. In line with this, we found that reward-associated distractors (compared with reward-associated targets) enhanced activation in frontal regions, indicating the involvement of top-down control processes. As hypothesized, source space analysis demonstrated that reward-related targets and reward-related distractors elicited activation in regions of the value-based attention network. However, these activations showed time-dependent differences, indicating that the neural mechanisms underlying reward biasing might be different for task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimuli.

scholarly journals Beliefs in being unlucky and deficits in executive functioning: An ERP study

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Martin del Campo ◽  
John Maltby ◽  
Giorgio Fuggetta
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Top Down

The present study tested the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis by examining whether deficits in the early stage of top down attentional control led to an increase of neural activity in later stages of response related selection process among those who thought themselves to be unlucky. Individuals with these beliefs were compared to a control group using an Event-Related Potential (ERP) measure assessing underlying neural activity of semantic inhibition while completing a Stroop test. Results showed stronger main interference effects in the former group, via greater reaction times and a more negative distributed scalp late ERP component during incongruent trials in the time window of 450 – 780 ms post stimulus onset. Further, less efficient maintenance of task set among the former group was associated with greater late ERP response-related activation to compensate for the lack of top-down attentional control. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence to support the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis.

Correlation between anxiety and chronic motion sensitivity

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ahmad A. Alharbi ◽  
Eric G. Johnson ◽  
Abdulaziz A. Albalwi ◽  
Oluwaseun I. Ambode ◽  
Tim K. Cordett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Postural Stability ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Motion Sensitivity ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Anxiety Levels

BACKGROUND: Chronic motion sensitivity (CMS) is a combination of autonomic symptoms provoked by exposure to motion. The correlation between anxiety and CMS is not yet well understood. OBJECTIVES: 1) To compare median anxiety levels between young adults with and without CMS. 2) To examine the effect of anxiety on postural stability with immersion virtual reality. 3) To compare anxiety levels between sexes. METHODS: Participants included 60 adults (20–40 years), with and without CMS. After determining their current and general anxiety levels, postural stability was measured. RESULTS: There were significant differences in median (minimum, maximum) state- and trait-anxiety scores between participants with and without CMS, but no significant differences in median state- and trait-anxiety scores between males and females with CMS. There was a significant inverse relationship between state- and trait-anxiety scores and postural stability (ρ= –0.28, p = 0.03, and ρ= –0.32, p = 0.01, respectively). The stepwise regression analysis showed the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire-Short Form score to be the only variable contributing significantly to postural stability (R2  = 26.2%; t = –4.5, p <  0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Young adults with CMS are more anxious, although anxiety does not contribute to postural stability in this group. Anxiety levels do not appear to differ between young adult males and females with CMS.

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