The mind's eye, looking inward? In search of executive control in internal attention shifting

Our mind’s eye and the role of internal attention in mental life and suffering has intrigued scholars for centuries. Yet, experimental study of internal attention has been elusive due to our limited capacity to control the timing and content of internal stimuli. We thus developed the Simulated Thoughts Paradigm (STP) to experimentally deliver own-voice thought stimuli that simulate the content and experience of thinking and thereby experimental study of internal attentional processes. In independent experiments (N=122) integrating STP into established cognitive-experimental tasks, we found and replicated evidence that emotional reactivity to negative thoughts predicts difficulty disengaging internal attention from, as well as biased selective internal attention of, those thoughts, which predict cognitive vulnerability (e.g., negative repetitive thinking), which predicts anxiety and depression. Reported findings may have exciting implications for the study of internal attention broadly, models of internal attentional (dys)control in cognitive vulnerability and mental health more specifically.

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Simulating thoughts to measure and study internal attention in mental health

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-81756-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Iftach Amir ◽

Liad Ruimi ◽

Amit Bernstein

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Experimental Study ◽

Emotional Reactivity ◽

Cognitive Vulnerability ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Negative Thoughts ◽

Mind's Eye ◽

Internal Attention

AbstractOur mind’s eye and the role of internal attention in mental life and suffering has intrigued scholars for centuries. Yet, experimental study of internal attention has been elusive due to our limited capacity to control the timing and content of internal stimuli. We thus developed the Simulated Thoughts Paradigm (STP) to experimentally deliver own-voice thought stimuli that simulate the content and experience of thinking and thereby experimental study of internal attentional processes. In independent experiments (N = 122) integrating STP into established cognitive-experimental tasks, we found and replicated evidence that emotional reactivity to negative thoughts predicts difficulty disengaging internal attention from, as well as biased selective internal attention of, those thoughts; these internal attention processes predict cognitive vulnerability (e.g., negative repetitive thinking) which thereby predict anxiety and depression. Proposed methods and findings may have implications for the study of information processing and attention in mental health broadly and models of internal attentional (dys)control in cognitive vulnerability and mental health more specifically.

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The Two Sides of Temporal Orienting

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000018 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 142-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Ángel Correa ◽

Paola Cappucci ◽

Anna C. Nobre ◽

Juan Lupiáñez

Keyword(s):

Executive Control ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Traffic Situation ◽

Target Onset ◽

Stimulus Features ◽

Two Sides ◽

Spatial Stroop Effect ◽

Probable Interval ◽

Spatial Stroop ◽

Temporal Orienting

Would it be helpful to inform a driver about when a conflicting traffic situation is going to occur? We tested whether temporal orienting of attention could enhance executive control to select among conflicting stimuli and responses. Temporal orienting was induced by presenting explicit cues predicting the most probable interval for target onset, which could be short (400 ms) or long (1,300 ms). Executive control was measured both by flanker and Simon tasks involving conflict between incompatible responses and by the spatial Stroop task involving conflict between perceptual stimulus features. The results showed that temporal orienting facilitated the resolution of perceptual conflict by reducing the spatial Stroop effect, whereas it interfered with the resolution of response conflict by increasing flanker and Simon effects. Such opposite effects suggest that temporal orienting of attention modulates executive control through dissociable mechanisms, depending on whether the competition between conflicting representations is located at perceptual or response levels.

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The Flip Side of the Auditory Spatial Selection Benefit

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000274 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 66-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Iring Koch ◽

Vera Lawo

Keyword(s):

Task Switching ◽

Auditory Task ◽

Numerical Magnitude ◽

Attention Shifting ◽

Gender Selection ◽

Spatial Selection ◽

Number Words ◽

Switch Costs ◽

Mixing Costs ◽

Experimental Group

In cued auditory task switching, one of two dichotically presented number words, spoken by a female and a male, had to be judged according to its numerical magnitude. One experimental group selected targets by speaker gender and another group by ear of presentation. In mixed-task blocks, the target-defining feature (male/female vs. left/right) was cued prior to each trial, but in pure blocks it remained constant. Compared to selection by gender, selection by ear led to better performance in pure blocks than in mixed blocks, resulting in larger “global” mixing costs for ear-based selection. Selection by ear also led to larger “local” switch costs in mixed blocks, but this finding was partially mediated by differential cue-repetition benefits. Together, the data suggest that requirements of attention shifting diminish the auditory spatial selection benefit.

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Conscious and Unconscious Reward Cues Can Affect a Critical Component of Executive Control

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000104 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 58 (5) ◽

pp. 370-375 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Rémi L. Capa ◽

Gaëlle M. Bustin ◽

Axel Cleeremans ◽

Michel Hansenne

Keyword(s):

Correct Response ◽

Executive Control ◽

Critical Component ◽

Arithmetic Operations ◽

Component Process

The present study investigates whether updating an important function of executive control can be driven by unconscious reward cues. Participants had to memorize several numbers and update those numbers independently according to a sequence of arithmetic operations. At the beginning of each trial, a reward (1 euro or 5 cents) was presented, either subliminally or supraliminally. Participants could earn the reward if they found the correct response on the updating task. Results showed better performance when a high (conscious or unconscious) reward was at stake compared to a low reward. This suggests that subliminal information can influence a component process of executive control traditionally thought to require consciousness.

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