scholarly journals How do we measure attention? Using factor analysis to establish construct validity of neuropsychological tests

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Treviño ◽  
Xiaoshu Zhu ◽  
Yi Yi Lu ◽  
Luke S. Scheuer ◽  
Eliza Passell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Object Tracking ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Digit Symbol ◽  
Attentional Capacity ◽  
Spatial Span

AbstractWe investigated whether standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive paradigms measure the same cognitive faculties. Specifically, do neuropsychological tests commonly used to assess attention measure the same construct as attention paradigms used in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? We built on the “general attention factor”, comprising several widely used experimental paradigms (Huang et al., 2012). Participants (n = 636) completed an on-line battery (TestMyBrain.org) of six experimental tests [Multiple Object Tracking, Flanker Interference, Visual Working Memory, Approximate Number Sense, Spatial Configuration Visual Search, and Gradual Onset Continuous Performance Task (Grad CPT)] and eight neuropsychological tests [Trail Making Test versions A & B (TMT-A, TMT-B), Digit Symbol Coding, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Letter Cancellation, Spatial Span, and Arithmetic]. Exploratory factor analysis in a subset of 357 participants identified a five-factor structure: (1) attentional capacity (Multiple Object Tracking, Visual Working Memory, Digit Symbol Coding, Spatial Span), (2) search (Visual Search, TMT-A, TMT-B, Letter Cancellation); (3) Digit Span; (4) Arithmetic; and (5) Sustained Attention (GradCPT). Confirmatory analysis in 279 held-out participants showed that this model fit better than competing models. A hierarchical model where a general cognitive factor was imposed above the five specific factors fit as well as the model without the general factor. We conclude that Digit Span and Arithmetic tests should not be classified as attention tests. Digit Symbol Coding and Spatial Span tap attentional capacity, while TMT-A, TMT-B, and Letter Cancellation tap search (or attention-shifting) ability. These five tests can be classified as attention tests.

scholarly journals Visual working memory representations are shifted toward irrelevant features of distractors in intervening visual search tasks

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 311b
Author(s):  
Zachary A Lively ◽  
Gavin JP Ng ◽  
Simona Buetti ◽  
Alejandro Lleras
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Memory Representations

scholarly journals Visual Search Elicits the Electrophysiological Marker of Visual Working Memory

PLoS ONE ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. e8042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Emrich ◽  
Naseem Al-Aidroos ◽  
Jay Pratt ◽  
Susanne Ferber
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory

An Investigation of Executive Functioning, Attention and Working Memory in Compulsive Hoarding

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 610-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra G. McMillan ◽  
Clare S. Rees ◽  
Carmela Pestell
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Card Sorting ◽  
Compulsive Hoarding ◽  
Spatial Span ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Sorting Tests

Background: Compulsive Hoarding involves the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value, cluttered living spaces and significant distress or impairment in functioning (Frost and Hartl, 1996). The problem is multifaceted and appears best explained by a cognitive-behavioural framework. Aims: This study set out to test one aspect of Frost and Hartl's (1996) cognitive-behavioural model of compulsive hoarding by investigating theorized cognitive deficits in executive functioning, such as working memory and attention. Method: 24 participants with compulsive hoarding were tested on the Digit Span, Spatial Span and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Tests (WCST). Results: On the WCST, the hoarding group had a significantly higher number of perseveration errors (t = 1.67, p = .005) and significantly lower numbers of categories completed (t = −2.47, p = .001) than test norms. Only “failure to maintain set” was significantly correlated with hoarding severity (r = .435, p < .05). Conclusions: These findings lend support to the theory that people who compulsively hoard have executive dysfunction, which impacts on their ability to process information. Deficits relate to difficulties in forming effective strategies, inadequate feedback response, problems in concept formation, and impulsivity. Difficulties in sustained attention also appeared to be a factor in hoarding severity. These findings are important in directing more targeted clinical interventions.

scholarly journals RETRACTED: A Common Discrete Resource for Visual Working Memory and Visual Search

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 929-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Anderson ◽  
Edward K. Vogel ◽  
Edward Awh
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory

scholarly journals Visual Working Memory Load Disrupts Template-guided Attentional Selection during Visual Search

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1902-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Berggren ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Target Color ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Single Target ◽  
Candidate Target

Mental representations of target features (attentional templates) control the selection of candidate target objects in visual search. The question where templates are maintained remains controversial. We employed the N2pc component as an electrophysiological marker of template-guided target selection to investigate whether and under which conditions templates are held in visual working memory (vWM). In two experiments, participants memorized one or four shapes (low vs. high vWM load) before either being tested on their memory or performing a visual search task. When targets were defined by one of two possible colors (e.g., red or green), target N2pcs were delayed with high vWM load. This suggests that the maintenance of multiple shapes in vWM interfered with the activation of color-specific search templates, supporting the hypothesis that these templates are held in vWM. This was the case despite participants always searching for the same two target colors. In contrast, the speed of target selection in a task where a single target color remained relevant throughout was unaffected by concurrent load, indicating that a constant search template for a single feature may be maintained outside vWM in a different store. In addition, early visual N1 components to search and memory test displays were attenuated under high load, suggesting a competition between external and internal attention. The size of this attenuation predicted individual vWM performance. These results provide new electrophysiological evidence for impairment of top–down attentional control mechanisms by high vWM load, demonstrating that vWM is involved in the guidance of attentional target selection during search.

Bottom-up perceptual salience and top-down retro-cues concurrently determine state in visual working memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182096626
Author(s):  
Lingxia Fan ◽  
Lin Zhang ◽  
Liuting Diao ◽  
Mengsi Xu ◽  
Ruiyang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
Active State ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Perceptual Salience

Recent studies have demonstrated that in visual working memory (VWM), only items in an active state can guide attention. Further evidence has revealed that items with higher perceptual salience or items prioritised by a valid retro-cue in VWM tend to be in an active state. However, it is unclear which factor (perceptual salience or retro-cues) is more important for influencing the item state in VWM or whether the factors can act concurrently. Experiment 1 examined the role of perceptual salience by asking participants to hold two features with relatively different perceptual salience (colour vs. shape) in VWM while completing a visual search task. Guidance effects were found when either colour or both colour and shape in VWM matched one of the search distractors but not when shape matched. This demonstrated that the more salient feature in VWM can actively guide attention, while the less salient feature cannot. However, when shape in VWM was cued to be more relevant (prioritised) in Experiment 2, we found guidance effects in both colour-match and shape-match conditions. That is, both more salient but non-cued colour and less salient but cued shape could be active in VWM, such that attentional selection was affected by the matching colour or shape in the visual search task. This suggests that bottom-up perceptual salience and top-down retro-cues can jointly determine the active state in VWM.

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