scholarly journals Lateralization of attention in adults with ADHD: Evidence of pseudoneglect

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz Helfer ◽  
Stefanos Maltezos ◽  
Elizabeth Liddle ◽  
Jonna Kuntsi ◽  
Philip Asherson
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Study Participant ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Incentive Condition ◽  
Reaction Time Variability ◽  
The Right

Abstract Background. We investigated whether adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show pseudoneglect—preferential allocation of attention to the left visual field (LVF) and a resulting slowing of mean reaction times (MRTs) in the right visual field (RVF), characteristic of neurotypical (NT) individuals —and whether lateralization of attention is modulated by presentation speed and incentives. Method. Fast Task, a four-choice reaction-time task where stimuli were presented in LVF or RVF, was used to investigate differences in MRT and reaction time variability (RTV) in adults with ADHD (n = 43) and NT adults (n = 46) between a slow/no-incentive and fast/incentive condition. In the lateralization analyses, pseudoneglect was assessed based on MRT, which was calculated separately for the LVF and RVF for each condition and each study participant. Results. Adults with ADHD had overall slower MRT and increased RTV relative to NT. MRT and RTV improved under the fast/incentive condition. Both groups showed RVF-slowing with no between-group or between-conditions differences in RVF-slowing. Conclusion. Adults with ADHD exhibited pseudoneglect, a NT pattern of lateralization of attention, which was not attenuated by presentation speed and incentives.

Accurate reaction time methods demonstrate similar results from different sensory modalities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Drew McRacken ◽  
Maddie Dyson ◽  
Kevin Hu
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Reaction Time Methods ◽  
Test Reaction ◽  
Reaction Time Variability ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Visual Reaction ◽  
The Impact

Over the past few decades, there has been a significant number of reports that suggested that reaction times for different sensory modalities were different – e.g., that visual reaction time was slower than tactile reaction time. A recent report by Holden and colleagues stated that (1) there has been a significant historic upward drift in reaction times reported in the literature, (2) that this drift or degradation in reaction times could be accounted for by inaccuracies in the methods used and (3) that these inaccurate methods led to inaccurate reporting of differences between visual and tactile based reaction time testing.  The Holden study utilized robotics (i.e., no human factors) to test visual and tactile reaction time methods but did not assess how individuals would perform on different sensory modalities.  This study utilized three different sensory modalities: visual, auditory, and tactile, to test reaction time. By changing the way in which the subjects were prompted and measuring subsequent reaction time, the impact of sensory modality could be analyzed. Reaction time testing for two sensory modalities, auditory and visual, were administered through an Arduino Uno microcontroller device, while tactile-based reaction time testing was administered with the Brain Gauge. A range of stimulus intensities was delivered for the reaction times delivered by each sensory modality. The average reaction time and reaction time variability was assessed and a trend could be identified for the reaction time measurements of each of the sensory modalities. Switching the sensory modality did not result in a difference in reaction time and it was concluded that this was due to the implementation of accurate circuitry used to deliver each test. Increasing stimulus intensity for each sensory modality resulted in faster reaction times. The results of this study confirm the findings of Holden and colleagues and contradict the results reported in countless studies that conclude that (1) reaction times are historically slower now than they were 50 years ago and (2) that there are differences in reaction times for different sensory modalities (vision, hearing, tactile). The implications of this are that utilization of accurate reaction time methods could have a significant impact on clinical outcomes and that many methods in current clinical use are basically perpetuating poor methods and wasting time and money of countless subjects or patients.

Vocal Reaction Times to Tachistoscopically Presented High- and Low-Frequency Verbs: Some Evidence for Selective Minor Hemisphere Linguistic Analysis

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 803-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Rastatter ◽  
Catherine Loren
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Intact Brain ◽  
The Right

The current study investigated the capacity of the right hemisphere to process verbs using a paradigm proven reliable for predicting differential, minor hemisphere lexical analysis in the normal, intact brain. Vocal reaction times of normal subjects were measured to unilaterally presented verbs of high and of low frequency. A significant interaction was noted between the stimulus items and visual fields. Post hoc tests showed that vocal reaction times to verbs of high frequency were significantly faster following right visual-field presentations (right hemisphere). No significant differences in vocal reaction time occurred between the two visual fields for the verbs of low frequency. Also, significant differences were observed between the two types of verbs following left visual-field presentation but not the right. These results were interpreted to suggest that right-hemispheric analysis was restricted to the verbs of high frequency in the presence of a dominant left hemisphere.

scholarly journals Exploration of the Hemispheric Differences in Number Processing of the Brain

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Aaron Wyland Walters
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Time Data ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Central Target ◽  
The Right

Abstract The current study explored how reaction time and accuracy differed in the left and right visual fields by altering various dot clusters in both number and organization. Researchers have hypothesized that the left hemisphere uses counting to judge small, disorganized clusters of objects accurately and that the right hemisphere uses estimation to judge clusters organized in geometric shape accurately. The current study tested both visual fields of participant’s with organized and unorganized clusters of dots. Dots were clustered between 3 and 12. The clusters were presented on separate sides of a computer screen to analyze visual field differences in counting and estimation. A central target was presented on the screen to maintain central focus for the visual fields. Data from 40 participants (30 men, 10 women) from a small liberal arts college indicated that when clusters reached between 7 and 8 dots, organization in the right visual field created inaccuracy in judgment. Reaction time data indicated that as number level increased, reaction time slowed. Reaction time data also showed that organization slowed reaction times in both visual fields. These data indicated that different numerical judgment abilities do exist within the hemispheres.

Attention and Hemispheric Differences in Reaction Time during Simultaneous Audio-Visual Tasks

1973 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina Geffen ◽  
J. L. Bradshaw ◽  
N. C. Nettleton
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Auditory Task ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
The Right

The effect of different types of competing auditory tasks on laterality differences in visual perception was investigated. Right-handed subjects were presented with digits which occurred randomly in the left or right visual fields. They responded vocally to previously specified digits in a go, no-go reaction time situation. In the absence of any competing auditory task, digits presented in the right visual field were processed more quickly. This visual field difference in reaction time was in the same direction while subjects performed a secondary musical task. However, when a secondary verbal task had to be performed, digits in the left visual field received faster responses. The results support the view that the right hemisphere is capable of some language functions, and that hemispheric differences in performance have at their basis a quantitative asymmetry, which can be reversed even in normal subjects by overloading their limited capacity.

Visual attention in preschool children prenatally exposed to cocaine: Implications for behavioral regulation

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMY K. HEFFELFINGER ◽  
SUZANNE CRAFT ◽  
DESIRÉE A. WHITE ◽  
JAYE SHYKEN
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Behavioral Regulation ◽  
Cocaine Exposure ◽  
Prenatal Cocaine Exposure ◽  
Prenatal Cocaine ◽  
The Right

The presence of cocaine during the prenatal period disrupts the development of neural systems involved in mediating visual attention; therefore, it is possible that prenatal cocaine exposure results in impairments in visual attention in early childhood. In the current study we hypothesized that preschool children with prenatal cocaine exposure would exhibit difficulties in the disengagement operation of visual attention and in sustaining attention, particularly for targets presented in the right visual field. Fourteen cocaine-exposed children and 20 control children between 14 and 60 months of age were assessed on measures of visual attention, cognition, and behavior. Cocaine-exposed children had slower reaction times on disengagement trials in the second half of our attention task, supporting our hypotheses that impairments in disengagement and sustained attention are associated with prenatal cocaine exposure. There was a trend for slower reaction times to targets presented in the right visual field, but not to targets presented in the left visual field. Cocaine-exposed children also exhibited greater difficulties in behavioral regulation. Overall, our findings suggest that children with prenatal cocaine exposure demonstrate specific impairments in visual attention and behavioral regulation. (JINS, 2002,8, 12–21.)

scholarly journals Right hemisphere superiority for executive control of attention

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Spagna ◽  
Tae Hyeong Kim ◽  
Tingting Wu ◽  
Jin Fan
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Spatial Orienting ◽  
Conflict Effect ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
The Right

AbstractOver forty years have passed since the first evidence showing the unbalanced attentional allocation of humans across the two visual fields, and since then, a wealth of behavioral, neurophysiological, and clinical data increasingly showed a right hemisphere dominance for orienting of attention. However, inconsistent evidence exists regarding the right-hemisphere dominance for executive control of attention, possibly due to a lack of consideration of its dynamics with the alerting and orienting functions. In this study, we used a version of the Attentional Network Test with lateralized presentation of the stimuli to the left visual field (processed by the right hemisphere, RH) and right visual field (processed by the left hemisphere, LH) to examine visual field differences in executive control of attention under conditions of alerting or orienting. Analyses of behavioral performance (reaction time and error rate) showed a more efficient executive control (reduced conflict effect) in the RH compared to the LH for the reaction time, under conditions of increased alerting and of informative spatial orienting. These results demonstrate the right-hemisphere superiority for executive control, and that this effect depends on the activation of the alerting and orienting functions.

Control of Sensorimotor Variability by Consequences

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 2255-2265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Madelain ◽  
Lucie Champrenaut ◽  
Alan Chauvin
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Manual Response ◽  
Reaction Time Variability ◽  
Latency Distributions

Studies of reaction-time distributions provide a useful quantitative approach to understand decision processes at the neural level and at the behavioral level. A strong relationship between the spread of latencies and the median is generally accepted even though there has been no attempt to disentangle experimentally these two parameters. Here we test the ability to independently control the median and the variability in reaction times. Reaction times were measured in human subjects instructed to make a discrimination between a target and a distractor in a 2AFC task. In a first experiment, saccadic latencies were measured. In a second experiment, we used manual response reaction times. Subjects were trained to produce four different reaction-time distributions. A reinforcing feedback was given depending on both the variability and the median of the latency distributions. When low variability was reinforced, the standard deviation (SD) of reaction-time distributions were reduced by a factor of two and when high variability was reinforced, the SD returned to baseline level. Our procedure independently affected the spread and the median of the distribution patterns. By fitting the latency distributions using the Reddi and Carpenter LATER model, we found that these effects could be simulated by changing the distribution of the noise affecting the decision process. Our results demonstrate that learned contingencies can affect reaction time variability and support the view that the so-called noise level in decision processes can undergo long-term changes.

Cognitive Arithmetic: Evidence for Right Hemispheric Mediation in an Elementary Component Stage

1980 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert N. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Spatial Order ◽  
Elementary Component ◽  
Cognitive Arithmetic ◽  
The Right ◽  
Field Errors

Earlier studies involving the lateralization of arithmetic abilities have provided evidence for both right and left hemisphere superiorities. It is argued here that part of this inconsistency could be due to the complexity of the arithmetic computations which have been examined. The present studies examined a subprocess shown to be involved in more complex tasks, such as subtraction. The subprocess is the identification of which of two numbers is greater, and was tested by the flashing of a pair of digits to either the left or right visual field. Errors, reaction-times to make a decision, and examination of hand × visual field interactions all indicated that this subprocess is mediated by the right hemisphere. Correlational analysis was used to identify the operations underlying the observed lateralization of this ability. This analysis indicated that an operation indexed by the spatial order in which the digits were presented was effective in the right hemisphere but not the left hemisphere. Speculations on the nature of these operations were presented.

Cerebral Asymmetry in Facial Affect Perception by Women: Neuropsychological Effects of Depressed Mood

1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1667-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. David Crews ◽  
David W. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Depressed Mood ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Hemispheric Processing ◽  
Neuropsychological Effects ◽  
Arousal Theory ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
The Right

40 right-handed women, half of whom had been classified with depressed mood and the other half as nondepressed, participated in a tachistoscopic study of the influence of depressed mood on the cerebral hemispheric processing of Ekman and Friesen's 1976 happy, sad, and neutral emotional faces using a forced-choice reaction-time paradigm with only happy and sad alternatives as response manipulanda. The women with depressed mood were also characterized by elevated scores on both state and trait anxiety, suggestive of an anxious-depressive state with heightened arousal. Primary findings for the tachistoscopic data indicated that women with depressed mood as compared to nondepressed women displayed significantly faster reaction times to sad faces presented in the right visual field and happy faces presented in the left visual field. These results are suggestive of differential arousal of both the left and right cerebral hemispheres in this sample of anxious-depressed women and are discussed in light of arousal theory.

scholarly journals Neuroticism, recall bias and attention bias for valenced probes: a twin study

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. V. Rijsdijk ◽  
H. Riese ◽  
M. Tops ◽  
H. Snieder ◽  
W. H. Brouwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Right Visual Field ◽  
Dot Probe ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
The Right

BackgroundPrior research on the nature of the vulnerability of neuroticism to psychopathology suggests biases in information processing towards emotional rather than neutral information. It is unclear to what extent this relationship can be explained by genetic or environmental factors.MethodThe genetic relationship between a neuroticism composite score and free recall of pleasant and unpleasant words and the reaction time on negative probes (dot-probe task) was investigated in 125 female twin pairs. Interaction effects were modelled to test whether the correlation between neuroticism and cognitive measures depended on the level of the neuroticism score.ResultsThe only significant correlation was between neuroticism and the proportion of recalled unpleasant words (heritability is 30%), and was only detectable at the higher end of the neuroticism distribution. This interaction effect seems to be due to environmental effects that make people in the same family more similar (e.g. parental discipline style), rather than genetic factors. An interesting sub-finding was that faster reaction times for left versus right visual field probes in the dot-probe task suggest that cognitive processing in the right hemisphere is more sensitive to subliminal (biologically relevant) cues and that this characteristic is under substantial genetic control (49%). Individual differences in reaction times on right visual field probes were due to environmental effects only.ConclusionsThere is no evidence that the predisposition of individuals to focus on negative (emotional) stimuli is a possible underlying genetic mechanism of neuroticism.

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