scholarly journals Switching attention from internal to external information processing: a review of the literature and empirical support of the resource sharing account

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Verschooren ◽  
Sebastian Schindler ◽  
Rudi de Raedt ◽  
Gilles Pourtois

Despite its everyday ubiquity, not much is currently known about cognitive processes involved in flexible shifts of attention between external and internal information. An important model in the task-switching literature, which can serve as a blueprint for attentional flexibility, states that switch costs correspond to the time needed for a serial control mechanism to reallocate a limited resource from the previous task context to the current one. To formulate predictions from this model when applied to a switch between perceptual attention (external component) and working memory (WM; internal component), we first need to determine whether a single, serial control mechanism is in place and, subsequently, whether a limited resource is shared between them. Following a review of the literature, we predicted that a between-domain switch cost should be observed, and its size should be either similar or reduced compared to the standard, within-domain, switch cost. These latter two predictions derive from a shared resource account between external and internal attention, or partial independence among them, respectively. In a second phase, we put to the test these opposing predictions in four successive behavioral experiments by means of a new paradigm suited to compare directly between- (internal to external) and within-domain (external to external) switch costs. Across them, we demonstrated the existence of a reliable between-domain switch cost whose magnitude was similar to the within-domain one, thereby lending support to the resource sharing account.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin HG Maich ◽  
Rana Abu-Jazar ◽  
Rachael Burnett ◽  
Carly Cosgrove ◽  
William Maich ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Sleep difficulties are prevalent and concerning for many North Americans. Despite strong empirical support for insomnia treatment, lack of access presents a significant barrier to treatment dissemination. This is particularly true amongst teens and young adults. Mobile applications (‘apps’) are uniquely suited to address this need. OBJECTIVE We conducted a scoping review to identify and appraise commercially available apps for AYAs with sleep difficulties. METHODS Proceeding in 3 phases, a comprehensive search of commercially available apps was conducted between August 2016 and January 2017. The initial phase involved a search of app stores using relevant search terms (sleep; sleeping; insomnia; sleep aid; night). In the second phase, apps were assessed for eligibility using the following inclusion criteria: 1) Goal is to provide education, tools, or advice related to management of insomnia symptoms. 2) Primary intended users are AYAs. Exclusion criteria were: 1) App is classified as an ‘e-book.’ 2) Primary utility is meditation, hypnosis, or relaxation for sleep. 3) Primary function is background sleep music or sounds. 4) Primary function is alarm clock. 5) Sole sleep aid function is tracking/monitoring, with no education, tools, or advice for insomnia. In the third phase, apps were culled for functionality information, including: A) Self-monitoring of symptoms; B) Tracking sleep; C) Education related to insomnia; D) Advice or intervention for managing insomnia symptoms. Finally, the primary investigator conducted a final review of phase 3 apps, closely examining the functionality of these apps, based on app descriptions, app content, and developer website (where available). RESULTS The initial search yielded 2036 apps; after eligibility criteria were applied, functionality information was extracted for 48 apps. Twenty-three of these were later excluded. Of the final 25 apps, 24% included self-monitoring of symptoms; 28% included a sleep tracking function; 56% provided insomnia education; and 92% provided advice or intervention for managing sleep difficulties. The majority (80%) were free. Several (20%) provided sleep interventions that are not supported by research. In the final evaluation, only 6 apps met all four of the functionality criteria; of these, none were geared towards AYA users specifically. The purported and examined functionality of these six apps are discussed. CONCLUSIONS Insomnia is a unique problem among AYAs, as non-insomnia factors must also be considered when designing an appropriate intervention (e.g., AYAs are more delayed in sleep schedule, require more sleep than adults). There are currently 6 apps that are appropriate for self-management of adult insomnia. There are 0 apps designed for AYA users. Development of an evidence-based app for managing insomnia in this population is critical. Once an appropriate app becomes available, future studies should test its usability and efficacy in AYA samples.


Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (23 Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S4.1-S4
Author(s):  
Veronik Sicard ◽  
Alexe Simard ◽  
Robert Davis Moore ◽  
Gabriel Lavoie ◽  
Dave Ellemberg

The impact of concussions on an individual's cognitive functioning has become a growing health concern over the past several years; however, the search for sensitive tests persists. The task-switching paradigm is known to be sensitive to various medical conditions, including concussion. Accordingly, we developed 2 versions of the color-shape switch task. Three different costs are computed from the raw scores: global switch cost, which is thought to be a measure of global cognitive control; local switch cost, which is believed to be a measure of cognitive flexibility; and working memory cost. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric characteristics of these costs. An ANOVA revealed a main effect of sex on local latency switch cost, with females exhibiting longer latencies than males, p = 0.05. No main effect of sex was observed on any other switch costs. Moreover, no main effect of experimenter or version of the task was observed. Local switch cost was significantly correlated with trails 4 and 5 of the Comprehensive Trail Making Test (rs > 0.21, ps < 0.04). No other significant correlation between costs and established neuropsychological tests was observed, indicating low convergent validity. The intraclass correlation coefficient estimates ranged from 0.23 to 0.77, suggesting low-to-moderate 1-week test-retest reliability. Results indicated a low switch costs; convergent validity. Moreover, results show that the traditionally computed switch costs are less reliable than the primary outcomes (i.e., reaction time and accuracy). Researchers and clinicians should rely on primary variables from the task-switching paradigm rather than computing the traditional switch costs to increase the psychometric properties of the tasks which is critical to advances in theoretical models of executive functions and evaluations of clinical populations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank J. Landy

Research on stereotyping as related to workplace evaluations and decisions has been going on for more than 30 years. Recently, implicit association theory has emerged as a less conscious manifestation of stereotyping mechanisms. In this article, I review the relevance of research on both stereotyping and one of the more popular tests of implicit associations, the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Claims have been made that both stereotyping research and, more recently, IAT research provide theoretical and empirical support for the argument that protected demographic groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, women) are the victims of biased personnel decisions and evaluations. My review of the literature suggests that both stereotyping and IAT research study designs are sufficiently far removed from real work settings as to render them largely useless for drawing inferences about most, but not all, forms of employment discrimination.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 651-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
JARED A. LINCK ◽  
JOHN W. SCHWIETER ◽  
GRETCHEN SUNDERMAN

This study investigated the role of domain-general inhibitory control in trilingual speech production. Taking an individual differences approach, we examined the relationship between performance on a non-linguistic measure of inhibitory control (the Simon task) and a multilingual language switching task for a group of fifty-six native English (L1) speakers learning French (L2) and Spanish (L3). Better inhibitory control was related to reduced switch costs, but only when switching into or out of the more dominant L1, where inhibitory control has been theorized to be most important (Green, 1998). The results provide evidence of a direct link between inhibitory control abilities and language switching capabilities, and suggest constraints on the conditions under which a domain-general inhibitory control mechanism supports language switching.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Marie Hendriks ◽  
Mere Y. Delai ◽  
Anne-Marie Thow ◽  
Jessica S. Gubbels ◽  
Nanne K. De Vries ◽  
...  

In Fiji and other Pacific Island countries, obesity has rapidly increased in the past decade. Therefore, several obesity prevention policies have been developed. Studies show that their development has been hampered by factors within Fiji’s policy landscape such as pressure from industry. Since policymakers in the Fijian national government are primarily responsible for the development of obesity policies, it is important to understand their perspectives; we therefore interviewed 15 policymakers from nine Fijian ministries. By applying the “attractor landscape” metaphor from dynamic systems theory, we captured perceived barriers and facilitators in the policy landscape. A poor economic situation, low food self-sufficiency, power inequalities, inappropriate framing of obesity, limited policy evidence, and limited resource sharing hamper obesity policy developments in Fiji. Facilitators include policy entrepreneurs and policy brokers who were active when a window of opportunity opened and who strengthened intersectoral collaboration. Fiji’s policy landscape can become more conducive to obesity policies if power inequalities are reduced. In Fiji and other Pacific Island countries, this may be achievable through increased food self-sufficiency, strengthened intersectoral collaboration, and the establishment of an explicit functional focal unit within government to monitor and forecast the health impact of policy changes in non-health sectors.


2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quddus Z Snyder

Liberal systemic theory is built on the assumption that the system’s dominant configuration is a Kantian confederation of major powers. In addition to being a democratic cluster, the liberal core is also a capitalist club. This article pushes systemic and socialization theory forward by introducing the mechanism of economic competition as an important driver of socialization. The article develops a theory of system-level competition, arguing that it is a distinct and co-equal mechanism of socialization to the established mechanisms of persuasion, inducement, and coercion. The article proposes a three-staged model of socialization that explains how prominent rising powers such as Turkey, India, Brazil, and China are being socialized into the liberal system. At the first phase, competitive pressure, outsiders are led to orient themselves toward the core out of a fear of falling behind and a desire to access network benefits. At the second phase, rushing, outsiders behave in pro-norm ways and make significant concessions in order to gain inclusion in the core’s institutional complex. At the third phase, internalization, external norms become embedded in domestic legal institutional structures and a robust pro-norm domestic coalition emerges. The article uses the case of China to illustrate the model and lend it some initial empirical support in one hard case.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Elchlepp ◽  
Maisy Best ◽  
Aureliu Lavric ◽  
Stephen Monsell

Task-switching experiments have documented a puzzling phenomenon: Advance warning of the switch reduces but does not eliminate the switch cost. Theoretical accounts have posited that the residual switch cost arises when one selects the relevant stimulus–response mapping, leaving earlier perceptual processes unaffected. We put this assumption to the test by seeking electrophysiological markers of encoding a perceptual dimension. Participants categorized a colored letter as a vowel or consonant or its color as “warm” or “cold.” Orthogonally to the color manipulation, some colors were eight times more frequent than others, and the letters were in upper- or lowercase. Color frequency modulated the electroencephalogram amplitude at around 150 ms when participants repeated the color-classification task. When participants switched from the letter task to the color task, this effect was significantly delayed. Thus, even when prepared for, a task switch delays or prolongs encoding of the relevant perceptual dimension.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Hamm ◽  
David Eagle

Since its inception in the 1960s, research on premature (pre-retirement) clergy attrition from congregational ministry has focused on identifying the factors that precipitate and mitigate ministry exits, while the rates at which clergy leave the ministry have been inconsistently tracked. The literature on clergy attrition is peppered with claims of alarmingly high rates of departure, however, these studies lack strong empirical support. The evidence, while fragmentary, consistently shows that pastors do not leave congregational ministry in large numbers. Incidence of attrition of about 1–2 percent per year is typical across Protestant denominations and among Roman Catholic priests. In addition, contrary to popular conceptions, there is little evidence attrition is particularly high in the first 5 years of congregational ministry. In terms of the reasons for leaving, among Protestants, the most common factor named is conflict with the congregation or denominational system; a smaller number leave to pursue personal goals or to care for family. Among Catholics, loneliness and isolation, tied in major part to the celibacy requirement, are the most significant reasons cited for leaving. Finances or a loss of faith are rarely cited as reasons for leaving among either Catholics or Protestants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 588-598
Author(s):  
Cong Liu ◽  
Kalinka Timmer ◽  
Lu Jiao ◽  
Ruiming Wang

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of contexts (i.e., non-conflicting context versus conflicting context) on bilingual language switch costs during language comprehension. Methodology: Thirty-two unbalance Chinese-English bilinguals completed a modified comprehension-based language-switching task in two contexts. They made a judgement about the colour meaning of the word. In the non-conflicting context all words were presented in white ink, while in the conflicting context the words were printed in an inconsistent ink colour. Data and analysis: Reaction time and accuracy data were analysed using mixed-effects models. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that the switch costs were larger in the conflicting context than in the non-conflicting context. Further, in the non-conflicting context an asymmetrical switch cost with larger costs for the second language was observed as compared to symmetrical switch costs in the conflicting context. Originality: This is the first study that indicates that bilingual comprehension-based language control adapts flexibly depending on the context, just as during bilingual production. Significance/implications: These findings supported and expanded the classic adaptive control hypothesis.


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