scholarly journals The Metronome Counting Task for Measuring Meta-awareness

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Anderson ◽  
Norman A. S. Farb
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Performance ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Response Variability ◽  
Task Engagement ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Counting Task ◽  
Final Count

How can we measure the absence of awareness? Attention research has developed tools for measuring self-caught meta-awareness restoration and behavioural mind-wandering, but we lack a way to dynamically track the loss of meta-awareness. The present pre-registered study sought to bring together three extant paradigms into one tool designed to dynamically measure meta-awareness: the Metronome Counting Task (MCT). The MCT is a continuous performance task wherein participants tap along to a steady beat while counting to twenty, indicating the final count by a special button press. This sample (N = 74) provides evidence that participants could self-catch their failures in the task, that a response variability metric measuring mind-wandering depth was successfully recreated in this new tool, and that dynamic performance changes may be useful for detecting meta-awareness loss before participants become internally aware of the loss or are caught by external errors. The MCT was conceived as a tool that will support neuroimaging models of dynamic fluctuations during sustained attention, providing a link between the phenomenology of meta-awareness, the behaviour measured by a replicable index of task engagement, and a continuous performance task on time-scales relevant for MRI. We discuss the possibility that meta-awareness may exist on a continuum and that conceptions of mind-wandering as attention failures may plausibly be reconceived as changes in goal priority manifesting as shifting task engagement.

The Relationship Between Vigilance Deficits and Traffic Injuries Involving Children

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. B. Pless ◽  
H. G. Taylor ◽  
L. Arsenault
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Response Test ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Subjective Evidence

Objective. This study was designed to determine whether there is an increased frequency of deficits in impulse control, vigilance, or both, among child bicyclists or pedestrians who have been injured in traffic accidents, as assessed using objective measures and parent and teacher reports. Research design. This was a case-control study, in which cases were children injured as pedestrians or bicyclists (excluding those with severe head injuries) and controls were those injured as passengers or in some other manner in which the child's behavior was unlikely to be a factor. Setting. Children ages 5 to 15 years presenting to the emergency room of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Participants. For each of 286 cases, two controls were selected, making a total of 848 subjects Among the cases, 172 were injured as pedestrians and 114 as bicyclists. Measures. Children were assessed using the Continuous Performance Task and the Delayed Response Test, both parts of a computerized test battery. Parents and teachers completed the Conners Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire to assess hyperactivity. Results. Cases and controls were similar on most sociodemographic and clinical measures but showed statistically significant differences in mean scores on the Continuous Performance Task measures of omissions and commissions, pointing to differences in vigilance, and on the Delayed Response Test measures of impulsivity. Mean Conners scale scores of both parent and teacher were significantly higher for cases than controls, and those of parents were higher than those of teachers. Conclusions. Among children whose behavior may have been a factor in the occurrence of an injury, there is subjective evidence of increased hyperactivity and objective evidence of deficits in vigilance and attention when compared with closely matched controls. These findings have important implications for prevention.

Genetic Variation of Serotonin Function and Cognitive Control

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1923-1931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Strobel ◽  
Gesine Dreisbach ◽  
Johannes Müller ◽  
Thomas Goschke ◽  
Burkhard Brocke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Related Personality

Although it is widely accepted that serotonin plays a pivotal role in the modulation of anxiety- and depression-related personality traits as well as in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders and depression, the role of serotonin in cognition is less clear. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of serotonin in cognitive behaviors by examining the impact of genetic variation in key regulators of serotonergic neurotransmission on behavioral measures in a cognitive control task. Eighty-five healthy participants performed a cued continuous performance task (the AX Continuous Performance Task [AXCPT]) and were genotyped for polymorphisms in the transcriptional control regions of the tryptophan hydroxylase 2 gene (TPH2 G-703T; rs4570625) and the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). The core result was that individuals lacking the rare TPH2 T allele were not faster than T allele carriers, but committed fewer errors and were less variable in responding. These findings parallel those of a recent study where an enhancement of executive control in individuals without the rare TPH2 T/T genotype was observed. Together with recent evidence that individuals without the T allele exhibit higher scores in anxiety- and depression-related personality traits, our results underscore the role of the TPH2 G-703T polymorphism in the modulation of behavior and raise the intriguing possibility that genetic variants associated with higher negative emotionality may have beneficial effects on some cognitive functions.

Sustained Attention and Grade Retention

1994 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Gordon ◽  
Barbara B. Mettelman ◽  
Martin Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Grade Retention ◽  
Academic Failure ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
History Of

Two studies are reported which explore the possible relationship between academic failure, as measured by grade retention, and the capacity to sustain attention on a computerized continuous performance task. In a nonreferred sample, 89 children who had been retained at some point in their academic careers showed a higher frequency of abnormal scores on an index of sustained attention than did 93 children who had never repeated a grade. In a sample of children who had been referred for an evaluation of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, children with a history of grade retention had significantly lower scores on the same measure of sustained attention. Results are discussed in terms of the possible contribution of attention deficits to over-all academic achievement, even for children who have not necessarily been referred for a clinical evaluation.

Conjunctive Continuous Performance Task

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilach Shalev ◽  
Anat Ben-Simon ◽  
Carmel Mevorach ◽  
Yoav Cohen ◽  
Yehoshua Tsal
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task
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