scholarly journals The Sustained Attention to Response Task Shows Lower Cingulo-Opercular and Frontoparietal Activity in People with Narcolepsy Type 1: An fMRI Study on the Neural Regulation of Attention

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Jari K. Gool ◽  
Ysbrand D. van der Werf ◽  
Gert Jan Lammers ◽  
Rolf Fronczek
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Response Task

Vigilance complaints often occur in people with narcolepsy type 1 and severely impair effective daytime functioning. We tested the feasibility of a three-level sustained attention to response task (SART) paradigm within a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment to understand brain architecture underlying vigilance regulation in individuals with narcolepsy type 1. Twelve medication-free people with narcolepsy type 1 and 11 matched controls were included. The SART included four repetitions of a baseline block and two difficulty levels requiring moderate and high vigilance. Outcome measures were between and within-group performance indices on error rates and reaction times, and functional MRI (fMRI) parameters: mean activity during the task and between-group activity differences across the three conditions and related to changes in activation over time (time-on-task) and error-related activity. Patients—but not controls—made significantly more mistakes with increasing difficulty. The modified SART is a feasible MRI vigilance task showing similar task-positive brain activity in both groups within the cingulo-opercular, frontoparietal, arousal, motor, and visual networks. During blocks of higher vigilance demand, patients had significantly lower activation in these regions than controls. Patients had lower error-related activity in the left pre- and postcentral gyrus. The time-on-task activity differences between groups suggest that those with narcolepsy are insufficiently capable of activating attention- and arousal-related regions when transitioning from attention initiation to stable attention, specifically when vigilance demand is high. They also show lower inhibitory motor activity in relation to errors, suggesting impaired executive functioning.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological Manifestations of Phonological Processing: Latency Variation of a Negative ERP Component Timelocked to Phonological Mismatch

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Praamstra ◽  
Antje S. Meyer ◽  
Willem J. M. Levelt
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Behavioral Data ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Target Onset ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Response Task

Two experiments examined phonological priming effects on reaction times, error rates, and event-related brain potential (ERP) measures in an auditory lexical decision task. In Experiment 1 related prime-target pairs rhymed, and in Experiment 2 they alliterated (i.e., shared the consonantal onset and vowel). Event-related potentials were recorded in a delayed response task. Reaction times and error rates were obtained both for the delayed and an immediate response task. The behavioral data of Experiment 1 provided evidence for phonological facilitation of word, but not of nonword decisions. The brain potentials were more negative to unrelated than to rhyming word-word pairs between 450 and 700 rnsec after target onset. This negative enhancement was not present for word-nonword pairs. Thus, the ERP results match the behavioral data. The behavioral data of Experiment 2 provided no evidence for phonological Facilitation. However, between 250 and 450 msec after target onset, i.e., considerably earlier than in Experiment 1, brain potentials were more negative for unrelated than for alliterating Word-word and word-nonword pairs. It is argued that the ERP effects in the two experiments could be modulations of the same underlying component, possibly the N400. The difference in the timing of the effects is likely to be due to the fact that the shared segments in related stimulus pairs appeared in different word positions in the two experiments.

scholarly journals Continuous Performance Tasks: Not Just About Sustaining Attention

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hettie Roebuck ◽  
Claudia Freigang ◽  
Johanna G. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Performance Tasks ◽  
Tone Condition ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Time Variations ◽  
Continuous Performance Tasks

Purpose Continuous performance tasks (CPTs) are used to measure individual differences in sustained attention. Many different stimuli have been used as response targets without consideration of their impact on task performance. Here, we compared CPT performance in typically developing adults and children to assess the role of stimulus processing on error rates and reaction times. Method Participants completed a CPT that was based on response to infrequent targets, while monitoring and withholding responses to regular nontargets. Performance on 3 stimulus conditions was compared: visual letters (X and O), their auditory analogs, and auditory pure tones. Results Adults showed no difference in error propensity across the 3 conditions but had slower reaction times for auditory stimuli. Children had slower overall reaction times. They responded most quickly to the visual target and most slowly to the tone target. They also made more errors in the tone condition than in either the visual or the auditory spoken CPT conditions. Conclusions The results suggest error propensity and reaction time variations on CPTs cannot solely be interpreted as evidence of inattention. They also reflect stimulus-specific influences that must be considered when testing hypotheses about modality-specific deficits in sustained attention in populations with different developmental disorders.

Performance in Vigilance Tasks is Related to Both State and Contextual Motivation

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1145-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis R. Dewar ◽  
Nicholas W. Fraulini ◽  
Victoria L. Claypoole ◽  
James L. Szalma
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Vigilance Decrement ◽  
Vigilance Performance ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
State Motivation

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the ability to maintain attention to stimuli over a prolonged period of time. Synonymous with the study of sustained attention is the vigilance decrement, which is a decline in performance as a function of time on task. In the present study, we examined the effects of state motivation (i.e., motivation measured immediately prior to the task) and context-based motivation (i.e., motivation that stems from task instructions) on vigilance performance in a sensory-based vigilance task. Forty-three participants completed a 24-minute vigilance task, as well as measures of stress and workload. The results indicated that those higher in state intrinsic motivation and motivating instructions outperformed their peers in terms of hits and false alarms. We conclude that motivation may help facilitate vigilant attention.

Driver Vigilance in Automated Vehicles: Hazard Detection Failures Are a Matter of Time

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric T. Greenlee ◽  
Patricia R. DeLucia ◽  
David C. Newton
Keyword(s):  
Safety Concern ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Vigilance Decrement ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Automated Vehicle ◽  
Hazard Detection ◽  
And Performance

Objective: The primary aim of the current study was to determine whether monitoring the roadway for hazards during automated driving results in a vigilance decrement. Background: Although automated vehicles are relatively novel, the nature of human-automation interaction within them has the classic hallmarks of a vigilance task. Drivers must maintain attention for prolonged periods of time to detect and respond to rare and unpredictable events, for example, roadway hazards that automation may be ill equipped to detect. Given the similarity with traditional vigilance tasks, we predicted that drivers of a simulated automated vehicle would demonstrate a vigilance decrement in hazard detection performance. Method: Participants “drove” a simulated automated vehicle for 40 minutes. During that time, their task was to monitor the roadway for roadway hazards. Results: As predicted, hazard detection rate declined precipitously, and reaction times slowed as the drive progressed. Further, subjective ratings of workload and task-related stress indicated that sustained monitoring is demanding and distressing and it is a challenge to maintain task engagement. Conclusion: Monitoring the roadway for potential hazards during automated driving results in workload, stress, and performance decrements similar to those observed in traditional vigilance tasks. Application: To the degree that vigilance is required of automated vehicle drivers, performance errors and associated safety risks are likely to occur as a function of time on task. Vigilance should be a focal safety concern in the development of vehicle automation.

scholarly journals Tracking and optimizing human performance using deep reinforcement learning in closed-loop behavioral- and neuro- feedback: a proof of concept

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Dinov ◽  
Robert Leech
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Continuous Actions

AbstractReinforcement learning (RL) is a general-purpose powerful machine learning framework within which we can model various deterministic, non-deterministic and complex environments. We applied RL to the problem of tracking and improving human sustained attention during a simple sustained attention to response task (SART) in a proof of concept study with two subjects, using state-of-the-art deep neural network-based RL in the form of Deep Q Networks (DQNs). While others have used RL in EEG settings previously, none have applied it in a neurofeedback (NFB) setting, which seems a natural problem within Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to tackle using end-to-end RL in the form of DQNs, due to both the problem’s non-stationarity and the ability of RL to learn in a continuous setting. Furthermore, while many have explored phasic alerting previously, learning optimal alerting in a personalized way in real time is a less explored field, which we believe RL to be an most suitable solution for. First, we used empirically-derived simulated data of EEG and reaction times and subsequent parameter/algorithmic exploration within this simulated model to pick parameters for the DQN that are more likely to be optimal for the experimental setup and to explore the behavior of DQNs in this task setting. We then applied the method on two subjects and show that we get different but plausible results for both subjects, suggesting something about the behavior of DQNs in this setting. For this experimental part, we used parameters suggested to us by the simulation results. This RL-based behavioral- and neuro-feedback BCI method we have developed here is input feature agnostic and allows for complex continuous actions to be learned in other more complex closed-loop behavioral or neuro-feedback approaches.

scholarly journals Abrupt vs. gradual visual onsets in go/no-go sustained attention tasks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Kyle Robison
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Abrupt Onset ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Attention Tasks ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Gradual Onset ◽  
Hit Rates ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Duration Condition ◽  
Speed Accuracy

Two experiments compared both average performance and changes in performance across time in abrupt- and gradual-onset sustained attention tasks. Experiment 1 compared abrupt- and gradual-onset digits. In conditions where the digits onset and offset abruptly and appeared only briefly, similar to typical conditions in the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), participants committed more errors on no-go trials and responded faster overall, indicative of a shift in the speed/accuracy tradeoff toward speed. When the digits abruptly onset but remained on-screen for a longer period of time, there were no differences in no-go error rates, hit rates, or reaction time (RT) variability, but participants still emitted faster RTs overall. Experiment 2 compared abrupt- and gradual-onset images. Similar to Experiment 1, abrupt-onset, short-duration images induced more no-go errors and faster RTs, but also more RT variability and reduced hit rates. In the abrupt-onset, long-duration condition, again the only performance difference was a decrease in average RTs. We discuss implications for using these two types of tasks in sustained attention research.

scholarly journals Propensity to intentional and unintentional mind-wandering differs in arousal and executive vigilance tasks

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258734
Author(s):  
Víctor Martínez-Pérez ◽  
Damián Baños ◽  
Almudena Andreu ◽  
Miriam Tortajada ◽  
Lucía B. Palmero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Progressive Increase ◽  
Resource Control ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Vigilance Decrement ◽  
Task Execution ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Psychomotor Vigilance

We typically observe a decrement in vigilance with time-on-task, which favors the propensity for mind-wandering, i.e., the shifting of attention from the task at hand to task-unrelated thoughts. Here, we examined participants’ mind-wandering, either intentional or unintentional, while performing vigilance tasks that tap different components of vigilance. Intentional mind-wandering is expected mainly when the arousal component is involved, whereas unintentional mind-wandering is expected mainly in tasks involving the executive component. The Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) assessed the arousal component, whereas the Sustained Attention to Response task (SART) assessed the executive component of vigilance. The two types of mind-wandering were probed throughout task execution. The results showed that the overall rate of mind-wandering was higher in the PVT than in the SART. Intentional mind-wandering was higher with the PVT than with the SART, whereas unintentional mind-wandering was higher with the SART than with the PVT. Regarding mind-wandering as a function of vigilance decrement with time-on-task, unintentional mind-wandering in the PVT increased between blocks 1 and 2 and then stabilized, whereas a progressive increase was observed in the SART. Regarding intentional mind-wandering, a progressive increase was only observed in the SART. The differential patterns of intentional and unintentional mind-wandering in both tasks suggest that, intentional mind wandering occurs mainly in arousal tasks in which propensity to mind-wander has little impact on task performance. However, unintentional mind-wandering occurs mainly in executive tasks as a result of a failure of cognitive control, which promotes attentional resources to be diverted toward mind-wandering. These results are discussed in the context of the resource-control model of mind-wandering.

Self-reported Mind Wandering and Response Time Variability Differentiate Prestimulus Electroencephalogram Microstate Dynamics during a Sustained Attention Task

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-45
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Zanesco ◽  
Ekaterina Denkova ◽  
Amishi P. Jha
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Time Variability ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Task Focus

Brain activity continuously and spontaneously fluctuates during tasks of sustained attention. This spontaneous activity reflects the intrinsic dynamics of neurocognitive networks, which have been suggested to differentiate moments of externally directed task focus from episodes of mind wandering. However, the contribution of specific electrophysiological brain states and their millisecond dynamics to the experience of mind wandering is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the association between electroencephalogram microstate temporal dynamics and self-reported mind wandering. Thirty-six participants completed a sustained attention to response task in which they were asked to respond to frequently occurring upright faces (nontargets) and withhold responses to rare inverted faces (targets). Intermittently, experience sampling probes assessed whether participants were focused on the task or whether they were mind wandering (i.e., off-task). Broadband electroencephalography was recorded and segmented into a time series of brain electric microstates based on data-driven clustering of topographic voltage patterns. The strength, prevalence, and rate of occurrence of specific microstates differentiated on- versus off-task moments in the prestimulus epochs of trials preceding probes. Similar associations were also evident between microstates and variability in response times. Together, these findings demonstrate that distinct microstates and their millisecond dynamics are sensitive to the experience of mind wandering.

scholarly journals Missed targets, reaction times, and arousal are related to trait anxiety and attention to pain during an experimental vigilance task with a painful target

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 462-472
Author(s):  
Nichole M. Emerson ◽  
Timothy J. Meeker ◽  
Joel D. Greenspan ◽  
Mark I. Saffer ◽  
Claudia M. Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Vigilance Performance ◽  
Neo Five Factor Inventory ◽  
High Trait Anxiety ◽  
Attention To Pain

Although hypervigilance may play a role in some clinical pain syndromes, experimental vigilance toward painful stimuli has been studied infrequently. We evaluated vigilance toward pain by using a continuous performance task (CPT), in which subjects responded to moderately intense painful target stimuli, occurring in a train of mildly painful nontargets. We assessed nondetected targets (misses), reaction times (RTs), and psychological activation (tense arousal). During time on task in CPTs of other sensory modalities, there is an increase in misses and RTs (vigilance decrement). We hypothesized that our CPT would influence vigilance performance related to pain, anxiety, and limitation of attentional resources. The results showed a decrement in vigilance over time as misses increased, although RTs were unchanged. While mind-wandering did not influence vigilance performance, intrinsic attention to pain drove both hit RTs and number of misses. This resulted in pain-focused subjects performing worse on the CPT pain task with slower RTs and more misses per block. During the CPT, the change in stimulus salience was related to the change in pain intensity, while pain unpleasantness correlated with tense arousal. CPT performance during experimental vigilance to pain and psychological activation were related to trait anxiety, as measured by the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and neuroticism, as measured by the NEO five factor inventory. Trait anxiety and neuroticism may play important roles in an individual’s predisposition to dwell on pain and interpret pain as threatening. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Subjects detected moderately painful target stimuli in a train of mildly painful nontarget stimuli, which resulted in vigilance performance metrics including missed targets, reaction times, and psychological activation. These performance metrics were related to intrinsic attention to pain and trait anxiety. Subjects with high trait anxiety and neuroticism scores, with a predisposition to attend to pain, had greater tense arousal and poorer vigilance performance, which may be important psychological aspects of vigilance to pain.

Does Children’s Left Hemisphere Lateralization During Mental Rotation Depend Upon the Stimulus Material?

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léonie F. Lange ◽  
Martin Heil ◽  
Petra Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Developmental Trend ◽  
Angular Disparity ◽  
Related Potentials

Recent publications suggest that there is a developmental-based change of lateralization of brain activity during mental rotation from left to bilateral. But it is an open question whether this left hemisphere activation could also be observed with stimuli other than characters. To test this, behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in 28 children, 28 juveniles, and 28 adults during a mental rotation task with animal drawings. The results showed that reaction times (RTs) and error rates decreased with the increasing age of the participants. Furthermore, RTs and error rates increased with increasing angular disparity. An unlateralized ERP amplitude modulation at parietal electrodes as a function of angular disparity was present in all age groups. These results contrast former studies revealing a left lateralization in children when characters were used as stimuli for mental rotation. Left hemisphere activation is therefore not a general developmental trend; rather, it is suggested that it might be a correlate of written language acquisition.

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